Algerian press unhappy with choice of Gabon as host for AFCON 2017

14th April 2015 The Algerian press have shown their great displeasure at their country’s lost bid to host the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

The press shared their anger equally between their football federation and CAF President Issa Hayatou after it was announced that Gabon will be the hosts of the tournament, against opposition from Algeria and Ghana.

TimesLive SA quotes Algerian daily EL Watan as saying  “To obtain the organisation of a competition as prestigious as the CAN is a State affair and the Algerian presentation was not sufficiently supported at political levels,”

Other papers criticized Issa Hayatou, with some implications that he was rewarding Gabon for an assurance that the 2019 tourney would be held in his home coutry of Cameroun.

If you recall, the 2017 Nations Cup was initially set to be hosted by Libya; however, the civil war in the country made this an impossibility and necessitated the search for a new host country.