Musonye named on 2017 Afcon bid committee

Nicholas Musonye, the Secretary General for the Council for East and Central Africa Football Association (Cecafa), has been named on a three-member team to spearhead East Africa’s joint bid for the 2017 African Nations Cup (Afcon) finals. Caf called for fresh bids to host the continental showpiece for 2017 after Libya withdrawal over insecurity concerns. Also on the committee are Ayotunde Adelakun and Gerald Chege. Chege was the executive officer for Cecafa 2013 and handled all commercial work therein, while Tunde is an England-based football consultant with a specialty on African matters. The committee was named by the Football Kenya Federation (FKF), which is taking the lead in the region’s join bid that could also involve neighbours Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The East African countries are in talks with view to submit a joint bid as Caf accepts joint bids. A friend of Africa and Kenyan football, he has been instrumental in many of the commercial ventures entered into by African Football Associations, FKF said of Tunde. Musonye said mechanisms are already in place to put together a bid document for the event. “I am humbled by this appointment and want to tell all Kenyans that mechanisms are already in place to make it a success. We are ideally pursuing a joint bid with either Tanzania or Rwanda who already have the infrastructure,” he said. Caf’s strict elimination methods fall on those countries that have no history of hosting past continental events, be it in women’s football, junior Under-17, Under-20 or African Nations Championship (Chan), the competition for locally based players. Rwanda is seen as one of the first East African countries likely to host Afcon in the future, with the country gearing up to host 2016 Chan. Rwanda has also previously hosted the Africa youth competitions; Under-17 and Under-20. The government is about to complete the construction of the fourth stadium that meets international standards – in Huye – in addition to the Amahoro International Stadium, Kigali Regional Stadium (Nyamirambo) and Stade Umuganda-Rubavu.

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Musonye named on 2017 Afcon bid committee