ACN to switch years

African Cup of Nations to be held every odd year from 2013

Last updated: 16th May 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

ACN to switch years

Egypt: Defending champions

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The African Cup of Nations is to be held in every odd year starting from the 2013 tournament in Libya.

The announcement has been made by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) after it was decided the event should not be played in the same year as the World Cup.

It means there will be two tournaments in successive years with Equatorial Guinea and Gabon co-hosting the next one in 2012 before Libya takes centre stage 12 months later.

"The Libyan football association has accepted hosting the tournament in 2013 in order to allow CAF to organise the tournament in odd years," read a statement from CAF.

CAF made no reference to a possible change in the timing of the tournament from the start of the year to June and July.

The African Cup of Nations falls in the middle of the European season and has been a contentious issue for years with many leading clubs having to release their top African players.

Egypt triumphed in this year's event in Angola, overcoming Ghana 1-0 in the final.

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