NFF denies plans to bid for AFCON 2025 hosting rights

There were talks that Nigeria was planning a joint bid with the Benin Republic to host the AFCON 2025, but the NFF has come out to set the record straight.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has stated that they are unaware of a joint bid with the Benin Republic for the hosting rights of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

The last time Nigeria hosted the Africa Cup of Nations was in 2000, when it was jointly hosted with Ghana.

However, there were recent reports that a plan was in place for Nigeria and Benin Republic to host Africa’s showpiece event together.

Well, according to a report by The Guardian, the NFF’s first Vice-President, Felix Anyansi-Agwu has put those talks to bed.

“I am not aware of such a bid by Nigeria. In fact, I am just hearing this information for the first time,” Anyansi-Agwu said.

“I don’t think such an arrangement is in progress. I don’t know anything about the AFCON bid.”

The 2025 AFCON was originally supposed to be held in Guinea, but CAF withdrew the rights because of its inability to meet up with its conditions.

Nigeria has not hosted a major football tournament since the 2009 Under-17 World Cup. With Nigeria’s football pedigree, it would be a good feat if they could host a continental championship like the AFCON.