Algeria shocked at being stripped 2017 Nations Cup host

A state of shock reigns in Algeria sport arena after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) ruled out the nation from hosting 2017 African Cup of Nations, which will be organized by Gabon.

The government of Algeria has protested the CAF decision saying it was motivated by personal interests of some influential lobbies within the continental body. "Ruling out Algeria's was illogical, our bid was the best, and everybody here (Cairo) were surprised to learn that Gabon was chosen," Sport Minister, Mohamed Tahmi told reporters.

He stated that "we will request CAF to justify why Algeria's bid was not selected," assuming that "we all know that money and interests played crucial role in naming the winner."

For his part, former coach of Algerian football team, Abderahmane Mahdaoui told Xinhua that "the failure of Algeria to win 2017 CAN bid highlights the crisis hitting sports in the country, including the scourge of crowd violence in stadiums," noting that "Algeria lost its weight within the CAF decision makers, as it has no the influence it used to have before."

Although the Algeria presented a strong bid, with several modern stadiums, hotels, and means of transport, crowd violent acts that were reported in Algerian stadiums seem to have played against the north African nation's bid.

The death of Cameroonian player at the end of a game in the local league, last year, was the dark side of the bid. This tragic event urged CAF to ban JS Kabylie from continental competitions for two years. The ban was recently lifted.

The unique and last African Cup Algeria organized dates back to 1990, as the Greens managed to win their sole continental trophy.

Gabon on Wednesday was officially named to host 2017 CAN following votes by the CAF Executive Committee held in Cairo, Egypt. Gabon beat Ghana and Algeria to the hosting rights of competition. Endi