CAIRO: Egypt’s football association says it has informed the Confederation of African Football that it cannot host an Olympic qualifying tournament because of a surge in violence in Cairo.
EFA official Azmy Mejahed tells The Associated Press on Monday that the federation has apologized to CAF after it was told by Egyptian authorities that it could not host the matches because of security concerns.
Clashes over the weekend left 25 people dead, Egypt’s worst violence since former president Hosni Mubarak was ousted.
Egypt was set to host eight African teams in the Nov. 26-Dec. 10 tournament, with three qualifying automatically for next year’s London Olympics and a fourth team facing a playoff.
The matches are likely be moved to Algeria.
