The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has started a bidding process for the countries interested in hosting the 2019 Afcon tournament.

Cameroon who were supposed to host the expanded 24-nation competition in June next year will no longer do so after they fell behind in the preparations. The decision was made on Friday at the Extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee in Accra, Ghana.

The successful bidder will be announced before the month end.

“This decision, without appeal, will mean that CAF will now initiate an open and urgent call for new host country bids to ensure AFCON 2019 takes place next summer.

“CAF will ensure that a new host is in place by 31st December 2018, and it will communicate openly and transparently on the process and subsequent decision,” said CAF in a statement.

Countries like Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and South Africa who already have the sufficient infrastructure in place are the favourites to get the hosting rights should they decide to bid.