The finals of the first Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) for local football players will take place from 22 February to 8 March 2009 in Côte d ‘Ivoire, sources close to the Tunisian Football Association (FTF) said on Monday in Tunis. The decision was taken by the Executive Committee of the Confederation of Africa n Football (CAF) during its meeting which took place last weekend in Tunis under the chairmanship of its president Cameroonian national Issa Hayatou. Egypt and Sudan were the other candidates for the organisation of the competition which will take place once every other year, FTF said. CAF Secretary General, Mustapha Fahmy, said 30 countries will take part in the q ualifying matches which will kick off on 28 March. Meanwhile, CAF said the next African Under-20 Championship would take place from 18 January to 1 February 2009 in Rwanda whereas the African Under-17 championship will take place from 19 March to 3 April 2009 in Algeria. CAF also decided to launch calls for tenders for TV broadcasting rights of the c ombined CAN and World Cup 2010 qualifying matches.
