Riyadh: Qatar has not received an official request to host the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, but it is “ready” to help in organising it, said the head of the Gulf country’s Football Association.

Qatar was not “officially asked to host” the continental tournament after Morocco was stripped of the right to stage the event, said Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Bin Ahmad Al Thani in a statement.

“If officially asked, Qatar is ready to offer any help in hosting the African Cup due to its strong relation with Eisa Hayatou, president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF),” he added.

The decision “concerns CAF, which all world football authorities are expected to support,” he said.

He recalled that his country had already organised the 1995 World Youth Championship after it was moved from Nigeria due to an outbreak of cholera.

French sports newspaper L’Equipe said on Wednesday that Qatar, host to the 2022 World Cup, might be the solution if the CAF fails to find a replacement for Morocco on the continent.

But Saud Al Muhannadi, vice president of the Qatar Football Association, on Wednesday denied the reports which he described as “illogical”.

Morocco had said since early October that its call for a postponement was due to the deadly Ebola pandemic, but CAF lost patience with the North Africans and threw them out as hosts and participants with a heavy fine likely to follow.

Also on Wednesday, Angola announced they were not interested in replacing Morocco as eleventh hour hosts. Angola’s decision left three potential African candidates — Egypt, Gabon and Nigeria — to put on the continental showcase.

Morocco’s stance irked CAF, with Hayatou telling France24: “To postpone the Africa Cup of Nations would be like stopping African football dead.

“Once you postpone this event, it will open the door for everybody to ask for a delay of any competition and we will no longer be credible,” added the 68-year-old Cameroonian, who has been in office since 1988.

Short notice

Angola had emerged as one of the front runners to come to the aid of the troubled 2015 Nations Cup, which is due to start in two months’ time, on January 17.

The oil-rich state’s insistence that they were not interested in hosting a competition they staged in 2010 came from Joao Lusevikueno, vice president of the Angolan football federation.

He said by telephone from Luanda: “Angola is not going to host the competition, we haven’t presented our candidature and it is not our intention to do so.”

He added that to step in and organise a competition of this scale at such short notice was “virtually impossible”.

Angola’s staging of the 2010 Nations Cup was marred by the attack on the Togo team bus by separatists in the restless enclave of Cabinda, which killed two people.

With Angola out of the picture, the countries thought to be still in contention for taking over from Morocco as 2015 hosts are multiple African champions Egypt, Gabon, which co-hosted the 2012 edition with Equatorial Guinea, and reigning champions Nigeria.

CAF are due to announce the next hosts “in two or three days” Hayatou said.