The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations will be the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).[1] It was scheduled to be hosted by Libya, however a decision by CAF to move the competition to South Africa means Libya will not host.[2] Libya won the right to host the tournament after defeating a Nigerian bid along with three other bid winning nations, Angola, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Bids from Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Senegal were rejected and did not reach the shortlist. For the first time in CAF history, the hosts of three successive tournaments were chosen at the same time; Angola was chosen to host in 2010, Gabon/Equatorial Guinea were chosen as hosts for the 2012 Cup and South Africa for the 2013 edition.
A total of 47 countries entered the qualification, including South Africa, which automatically qualified. Libya was not allowed to keep its automatic qualification after being stripped of its hosting rights due to the Libyan civil war.[citation needed]
The South African Football Association opened bidding to all 2010 FIFA World Cup host cities[5] however a maximum of seven venues would be used.[6] The final list of stadiums was be announced by 30 March,[7] but was pushed back to 4 April,[8] 20 April, and then 3 May 2012.[9]