Egypt, one of the countries listed as one the possible hosts of the 2017 African Cup of Nations, has announced a withdrawal of its bid. The nation’s sports minister Khaled Abdel-Aziz said that the decision was taken in consideration of the fact that with another Arab nation, Algeria, in contention, solidarity behind the Algerian bid was more sensible rather than opposing and competing with it.

Whilst this might be the official position of the sports ministry, the most visibly probable reason for the withdrawal could be the instability that has become predominant in Egyptian football given various instances of crowd violence. The most recent occurrence saw an incident which resulted in the death of 22 fans after violent clashes between fans and police. The incident, which occurred on February 8th, also resulted in the suspension of domestic leagues in the country. The latest odious incident revived memories of another deadly clash in 2012 in which a total of 72 fans were killed.

Despite the challenges Egyptian football currently faces, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab remains hopeful that leagues will not be permanently cancelled.

“Frankly, I hope the league returns but it must resume in a secure and safe atmosphere,” Mahlab said. “We will discuss this subject next week in the cabinet. Our priority is to balance the importance of the league’s return with the safety of footballers. If the league resumes, it will be definitely without fans at stadiums,” Mahlab added.

With Egypt’s withdrawal of its hosting bid, CAF has to select the hosts for the 2017 tournament from the pool which includes Algeria, Gabon and 2015 finalists, Ghana. Egypt has an impressive history at the African Cup of Nations having previously hosted the tournament in 1974, 1986 and most recently in 2006. Egypt also holds the proud history of being the country with the most successes at the African Cup of Nations with seven titles in 1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2006, 2008 and 2010.