Reports yesterday (Thursday) that Morocco had withdrawn from hosting the competition due to fears over the Ebola crisis were denied by local authorities, who instead stated they remain keen on postponing the event, but retaining the hosting rights for a later date.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF), which is still to publicly comment on the matter, is now said to have approached Ghana and South Africa about hosting its showpiece event next year. Speaking at a press conference in Johannesburg today (Friday), South African Football Association (SAFA) president Danny Jordaan said his organisation had received a letter from CAF asking it to consider the potential hosting the tournament after African football’s governing body rejected Morocco's request to postpone the event.

In the event of Morocco formally withdrawing from the tournament, Jordaan said that SAFA would consult with the South African government over whether stepping in would be feasible. Meanwhile, Ghana’s Youth and Sports minister Mahama Ayariga confirmed his country had also been approached by CAF.

“CAF wrote to us and indicated that Morocco had given strong indications they would pull out if CAF did not change the date,” Ayariga told Ghanaian radio station Citi FM. “CAF also indicated that it was firm on the tournament dates, but they would meet the Moroccan authorities and take a decision at that meeting. But in the meantime they are writing to a number of countries that they think have the capacity to be an alternative venue... in the event of Morocco actually pulling out.”

Earlier this week, CAF insisted that the 2015 Cup of Nations would go ahead as planned despite a request from Morocco to postpone the event due to the deadly Ebola outbreak. The 2015 Cup of Nations is due to take place in Morocco from January 17 to February 8. However, Moroccan health officials fear the tournament could trigger a spread of the virus, which has claimed about 4,500 lives since its outbreak in West Africa at the beginning of the year.

Morocco’s Youth and Sports Minister Mohamed Ouzzine said on Thursday his country had not withdrawn as the host, but reiterated that the government would follow guidance from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“Our concern is the health of Africa, and based on WHO reports and guidelines, we have to listen,” Ouzzine said, according to UK broadcaster the BBC. “Zero safety does not exist, but one has to take the necessary precautions so that the coming tournament will be a football feast, bringing together our African brothers, but given the current Ebola situation we don't think such a feast can take place as expected.

“We are talking about the Africa Cup of Nations where we are expecting between 200,000 to 400,000, even one million spectators to converge in Morocco. I don't think there is any state or any country that has the necessary capabilities to monitor, check and control the current Ebola situation when faced with these numbers. This is our real problem. We don't have a problem with visiting teams. We have a problem with visitors.”

South Africa hosted the previous edition of the competition in 2013, switching hosting rights with Libya due to the civil war in the latter country. Libya was due to host the 2017 tournament instead but recently withdrew its staging rights due to ongoing security concerns. Ghana last hosted the event in 2008.

Reports have claimed that any withdrawal by Morocco at this late stage could be met with severe sanctions from CAF. However, Ouzzine added: “If there are fears about the loss of funding and financial commitments, we can always find solutions to these issues – but today is not the day to discuss these things.

“We will discuss these things when we meet with CAF and we might even debate other options. But I beg you, what's the significance of the financial losses compared to human losses? A human being is priceless. I can tell you that we will reach a definite decision during our meeting with our brothers from CAF.” 

Prior to the latest reports, CAF said that the situation will be addressed at its next Executive Committee meeting on November 2, stating that a further meeting will be held between the confederation and Moroccan officials in Rabat on the following day.

Arup, which was appointed to serve as the lead adviser of the 2020 Games earlier this month, will work alongside AECOM to contribute towards strategy for the overall delivery of venue design and construction.

AECOM will also review the Games’ master plan and advise on the associated transportation, security, sustainability and legacy components. It will be the global company’s third consecutive Olympics after it was also responsible for the London 2012 and bid-winning Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games master plans.

“Olympic Games are an important part of AECOM’s success in regenerating and promoting cities around the world,” Michael S. Burke, AECOM president and chief executive, said. “By harnessing our global expertise as the world’s premier fully integrated infrastructure firm, AECOM will be able to support the Tokyo Olympic Organising Committee in delivering a memorable Olympic Games.”

Part of AECOM’s presence around the Games preparations will be to hold a number of workshops in Tokyo focused on the delivery of the Games and its subsequent legacy.

Meanwhile, the Korean government has confirmed that the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2018 winter Olympics in PyeongChang will take place in the city.

The decision backtracks on a proposal to renovate an existing sports centre in Gangneung to host the ceremonies in order to rein in costs. A purpose-built facility will now hold the events in PyeongChang.

The Gangneung plans had proved deeply controversial and a protest group said in a statement on Monday: “If the government goes through with the plan to move the opening and closing ceremonies outside PyeongChang, we will stage a boycott of the Olympics. If they were moved to Gangneung, it should be called Gangneung Olympics. It is outrageous for the government to be even considering such a move with only just under four years left until the Games.”

Prime Minister Manuel Valls has offered public support for bringing the World Expo to France’s capital, prompting reports earlier this week that such a move would end the city’s chances of staging the Olympics exactly 100 years on from its previous hosting in 1924.

However, Nathalie Iannetta, the sports advisor to French President Francois Hollande, told the Associated Press news agency that it could be financially viable for both events to be pursued. “The investments that will be made will benefit both projects,” she said.

A feasibility study is due to be completed by the French Olympic Committtee early next year in collaboration with influential figures from sport, politics and business, with Iannetta stating that the findings will be central to deciding Paris’ next course of action. 

“If it shows that a Paris bid is pertinent and that we have good chances to win, then the World Expo bid won't be an obstacle,” Iannetta added.

The United States, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Qatar, South Africa and Turkey have joined France in expressing an interest in hosting the 2024 Olympics.

Bids for the Games must be submitted by next year and the International Olympic Committee will select the winner in 2017. Bids for the hosting rights to the 2025 World Expo straddle this process, with submissions due in 2016 and a decision set to be made two years later.

Bernard Lapasset, the head of the French Committee for International Sport, called upon experience from his other role as the president of the International Rugby Board to state that hosting the Olympic Games and the World Expo in consecutive years would be possible.

“We'll obviously need to be careful with the finances, but look what happened with Japan,” Lapasset said. “They won the rights to host the Rugby World Cup in 2019 and the 2020 Olympics.”

In other news, Germany will delay its decision over whether to put forward either Berlin or Hamburg as a candidate city for the 2024 Olympics until next year.

The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) was expected to make its choice at a December 6 strategy meeting, but president Alfons Hörman is keen for his organisation to see the results of the IOC’s ‘Agenda 2020’ initiative and further assess the levels of support for Olympic hosting in both cities.

Hörmann told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper: “The worst option would be that we decide firmly on a city only for its citizens to then say the project will not be supported.”

The latest polls suggest Hamburg has significant public weight behind a bid, while Berlin - host of the 1936 Olympics - is more lukewarm overall.

Munich failed in a bid to stage the 2018 winter Olympic Games and Hörmann added: “A second Munich must not happen to us.”

The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper said that the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) is considering the Oceanian country as a destination for at least one game during the next edition of its showpiece national team competition as it seeks to expand into new markets. 

In February, the RLIF confirmed that Australia and New Zealand would co-host the 2017 World Cup, choosing the joint bid over a rival pitch from South Africa, which has never hosted the tournament.

The RLIF said that the Australia/New Zealand bid was selected as the one with the greatest chance of success in providing more compelling games in front of large crowds.

Four pools will make up the tournament with the Australia and New Zealand national teams being based in their home countries. Negotiations are taking place to have Papua New Guinea as a third host but the RLIF is also said to be considering Fiji for this role in a bid to further the development of the sport in the region.

Andrew Hill, general manager of league integration and game development for Australian league the NRL, said: “Part of our bid to the international federation was to look at how we could assist the broader rugby league strategy in the Pacific. Papua New Guinea have expressed an interest in hosting a game or games. 

“We've begun discussions with the Sports Minister of Papua New Guinea and over the next couple of months we'll get into more detail. We've had a couple of preliminary discussions. It's got past general chat. It's now about the logistics and the contribution Papua New Guinea would need to make to hosting a match of that status.”

Papua New Guinea competed in the 2013 World Cup, but failed to win any of its three group games. However, there is a significant interest in the sport in the country and Hill believes the infrastructure is suitable for involvement in the 2017 tournament.

“Teams who have come here have been very complimentary with the way in which everything has worked,” Hill added. “At the back of the Pacific Games and the Papua New Guinea Games being held this year and next year, there will be infrastructure built that would be appropriate to host World Cup games.”

Morocco, which is scheduled to hold the tournament from January 17 to February 8, had asked CAF for a postponement due to the increasingly critical situation, particularly in Western Africa.

Several countries have imposed restrictions or monitoring systems for flights arriving from countries affected by the virus, with more than 4,000 people having died since the start of the year.

Hamid Faridi, an adviser to Moroccan Sports Minister Mohammed Ouzzine, told Atlantic Radio on Saturday that Ebola was “a major health problem” and added: “The overall interest of Morocco, Moroccan and African citizens, counts above all.

“Morocco drew up its request on the basis of very serious health recommendations. We cannot, in any case, move towards taking a risk. The principle of precaution must prevail.”

CAF said: “CAF has registered the request and wishes to state that there are no changes of the schedules of its competitions and events. It must be noted that since the first edition in 1957, the Africa Cup of Nations has never witnessed a deferral or a change in schedule.

“CAF has also been cautious since the commencement of the final round qualifiers of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2015 on the health risks posed by the Ebola virus and has consistently applied precautionary principles, taking into account the recommendations of the World Health Organisation and various medical experts.”

CAF did say that the matter would be discussed at its next executive committee meeting on November 2, with further talks planned with the local organisers in Rabat, one of the tournament’s host cities, on the following day. CAF has placed an indefinite ban on Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea from hosting games.

In September, Guinea was one of three countries to be awarded hosting rights for future editions of the competition. In July, the Seychelles forfeited a home qualifier against Sierra Leone due to Ebola fears.

The WTA Elite Trophy, a singles and doubles event offering $2.15m (€1.7m) in prize money, will be staged in the southern China city for the next five years, from 2015 to 2019.

The 12-player singles field in Zhuhai will consist of players ranked No.9 through No.20 in the world, along with one wildcard, in a four-group round robin format. The winners of each respective group will advance to the single elimination semi-final stage of the event.

Six doubles teams will compete in a two-group round robin format, with the winner of each group advancing to the final. 

The Elite Trophy will take place at the custom-designed, state-of-the-art tennis centre in Zhuhai, and will be played the week after the WTA Finals, which see the sport’s top-ranking stars compete in Singapore.

“This brand new event combining great players, a fantastic new stadium and the magnificent location of Zhuhai is a formula that will make the WTA Elite Trophy a success,” WTA chairman and chief executive Stacey Allaster said. “Thanks to the commitment and vision of the Zhuhai government, Huafa Group and Ace Pro Group - APG, the fan experience will be exciting and inspirational, and we will showcase women's tennis and this beautiful city to a global audience through broadcast, digital and social media.” 

Zhuhai’s Vice-Mayor Lydia Long added: “We are deeply grateful for WTA's trust and support in making Zhuhai's dream of joining the WTA family a reality. The people of Zhuhai will warmly welcome the best women tennis players and tourists from around the world to this beautiful, romantic and dynamic city.”

The addition of the Elite Trophy in Zhuhai aligns with the WTA’s strategic growth and development within the Asia-Pacific region. In 2014, 17 WTA tournaments took place in the region. 

The existing Tournament of Champions has been staged in the Bulgarian capital Sofia since 2012, but this year’s edition is set to be its last.

Under the deal, the capital of the United Arab Emirates will make its debut on the series' calendar by hosting the first event of the 2015 campaign on March 6-7. The deal will run until 2019.

“This is a partnership which represents a meeting of like minds in terms of ambitions,” ITU president Marisol Casado said. “Abu Dhabi is a world-class city and offers a fantastic combination of beautiful water and superb road infrastructure that is entirely suitable for a WTS event.

“In our talks leading up to the partnership it became apparent that Abu Dhabi wants to take its triathlon to the next level and expand the sport's reach in much the same way as ITU is determined to progress the sport internationally.”

While a first-time ITU race, Abu Dhabi has organised triathlons for age groups and professional triathletes in recent years. British athletes Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee, who collected gold and bronze at the 2012 Olympics respectively, are familiar with the race, with Alistair having won in 2013, and the brothers having crossed over together last year.

The event, slated as a sprint for the elites with both standard and sprint races on offer for age groupers, will be headquartered at the Abu Dhabi Sailing & Yacht Club where a 2,000-seat grandstand, a bike park, a 'Friends and Family' area, refreshment kiosks and kids zone will be built. It will also feature a 'swim start' off the Volvo Ocean Race yacht pontoons on Abu Dhabi Corniche - a first for the series. 

His Excellency Aref Al Awani, general secretary of ADSC, said: “We envisage a host of benefits emerging from this partnership. These include further positioning of Abu Dhabi as a destination for world-class sporting events, additional destination exposure among an influential client base, encouragement of our own youth to join in one of the world's fastest-growing Olympic sports and the promotion among our own community of the benefits of healthy lifestyles.”

Abu Dhabi is the only new stop on the 2015 calendar. Gold Coast in Australia (April 11-12) will return for the first time since 2009, while the ITU also confirmed that the World Triathlon London event will take place on May 30-31.

Other previously-announced stops on the schedule include Auckland, New Zealand (March 28-29); Cape Town, South Africa (April 25-26); Yokohama, Japan (May 16-17); Hamburg, Germany (July 18-19); Stockholm, Sweden (August 22-23); Edmonton, Canada (September 5-6); and Chicago, USA (September 15-20).

Lord Sebastian Coe said on Tuesday that the bidding procedures for major events such as the Olympic Games must retain the “human element”. 

As well as being vice president of the IAAF and a key figure behind London’s successful bid, Lord Coe is a member of the Olympic Agenda 2020 working group that is currently reviewing the bidding procedure for the Olympic Games.

“It’s quite dangerous to think that you can choreograph every moment of a bid,” Lord Coe told delegates at Securing Sport 2014 in London. “For a bid to win and gain acceptance you need personal relationships. They have got to work alongside an organising committee for many years – you need to know that the team that is bidding will also make a good organising team."

Lord Coe also contributed to the IOC’s last major review, the Olympic Commission 2000 which, he says, “made it very tough for bidding cities” while bringing about positive changes such as managing interaction between IOC members and bidding cities. 

“There’s a balance. We have to be careful not to take the human element out. And it’s hard to be told that you can’t just sit down with an IOC member and explain what the transportation or security strategy is.”

Asked about the issue of gifts, Lord Coe affirmed that he had never been offered or accepted any gifts in relation to bidding procedures. 

“We all probably understand the difference between a commemorative plate and a calendar and something more substantive. The law of common sense should prevail.”

The review of bidding procedure will be under discussion at HOST CITY Bid to Win on 28th October in London. Register at www.bidtowin-hostcity.net

Arup will provide advice for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to develop venues and infrastructure for the Games.

Arup’s service for the Tokyo Olympics includes masterplan review and advice for cross-sectorial specialty areas such as transport, security, sustainability and legacy. Jointly with partner consultant AECOM, Arup will also advise on the venue briefs and contribute to the strategy development for overall delivery of design and construction through the preparation stage to the legacy transformation.

“Arup is proud to have played a part in renewing Beijing and London in advance of the Olympics and is looking forward to continuing our contribution to the 2020 Tokyo Games,” Jerome Frost, the Arup director who was head of design and regeneration for the London Olympics, said.

“Through our experience in preparing cities for the Olympics and other international events, the firm has been responsible for much of the urban renewal of the host cities, ensuring the events serve as a catalyst for long-term investment and development.”

The partnership comes with construction work on Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium for the Games being delayed until mid-December at the earliest, according to the Japan Sport Council (JSC).

Under proposals, the city’s current National Stadium will be demolished for a $1.6bn (€1.2bn) 80,000-capacity facility to be built in its place. However, the demolition of the existing arena has faced a raft of delays in light of concerns over construction costs.

The JSC owns the current national stadium but plans have been put back once more due to complaints of irregularities in an earlier round of bids for the demolition project. A mid-December start date would be five months later than work on the stadium was originally slated to begin.

A Tokyo construction firm filed a complaint with the Government Procurement Review Board after a second round of bidding in the summer. The first round failed as all bids submitted were too high. 

“There was a complaint about the process and it was recommended to us that we hold another round of bidding," a JSC official said, according to the Reuters news agency. “We accepted that suggestion.”

A JSC internal investigation has led it to reject claims by workers from the company in question that bids were opened before the final price was set and that a firm other than the lowest bidder secured the job. The Government Procurement Review Board ordered another round of bidding despite reporting no evidence of wrongdoing.

Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura, whose ministry is in charge of Games preparation, admitted to “basic mistakes” being made in the process last month. 

He added: “This is extremely regrettable and we are taking it extremely seriously. We are recommending that another round of bidding be held.”

The JSC remains confident of meeting a contraction deadline for the new stadium to host matches when Japan stages the 2019 edition of the IRB Rugby World Cup.

Tokyo 2020 organisers are reviewing the locations of their current venue plans because of concerns over the rising costs of the Games.

Lega Serie A, the governing body of the top division of Italian football, has announced that Doha will host the game between Serie A champion Juventus and Coppa Italia holder Napoli on December 22.

Serie A president Maurizio Beretta said that the agreement is for this year’s game only at present. He added at the press conference to announce the deal in Paris, France: “We are grateful for the opportunity to be able to export our Supercoppa to an interesting and prestigious country like Qatar.”

The announcement comes with Fifa continuing to debate when Qatar will stage its World Cup. Last month, football’s global governing body put forward January/February 2022 and November/December 2022 as alternative dates, as opposed to the tournament’s traditional June/July slot.

Fifa has previously said that the World Cup should be moved to the winter to enable players and spectators to cope with the stifling summer temperatures in the Middle East. The local organising committee has repeatedly insisted that it is prepared to stage the tournament in its normal summer window by using air conditioned stadia. Fifa’s taskforce on the matter is scheduled to meet again in November.

The Supercoppa Italiana has traditionally marked the opening of the Italian football season, but the league has taken it to a variety of markets in recent years. The Supercoppa Italiana was held in Beijing in 2009, 2011 and 2012; New York in 2003; the Libyan capital of Tripoli in 2002 and Washington D.C. in 1993.

Juventus won the 2013 Supercoppa, defeating Coppa Italia holder Lazio 4-0 in Rome.