Morocco have been stripped of the right to host next year’s Africa Cup, the Confederation of African Football decided yesterday as it examined prospective replacements.

It has also disqualified Morocco from playing in the finals, which CAF said would go ahead as planned on the scheduled dates of Jan. 17-Feb. 8.

Morocco’s removal as hosts follows the north African country’s request for a postponement of the tournament over fears of the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.

Morocco believes thousands of travelling supporters from west Africa pose a risk and wanted a postponement of at least six months while the fight against Ebola intensified.

But CAF rejected any change to the planned dates citing a packed calendar. They gave Morocco an ultimatum of Saturday to withdraw their request which was rejected.

CAF said it had received “a few applications from national associations confirming their desire to host the 2015 finals on the dates agreed”.

But it did not name any of them. No country has made any public expression of interest.