Gabon has been chosen as the host nation for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations tournament ©CAF

Gabon has been chosen as host nation of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations by the Confederation of African Football's (CAF) Executive Committee at a meeting in Cairo today.

It will be the second time the country has staged the tournament in five years after they co-hosted the 2012 event with Equatorial Guinea.

They beat off competition from Algeria and Ghana to land the right to host the 2017 event.

Gabon, located on the West Coast of Africa, is set to utilise four venues across the country, located in its capital Libreville, as well as Franceville, Port Gentil and Oyem.

The tournament itself is scheduled to be played in January and February, and Gabon Football Federation officials promised the stadiums will be ready within 14 months.

Gabon, Algeria and Ghana all made presentations on why they were the right choice to stage the 2017 tournament at the CAF meeting before the ballot was taken.

No details of the voting have been made public.

As well as deciding the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations host country, the draw for the qualification stages was also made, which featured Morocco and Tunisia, who have both had recent public run-ins with CAF.

Morocco were initially banned from competing at the next two tournaments following their refusal to stage this year’s competition over fears over Ebola, which prompted Equatorial Guinea to step in as last minute hosts.

Tunisia were named in the draw for the 2017 tournament after they apologised for claiming the CAF were biased following their shock 2015 Africa Cup of Nations exit to Equatorial Guinea
Tunisia were named in the draw for the 2017 qualification tournament after they apologised for claiming the CAF were biased following their shock 2015 Africa Cup of Nations exit to Equatorial Guinea ©Getty Images

The Royal Moroccan Football Federation were successful in appealing CAF’s decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), and they also managed to get their fine reduced from $1 million (£670,000/€924,000) to a significantly-lower $50,000 (£33,000/€46,000).

Tunisia, meanwhile, were livid about a penalty decision during their 2-1 after extra-time defeat to Equatorial Guinea in the quarter-finals of this year’s Africa Cup of Nations and they subsequently accused CAF of being biased.

Mauritian referee Rajindraparsad Seechurn was given a six-month ban from officiating for his performance in the controversial match but the Tunisian Football Federation were still forced to apologise for their claims or they risked expulsion from the qualification stages of the 2017 tournament.

Tunisia had originally lodged a protest to CAS following a refusal to apologise to CAF, which then they decided to withdraw.

They feature in Group A along with Togo, Liberia and Djibouti, while Morocco will come up against Libya, Sao Tome and Cape Verde in Group F.