Africa Cup of Nations in jeopardy as Morocco refuse to host over Ebola fears

· Morocco reject Confederation of African Football ultimatum
· Decision based on ‘threat of Ebola and risk of it spreading'
· CAF will now try to find a new host – or cancel tournament
· Ebola for beginners: Twitter map touches a nerve

Issa Hayatou, president of CAF, held talks to try and save the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

Morocco has refused to host January's Africa Cup of Nations finals amid fears over the spread of the Ebola virus, throwing the 2015 tournament into jeopardy.

The country, who had asked for the 16-team event to be postponed, rejected an ultimatum set by the Confederation of African Football to confirm their hosting of the championship, due to take place 17 January to 8 February.

A statement from Morocco's sports ministry said: "The decision is dictated by health reasons because of the serious threat of Ebola and the risk of its spreading."

A decision on what happens next will be made next week when CAF have an executive committee meeting in Cairo, but Morocco will almost certainly be stripped as hosts.

Morocco is concerned that supporters from west Africa converging on the country could bring with them the deadly virus and put at risk their important tourist industry. They had asked for the event to be postponed to June, or even January 2016, but this was rejected by CAF, who set a deadline of Saturday to confirm their host status.

CAF can now either move the event to another country - although they have had no public expression of interest from nations they approached to be on standby as possible emergency hosts - or cancel it at great financial cost.

CAF accused Morocco of being alarmist in its fears over the spread of the virus, which has caused almost 5,000 deaths in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, and set out a lengthy list of reasons why it felt they could still host the tournament without any risk.

But Morocco stood firm and could face sanctions including the possibility of a lengthy ban from future tournaments - despite an offer in the new statement to host the 2017 finals.

The tournament is African football's showpiece but has a turbulent history, with several prospective hosts such as Kenya, Libya, Zambia and Zimbabwe pulling out or being stripped of hosting rights in the past after being awarded the tournament.

Libya gave up the hosting of the 2017 finals in August and CAF must find a replacement. The 2019 finals are set for Cameroon, 2021 in the Ivory Coast and 2023 in Guinea.