Australia have announced that they will be travelling to the African congress in Angola despite Qatar denying them the opportunity to give a presentation.

There had been rumours that Australia would boycott the event after Qatar moved quickly to sponsor the congress which meant that only they were permitted to present their bid to the four key voters in the African region.

However, Ben Buckley, chief executive of the Football Federation Australia, said that Australia would definitely be travelling to the event despite being furious over the prevention of presenting their campaign at the Congress. Fortunately, countries are still permitted to set up independent meetings to speak about their bid.

Ben Buckley

Buckley said: “The Africa Cup Of Nations is one of the most prestigious tournaments in world football and we always planned to have a strong presence at the event. It is a fantastic tournament and a great opportunity for us to talk about Australia’s bid credentials and support football in Africa”.

With a European nation widely expected to win the rights to the 2018 World Cup. Australia are primarily focusing on winning the rights to the 2022 tournament. However, Qatar and Indonesia in particular are looking to provide stern opposition from the Asian region.