The Egyptian under-20 national team will travel to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday to launch their closed camp training in preparation for the African Championship.

Egypt will take part in the African under-20 championship that was scheduled to be played in Libya from 18 March to 1 April, but which is now in doubt, given the protests that have swept Libyan cities.

The Executive Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) is close to holding a meeting to make a final decision on naming a country to replace Libya in hosting the tournament.

Earlier this month, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Algeria declared their interest in hosting the African U-20 Championship and are on stand-by waiting for the CAF decision.

The U-20 national team coach, Diyaa El-Sayed, declared that the team will play friendlies against Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Cameroon on 9, 12 and 14 March respectively.

“We will play three friendlies ... during the Emirates camp to [assess] the players fitness for the African Championship,” El-Sayed told Reuters.