The Confederation of African Football (CAF) President, Ahmad Ahmad, announced in Dakar on Tuesday, January 8, 2019, that Egypt will host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations between June 15 and July 13.
The CAF executive committee has chosen Egypt instead South Africa as replacements for original hosts Cameroon, who were dropped due to delays in preparations and concerns over security.
“I am pleased to announce that Egypt will host CAN (Cup of Nations) 2019,” Malagasy Ahmad told reporters.
CAF had said the winner will not be disclosed until Wednesday, January 9, 2019 in order to let the media concentrate on the annual awards ceremony in Dakar.
However, Ahmad chose to make the announcement before the said date.
This will be the fifth time Egypt will host the African football after 1959, when the country was called the United Arab Republic, 1974, 1986 and 2006.
Egypt only entered the running to host the Cup of Nations when fellow North African country Morocco announced they would not bid to do so.
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Egypt boast of many international-standard venues with the Cairo International Stadium (72,000) and Borg El Arab Stadium in Alexandria (87,000) boasting the largest capacities.
After 13 years, the North Africa are set to host AFCON. They also have Ismailia, Port Said and Suez as other possible venues for tournament matches.
Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia and Uganda have all qualified for the 2019 tournament.
The final qualifiers will take place between March 18 and 26 to determine the countries that will fill up the remaining 10 places.
