Egypt to host 2019 Africa Cup of Nations

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) put an end to a long wait by naming Egypt as Afcon 2019 hosts, following an executive meeting held in Dakar, Senegal on Tuesday morning.

The North African country was competing for hosting rights with South Africa, who were bidding to hold the event for a third time.

This comes after reigning champions, Cameroon were stripped of hosting rights, thanks to a number of concerns including a terror threat posed by the Boko Haram.

Cameroon were deemed not ready to host the tournament, with stadium construction running well behind schedule, prompting the two bidding nations to step in in the last minute.

The country has since been named as hosts of the 2021 edition, with Ivory Coast and Guinea taking the 2023 and 2025 editions respectively.

This year’s tournament will be held between 15 June and 13 July – the first during this time of the year, as it’s previously been held around January and February.

The change was brought about with a view to hold the event during the offseason, instead of having it coincide with an active period in football leagues across the globe.

The latest developments underline the significance of the Afcon 2019 qualifier between Libya and South Africa, as the latter would have automatically qualified by virtue of hosting the competition.

Bafana Bafana need to avoid defeat in order to go through, having failed to qualify for the previous edition, while nothing but all three points will do for their opponents.