The Confederation of African Football, CAF on Tuesday, announced Egypt as the hosts of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament after their executive meeting in Dakar, Senegal.
South Africa and Egypt were the only two nations to submit bids for the tournament, which is only five months away from kicking off, after Cameroon were dumped as hosts late last year.
North African media outlets had predicted an Egyptian win long before the announcement was made. Following CAF’s decision to strip Cameroon of the hosting rights due to delays in infrastructure and security concerns, Egypt and South Africa bid to step in as late hosts.
From the outset, the North Africans bid was more coherent and had government approval while South Africa’s lacked the guarantees.
This year’s edition, which is the 32nd will be unique because the competition has undertaken major innovations, with the tournament expanded to 24 teams up from 16, and moved to an off-season schedule instead of its former January-February calendar.
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