Egypt wins bid to replace Cameroon as Africa Cup of Nations host

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has announced that Egypt will host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations

Egypt beat out South Africa by 16 votes to one with one abstention at a Caf executive committee vote in Dakar, Senegal.

Cameroon, the original hosts of the tournament, were stripped of staging the competition in November due to slow preparation.

The announcement means it will be the fifth time that the north African country has held the tournament. Egypt won it in 2006 when they also hosted the event.

Egypt FA president Hany Abu Rida was jubilant at the decision. He said,

“I want to thank the [Caf] committee for the trust, and I thank the government for this support.

“We organised the tournament in 2006 and that makes us against a challenge to make better and better, we are ready for this honour.

“The guarantee from government helped us win against South Africa and that will help us make a good tournament.”

Egypt will use eight different stadiums in five different cities: Alexandria, Port Said, Suez, Ismailia and the capital Cairo.

Cameroon has been offered the opportunity to host the finals in two years’ time, leading to protests from Ivory Coast, who are set to host the tournament in 2021, while 2023 host nation Guinea have agreed to move its staging of the competition to 2025.