Egypt to Host African Cup of Nations

(ATR) Egypt will host the African Cup of Nations later this year.

The decision by the Confederation of African Football(CAF) Executive Committee on Tuesday wasn’t close. Egypt beat South Africa by a 16-1 vote, with one abstention, in Dakar, Senegal.

A new host for the tournament was needed after Cameroon was stripped of hosting duties in November because of slow preparations.

Egypt has only six months to prepare for the tournament, which is expanding from 16 to 24 teams this year. This is the fifth time that Egypt will be hosting the Cup of Nations, having won three of the previous four times it had the home advantage. Egypt has won the tournament seven times, more than any other country.

The tournament will be held from June 15 to July 13, following a decision by CAF in 2017 to move it from its traditional window of January and February. Playing the Cup of Nations during the northern hemisphere winter clashed with the schedules for the major European clubs, who had to release players in the middle of their season.

CAF is giving Cameroon a second chance at hosting the event, this time in 2021. But that decision means the original hosts for 2021 and 2023 have been asked to wait an additional two years to host their tournaments.

Guinea on Monday agreed to stage the event in 2025 rather than 2023, but the Ivory Coast is balking at moving from 2021 to 2023. The Ivorians have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in hopes of keeping the 2021 tournament.

Written by Gerard Farek

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