Confederation of African Football (CAF) have today announced Egypt as the new hosts of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
The decision was made after an executive meeting in Dakar, Senegal on Tuesday morning ahead of the 2018 Caf awards ceremony.
Egypt beat South Africa to win the hosting rights after initial hosts Cameroon were dumped due to unpreparedness.
Egypt and South Africa are the two countries that bid to replace Cameroon but the South African Football Association (Safa) never got the backing from the government which reportedly made it difficult for Caf to accept their bid.
The North African country received 16 votes to South Africa’s one, Caf confirmed in a press conference.
Egypt last hosted the continental tournament in 2006, for South Africa it was 2013 – they’ve hosted on four occasions in total compared to South Africa’s two.
The Pharaohs are the record holders of the Afcon trophy having won it seven times.
Fourteen countries have already confirmed their places at the 2019 tournament and they are; Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Madagascar, Morocco, Mali, Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria, Egypt, Uganda, Mauritania, Guinea and Ivory Coast.
The other ten places will be decided during the final qualifiers in March 2019.
The 2019 AFCON tournament will be the first to host 24 teams. The competition will be held from 15th June to 13th July.