GOUDA ABU ELNOUR / AIPS: Egypt has been granted the hosting rights of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations after winning the majority of votes in Tuesday’s Confederation of African Football executive committee meeting.

Egypt obtained 16 out of 18 votes, with only one vote going to sole rival South Africa, while the remaining country abstained from voting.

The African football governing body said on Monday that the Executive Committee’s meeting in the Senegalese capital Dakar, to decide the host country, had been moved forward by a day without giving reasons.

Last December, Cameroon was stripped of the right to host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations due to both serious delays in its preparations for the tournament and the persistence of a violent separatist uprising near two of the planned venues.

CAF reopened a the bidding process and, after early favourite Morocco withdrew its interest, Egypt and South Africa were the only two countries to submit a candidacy.

The finals are set from June 15 to July 13, having been moved from January/February to escape the European club-versus-country problems and fit, more conveniently, into the unified international calendar.

Egypt had hosted four editions of the tournament, in 1959, 1974, 1986 and 2006. The Pharaohs won the prestigious competition seven times.

This year’s edition has seen major innovations, with the tournament expanded to 24 teams up from 16, and moved to a summer schedule instead of its former January-February calendar.

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