South Africa and Egypt are the only two countries that have officially submitted their bids to host the Afcon 2019 finals. This comes after Cameroon was stripped of the rights to host the event over security concerns and construction delays of the stadiums. Ivory Coast and Algeria was short listed with Cameroon to host the event. Cameroon ultimately won the rights to host the Finals.
The 2019 tournament is going to be the biggest tournament to date. This will be the first time in the history of the event where a 24 team format will be played as opposed the 16 team format that has always been played. Zambia also expressed their interest in hosting the event but sport minister Moses Maware said that the resources needed coupled with the short notice was the reason that Zambia decided not to bid to host the 2019 event.
South Africa has hosted the event in 1996 and in 2013. The country stepped in to host the 2013 event after the Libya was not able to do so. South Africa was also the first ever African country to host a Football World Cup in 2010. Egypt has also hosted two Afcon finals in the past. The country was a host country back in 1986 and later in 2006. Both countries have the needed infrastructure to be able to host the event in 2019. Ghana and Morocco also expressed their interest in hosting but also did not submit formal bids.
In a statement from the governing body CAF “A CAF Extraordinary Executive Committee Meeting will take place in Dakar, Senegal on January 9, 2019 to agree on the new AFCON 2019 Host Nation.” A few teams have already qualified for the event and the final qualification matches will be played in March 2019. Zambia is currently sitting on the bottom of their group with only one game remaining against Namibia on the 19th of March 2019. You can make your predictions and place your bet on the Afcon 2019 at Betway Zambia sports betting.