Breaking: 2019 Africa Cup of Nations Dates Changed

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has moved the kick-off dates of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

The tournament, to be hosted in Egypt, was initially scheduled to kick-off on June 14 to July 13, but will now move to the final week of June.

The new kick-off date is pegged on June 21 with the most prestigious football tourney in the continent running until July 19. The decision was arrived at in order to accommodate Ramadhan activities.

The draw for the first ever 24 nations tournament will take place on April 12 this year, weeks after the last qualifiers in the month of March.

Fourteen nations have already booked their slot hosts Egypt, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Madagascar, Tunisia, Senegal, Morocco, Nigeria, Mali, Guinea, Algeria, Mauritania and Ivory Coast.

The other 10 slots will be decided on the final round of the qualifiers that will be played on the weekend of March 22-24.

Ramadan, in which Muslims abstain from food and water from sunrise to sunset, will this year be observed from the start of May until the beginning of June.

The change in kick off date is a blessing in disguise to keen followers of Women’s Football as they will have time to enjoy a good part of the Women’s World Cup before linking up with their Men’s national teams later in Egypt.