By David Abiola
The much anticipated 2019 African Cup of Nations will kick-off today 21st June, 2019 with an opening match between Egypt and Zimbabwe by 9pm.
The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations which will have 24 countries contesting for one title with Egypt as its host country is the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations.
The biennial international men’s football championship of Africa is usually organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
The tournament which was initially scheduled to be hosted in Cameroon was moved to Egypt on 8th of January, 2019.
Cameroon National team who won the previous edition would have hosted the competition for the first time since 1972 but due failure to provide adequate infrastructure at match venues, combined with the conflict between French-and English speakers in the country prompted Africa’s CAF football federation to withdraw Cameroon’s hosting rights in January.
Super Eagles of Nigeria who was last seen in 2013 Africa Cup of Nations hosted in South Africa will be playing in 2019 edition after playing through the tournament in 2013 with an unbeaten run to defeat Burkina Faso in the finals to lift the Cup for the third time.
Champions at the 2019 edition is to go home with US $4.5 million, while Runners-up will get US $2.5 million. Semi-finalists on the other hand will go home with US $2.0 million while Quarter-finalists will get US $800,000.
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