Capitvating Facts: AFCON 2019

The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is kicking off in Egypt on 21 June and will run all the way until 19 July. This prestigious biannual football competition will put the best teams in Africa up against one another to find the continent’s champion, and this year the tournament will be as exciting and captivating as ever. With 24 teams competing for the top spot, we’re going to take a look at a few facts that make the 2019 AFCON tournament so interesting.

 

The Venue

If you weren’t already aware, Egypt were not intended to be the original host of this year’s tournament. That honour was meant to go to Cameroon, but sadly they were stripped of their hosting duties. The reasons were due to infrastructural delays, the Boko Haram insurgency and the Anglophone crisis in the country. The tournament was therefore handed to Egypt in January 2019.

You might also like: GHS 60,000 to be won on AFCON with Betway​

Introduction of VAR

 

Image Source: standard.co.uk

The video assistant referees (VARs) will be used for the first time in AFCON during this year’s tournament, starting from the Round of 16. VAR has generated non-stop controversy with its introduction into the European tournament formats, but we are hoping that it will be used sparingly and correctly.

Return of Tanzania

Tanzania have been absent from AFCON tournaments for 39 years, with their last appearance in 1980 unfortunately putting them in a group of heavyweights with Nigeria, Egypt and Ivory Coast. This year however, with Emmanuel Amuneke to lead them, they’ll be hoping to progress further in the tournament.

 

Fresh faces at AFCON

 

Image Source: futaa.com

There are three new countries to join the tournament this year who have never featured before in the history of AFCON. Mauritania, Namibia and Burundi all made it through the qualifiers and will make their first ever appearance. Fans from these countries are sure to be ecstatic.
 

Egypt host once more
 

Image Source: sportsworldghana.com

This will be the fifth time that Egypt will host the African Cup. Egypt had previously hosted the tournament in 1959, 1974 1986, 2006 and now 2019. They are now the country to have hosted it the most in the entire continent. Egypt will make use of 6 stadiums in 4 major cities for the tournament.

You might also like: AFCON 2019: Ghana set sights on fifth title

If you're as excited as we are for AFCON 2019, make sure you place your outright bets at Betway Ghana. You'll also be able to bet on a range of exciting markets, on all your favourite teams as they progress through the groups, into the knockouts and hopefully into the finals.
 

Predict the score of each match in the 2019 AFCON competition to earn points, top the leaderboard at the end of the competition, and you’ll walk away with GHS 60,000 in cash.

If you are new to Betway, click HERE to register a new account, and take advantage of our 50% first deposit offer up to GHS 200 in Free Bets which you can use to bet on AFCON.

For all the latest sports news, betting tips and promotions follow Betway on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Download the Betway App.