In breaking news Egypt have been confirmed as the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations hosts after the tournament was taken away from Cameroon due to poor infrastructure and planning.

Egypt has defeated South Africa to win the hosting rights for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) confirmed on Tuesday.

A meeting of the Executive Committee in Dakar, Senegal was brought forward a day – presumably so as not to take attention away from Wednesday’s award ceremony in which the African Footballer of the Year will be announced.

According to media outlet Ahram, Egypt obtained 16 votes out of 18, as only one went for South Africa, while the remaining country abstained from voting.

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

Following the decision on stripping the West African nation of the right to host, CAF opened a new bidding process.

Egypt and South Africa were the only two countries to submit their candidacy to become 2019 host.

The 2019 AFCON is scheduled to take place from 15 June to 13 July, and will be the first of a new format featuring a 24-team field. It has also been moved to the middle months of the year to avoid clashes with the European football calendar.

This will be the fifth AFCON hosted in Egypt, following tournaments in the North African country in 1959, 1974, 1986 and 2006.