The fresh start of this year is bringing explosion for the African football fans. This year will account many events of football which will keep the fans engaged and fully packed with action.
2019 will be the highlight for the Africa Cup of Nations finals in mid-year, junior championships, club competitions, and the Women’s World Cup.
So, here is the list of important dates of the African football calendar in 2019.
African Football Calendar: Important Dates
9 January, 2019: The Union of African Football’s executive committee will come together in Dakar. This meet will be held for deciding the emergency hosts of the Africa Cup of Nations finals. Both Egypt and South Africa have put their names in place of Cameroon.
Egypt hosted the tournament in 2006 and Africa in 2013. Confederation of African Football president Ahmad will then disclose who will be replacing Cameroon in the 2019 Nations Cup.
11 January, 2019: The group stages the new season of the African Champions League. There will be 16 teams this year that includes 10 previous winners and three new arrivals.
22 January, 2019: The inducement for the group stages of the African Confederation Cup will be held in Cairo. The 16 teams will be divided into four groups of four.
February, 2019: The postponed Super Cup between Esperance of Tunisia and Morocco’s Raja Casablanca will be played in Qatar. The date is yet to come.
19 March – 21 March, 2019: The final round of runner-ups will be played across the continent for the 2019 Nations Cup.
14 April, 2019: The African Under-17 Championships will be hosted in Tanzania. It will be running for a two-week period. At the end, the top four finishers will represent Africa in the U17 World Cup.
31 May, 2019: The second leg of the African Champions League final.
5 June, 2019: Gianni Infantino looks for re-election as Fifa president in Paris.
7 June, 2019: South Africa is making debut at the Women’s World Cup in France.
15 June, 2019: The month-long event of Kick-off of the 24 team Nations Cup finals. The teams will be divided into six groups of four. The final will be held on 13 July.
July, 2019: The draw for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers will be arranged in Qatar.
16 August -18 August, 2019: The planned dates for the 2018-19 Super Cup.
9 August, 2019: The start of the preliminary matches. The 2019-2020 season of the Champions League will mark about 56 years.
9 October, 2019: The draw for the Champions League group stages and the third round of the Confederation Cup will be hosted.
11 October, 2019: The qualifier matches for the 2022 World Cup and the 2021 Nations Cup are scheduled to start but has yet to fix the format. The Caf executive decided in Moscow that the two preliminary games would be played separately. There was a proposal to have both qualifier competitions combined to cut costs for countries qualifiers but Caf’s management denied.
19 November, 2019: The U-23 Africa Cup of Nations will be hosted in Egypt. Determining the qualifiers for the next Olympic Games men’s football tournament in Japan will be done.
29 November, 2019: The group stages of the 2019-20 Champions League.
11 December, 2019: The Fifa Club World Cup will start but the location is not declared. Prediction is that it may move from Abu Dhabi to China.
