Egypt football authorities have selected six stadiums for their hosting of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations which starts in June. With more than 20 stadiums in the country capable of staging Africa's flagship football event, the Local Organising Committee settled on the six.
The stadiums are the Cairo International Stadium, Port Said Stadium, The Air Force Stadium all based in the capital Cairo.
The remaining stadiums are Ismailia Stadium, the Suez Sport Stadium and the Alexandria Stadium.
Below is a brief background of all the stadia selected for the competition which starts 21 June.
Cairo International Stadium
The Cairo International Stadium or "Stad El Qahira El Dawly", is an Olympic-standard, multi-use stadium with an all-seated capacity of 75,000.
The architect of the stadium is the German Werner March, who had built from 1934 to 1936 the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. Before becoming an all seater stadium, it had the ability to hold over 100,000 spectators, reaching a record of 120,000.
It is the foremost Olympic-standard facility befitting the role of Cairo, Egypt as the center of events in the region. It is also the 69th largest stadium in the world.
Located in Nasr City; a suburb north east of Cairo, it was completed in 1960, and was inaugurated by President Gamal Abd El Nasser on 23 July that year, the eighth anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.
Zamalek SC currently use the Petro Sport Stadium for most of their home games and Al Ahly use Al-Salam Stadium for most of their home games.
The Air Force Stadium
The 30 June Stadium of Air Force is a stadium used mostly for football matches and also sometimes for athletics located in Cairo.
It was built by the Egyptian Air Defense Forces. The stadium is the main venue of the Air Defense Sport Village.
The stadium has a capacity of 30,000 and it is one of the venues of the Egyptian Premier League.
It is the home ground of the Egyptian Premier League side Pyramids F.C.
In March 2019 it was announced that the stadium will host the fixtures of Group C in African Cup of Nations 2019.
Suez Stadium
The Suez Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Suez, Egypt.
It is used mostly for football and serves as the home stadium of Asmant El-Suweis & Petrojet.
The stadium has a capacity of 27,000 people. It opened in 1990.
Alexandria Stadium
Alexandria Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Alexandria, Egypt. It is currently used mostly for football matches, and was used for the 2006 African Cup of Nations.
The stadium is the oldest stadium in Egypt and Africa, being built in 1929.
The stadium holds 20,000 people after recent upgrading.
Ismailia Stadium
The Ismailia Stadium is located in Ismailia, Egypt, and has a total capacity of 18,525 after its reconstruction in 2009.
It is used by Ismaily SC, and was one of six stadiums to be used in the 2006 African Cup of Nations, held in Egypt.
The Port Said Stadium
Port Said Stadium is a multi-use all-seated stadium in Al Manakh, Port Said, Egypt, which opened in 1955 and inaugurated by Hussein El Shafei, the Egyptian minister of social affairs on behalf of President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Al Masry Club Stadium is owned by Al Masry Sporting Club, and has a capacity of 18,000.
The stadium was banned from all activities on 1 February 2012 after the incidents of Port Said Stadium riot occurred following a league match between Al Masry and Al Ahly which resulted in the death 72 Al Ahly fans, 1 Al Masry fan and 1 police officer.
The Egyptian Football Association suspended all football related activities immediately following that disaster.
On 10 February 2018, after more than 6 years since the disaster, football activities returned to the stadium as Al Masry played against Zambian team Green Buffaloes in the preliminary qualifying round of the 2018 CAF Confederation Cup.
The stadium also hosted some matches in 1997 FIFA U-17 World Championship, 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, 2007 Pan Arab Games Football Tournament, 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup and 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
jacksonjuan
103
This stadium 🏟 looks really great although I’m not that happy my country didn’t qualify 🤦🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️ I might watch some of the games on tv tho good luck to all those countries especially the east Africa one Cz that’s where I’m from tho my country didn’t qualify ✅🇷🇼🇷🇼Rwanda ❤️❤️🔥✅💪🏿
Crunch_Salama
77
This one is borg el Arab Stadium not Suez Stadium. It is not going to feature in the tournament although it is the Stadium with the most capacity in Egypt and 10th on the world of football (about 86,000 seats) while Cairo international stadium (about 75,000)
Voycstuyz
49
I think CAF should be more clinical in choosing country of Host most notables what they can offer.For example the stadium they will be using,Cairo stadium is good with 75,0000 capacity, but they need to explain why they include 20,000,18,000,18,450 etc they are drag in African football to the mud. those stadium can not take in all the spectator and that one will neva produce enough fund to the federation. let me educate them more (CAF) for instance, u can used co-host or two countries to host one tournament if one country don't have enough facilities.
Voycstuyz
39
I think CAF should be more clinical in choosing country of Host most notables what they can offer.For example the stadium they will be using,Cairo stadium is good with 75,0000 capacity, but they need to explain why they include 20,000,18,000,18,450 etc they are drag in African football to the mud. those stadium can not take in all the spectator and that one will neva produce enough fund to the federation. let me educate them more (CAF) for instance, u can used co-host or two countries to host one tournament if one country don't have enough facilities.