Egypt want Cup of Nations to start a day earlier

Cape Town - African Cup of Nations hosts Egypt want to start the tournament a day earlier than scheduled so fans can take full advantage over the opening weekend, the African Football Federation told AFP on Friday.

Egypt took over as hosts for the tournament two weeks ago after Cameroon was stripped of the event, and as part of their fast moving bid want to start on June 14, a Friday, instead of June 15 a day later.

The Egyptian authorities want to attract as many fans as possible to have their opening ceremony in the cavernous 75,000 capacity Cairo International Stadium, and therefore want to stage it on the first day of the weekend, which for them is a Friday.

"We are looking into it," CAF director Nathalie Rabe.

"Nothing has been agreed to yet," she said, adding that a decision would be swiftly forthcoming.

This will be the fourth CAN staged in Egypt, which has been expanded to 24 teams for the first time, up from 16 in 2017 in Gabon.