African Cup of Nations now starts on June 21 to enable players recover from effects of Ramadan

NIGERIA's Super Eagles will participate in the 2019 African Cup of Nations a week later than earlier planned because the tournament has been moved back by a week to begin on June 21 to enable players recover from the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

This summer, Egypt will host the African Cup of Nations after Cameroon was stripped of hosting rights due to the fact that some of its facilities were not ready. With Ramadan likely to begin on the evening of May 5 and end around June 4, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) has decided to move the tournament back by a week to enable players recover.

Muslims during daylight hours over the Ramadan period, which can have an effect on the performance of athletes. With the expanded 24-team African Cup of Nations tournament, more players than ever will be affected by the fasting, forcing Caf to come up with a new schedule in which it will kick-off on June 21 with the final taking place on July 19.

On Saturday, a decision to this effect was taken after a meeting of the Caf Emergency Committee, with the governing body confirming the shift in a circular sent to its member associations. Apparently, a request was made for the move by a number of mainly Muslim North African nations, including Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.

Caf has also confirmed that the draw for the first round pool stage will take place in Cairo on April 12. So far, 14 countries have already booked their place in the tournament, including first time participants Madagascar and Mauritania and the remaining 10 places to be decided when the qualification campaign concludes in March.