Tunisia, Egypt & Senegal also book Afcon 2019 places

Tunisia, Egypt and Senegal joined Madagascar on Tuesday as the latest qualifiers for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations to be held in Cameroon. This brings to five the total number of teams qualified so far. Nineteen nations are expected to join these qualifiers for the expanded edition of the continent’s flagship football tournament. Additional groups – Group E and Group F – will be introduced into the tournament, which switches to June-July from January-February.

As a result of the number of teams to participate – 24 – there will be a Round of 16 for the first time. Madagascar’s qualification on Tuesday as the first team to do so was a good omen for the island nation as it comes a year after its football association president, Ahmad Ahmad, became the President of the Confederation of African Football (Caf).

• Madagascar qualify for maiden Afcon

The island nation are joined by Senegal – on 10 points apiece – as the qualifiers from Group A. Tunisia and Egypt also pick the tickets from Group J of qualification. The likes of Uganda, Guinea and Mali could qualify after the next round of matches in November with the final round of qualifiers scheduled for March, 2019. By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|editors.3news.com|Ghana Follow @kwame_amoh