5 international tournaments to look forward to in 2019

#3 African Cup of Nations

Cameroon celebrating winning the African Cup of Nations in 2017

The 32nd edition of the African Cup of Nations will be a very different experience compared to previous tournaments.

It will be the first one that will feature 24 teams and unlike previous years, it will be played in the summer. Cameroon are the hosts with play starting on June 7 and ending on June 30.

For the first time since 1984, all African teams failed to progress from the opening round at the FIFA World Cup, but there have always been exciting players on the Dark Continent who take great pride from winning the local championships.

Many of them even ignored their club's wishes when the tournament was previously played in January and February.

With CAF moving the competition into the Summer, all the top players should be playing in 2019 and it promises to be a very unpredictable tournament, as it usually is in Africa.

The last five editions have all been won by different teams and we witnessed a real shock winner in 2012 when Zambia beat Ivory Coast in the final. There have also been nations like Equatorial Guinea and Burkina Faso among the top-three at recent tournaments.

Hosts Cameroon will be defending the title after beating Egypt 2-1 in the 2017 final. They are also currently the only side that has qualified for the tournament. The qualifiers have already started and will conclude in March 2019.