Egypt to host AFCON 2019, Mo Salah named top Africa player: Egypt was selected to host the 2019 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) for the second time this summer, after receiving 16 out of 17 votes, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced yesterday. The competition will be held from 15 June to 13 July 2019.

Egypt was up against South Africa for the hosting gig, but South Africans were reportedly not too keen on hosting the (expensive) tournament for the second time in less than a decade. This year’s edition of the championship will see 24 African teams competing for the title — which Egypt has taken home seven times — up from 16 teams previously.

The story is, far and away, topping coverage of Egypt in the foreign press, with Reuters, the BBC, CNN and Goal among those taking note.

The story topped coverage on the airwaves with Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhy telling Al Hayah Al Youm that documents to host the tournament were prepared in less than two days before bringing them forward to CAF (watch, runtime: 02:25). Sabry also denied rumors that Egypt’s Premier League will be canceled as a result of hosting the tournament (watch, runtime: 00:44) and invited those with suggestions on organization to share them with the ministry via its website (watch, runtime: 03:36).

The news comes as Mohamed Salah is named African Footballer of the Year for the second consecutive year at the CAF’s 2018 awards ceremony in Dakar on Tuesday. Salah is now the fourth player to claim back-to-back wins of the prestigious award, alongside African legends El Hadji Diouf, Samuel Eto’o and Yaya Toure. "I’m proud to win it twice, I must thank my family and my team mates, and I dedicate this award to my country, Egypt," Salah said after accepting the award (watch, runtime 4:02). The Associated Press, Sky Sports and the BBC also have the story.

Meanwhile, Qatar’s beIN Sports has cut its service to Egypt over disagreements with service provider Cable Network Egypt (CNE) over commercial terms, it said in a statement. No further details were provided on the dispute, but the move means mns of Egyptians will no longer be able to watch top sporting events, including Premier League. Reuters also has the story.

CNE says it’s working on it: Cable Network Egypt has responded to the decision by reassuring its subscribers that it’s working on solving the problem asap and that refunds will be made in case the issue was not resolved. CNE’s board of directors met on Tuesday to discuss the latest developments and will publish a detailed statement soon disclosing its next moves, boss Mohamed Ahmed Hamdeen told Al Mal.

Masaa DMC ‘s Osama Kamal suggested that beIN Sports’ decision to stop broadcasting in Egypt is political and related toour win to host AFCON. (watch, runtime: 06:48).