Musa, Salah forces CAF to shift 2019 AFCON date

Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) has pushed by six days this year’s Africa Cup of Nations to enable Muslim players in the 24 participating teams enough time to recover before the start of the tournament scheduled for Egypt.

Going by the new date, the tournament will now kick off on June 21 instead of June 15.

This year’s edition is to cater for the Muslim that will observe the Ramadan time to rest and recover after a month of fasting.

The final has been put back six days to July 19. The move came after a request from a group of North African nations.

Some of Africa’s biggest stars, including Egypt forward Mohamed Salah and Senegal winger Sadio Mane, Nigeria internationals, Ahmed Musa and Shehu Abdullahi are practicing Muslims.

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Muslims abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan, making it difficult for their teams to train or play.