2019 Africa Cup of Nations Outright Betting

Jon Wilde 04 Jul 2019

Mo Salah (right) in action for Egypt (PA Images)

Latest outright odds for the 2019 Total Africa Cup of Nations – preview of the tournament in Egypt and a guide to the range of bets available.

Egypt have stepped in at late notice to host the 2019 Total Africa Cup of Nations – and been installed as favourites to increase their record number of victories in the tournament to eight.

Title-holders Cameroon were due to stage this summer’s competition, which has been moved to June and July from the usual January date to bring it into line with the other big continental championships in Europe and the Americas.

However, Cameroon were stripped of the hosting rights and Egypt awarded them in January, with the Pharoahs quoted as the 11/2 favourites by bookmaker Paddy Power to add to their seven previous victories, the most recent of which was in 2010.

Runners-up two years ago, Egypt, coached by former Atletico Madrid and Mexico manager Javier Aguirre, of course have Liverpool forward Mo Salah as their talisman and they will begin their campaign against Zimbabwe on Friday June 21 before also facing DR Congo and Uganda during the group stage.

Second favourites at 7/1 with bet365 are Senegal, who also have a Liverpool attacker as their star man in Sadio Mane.

Senegal’s previous best achievement in the Africa Cup of Nations was when they finished runners-up in 2002, which was also the year in which they made the big breakthrough on the global stage by reaching the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

Aliou Cisse, who captained the Lions of Teranga at that World Cup, is now their manager, as he was at Russia 2018, and his team will take on Tanzania, Algeria and Kenya in the group stage of the tournament in Egypt.

Ghana have been African champions on four occasions but not since 1982, although they were runners-up to the Ivory Coast in 2015 after a penalty shootout, and they can be backed at 8/1 with BetVictor.

The Black Stars have been pooled with defending champions Cameroon, whom they play in their second group match sandwiched in between games against Benin and Guinea-Bissau.

Among the other leading contenders in the betting are Nigeria, the last of whose three African titles came in 2013; Morocco, winners on just a single occasion in 1976; and their group-stage opponents Ivory Coast, seeking to repeat their successes in 1992 and 2015 with South Africa and Namibia completing that tough-looking pool.