The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations is upon us, with 24 teams competing for glory in Egypt.
Cameroon return as defending AFCON champions, having beaten Egypt 2-1 in the 2017 final.
The Indomitable Lions are out to defend their crown, but will face renewed pressure from hosts Egypt, who boasting Mohamed Salah still flying high after his Champions League triumph with Liverpool.
However, Salah's Liverpool team-mate Sadio Mane is also in with a shout of glory with Senegal heavily backed to lift the trophy.
Here's what you need to know for the upcoming drama...
Egypt will stage the competition from June 21 until July 19. Six venues across four cities will be used, with three stadia in Cairo and one each in Alexandria, Suez and Ismailia.
The 74,100-capacity Cairo International Stadium will host the final and the opening match. Cameroon were initially selected as hosts but were stripped of the responsibility in November by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) because "a number of compliance conditions" had not been met.
The start of the tournament was also pushed back six days to allow players to rest after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Teams
Egypt, Madagascar, Tunisia, Senegal, Morocco, Nigeria, Uganda, Mali, Guinea, Algeria, Mauritania, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Ghana, Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia, Zimbabwe, DR Congo, Benin, Tanzania, South Africa
Which Premier League stars are involved?
Liverpool trio Salah (Egypt), Mane (Senegal), and Naby Keita (Guinea) will be among the Premier League talent on display.
Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha and Tottenham full-back Serge Aurier have been included in Ivory Coast's squad, while Manchester City title-winner Riyad Mahrez is Algeria's star man.
Other top-flight players involved include Arsenal's Alex Iwobi (Nigeria), Spurs midfielder Victor Wanyama (Kenya), and Everton's Idrissa Gueye (Senegal).
Since the last competition in 2017, the biennial tournament has been expanded from 16 teams to 24. It will follow a similar format to Euro 2016. Countries have been drawn into six groups of four and will face each group opponent once.
The top two teams are guaranteed places in the knockout stages, while the four best third-place teams will also progress. The tournament will be played in Europe's summer for the first time.
It has previously been held in January and February, causing disputes with European clubs who lose players during the season.
Groups
The top two teams from each group will go through to the knockout stages, along with the top four third-placed teams.
GROUP A: EGYPT, DR CONGO, UGANDA, ZIMBABWE
Egypt, the host nation of the biggest Africa Cup of Nations and most successful team in the competition will face a stiff competition in their effort to qualify from Group A and possibly win the trophy.
EGYPT
Egypt are without mincing words one of the favorites to win the competition. While the Pharaohs are only the eighth highest-ranked African nation by FIFA, the hosts are the most successful side in AFCON history.
They hold the record for most titles, having won seven while Cameroon have five. Egypt are also the only country to have won the crown three times on the trot from 2006 to 2010, joining Argentina and Mexico as the only nations to win their continental cup three consecutive times.
DR CONGO
DR Congo, ranked 46th in the world and fifth in Africa are searching for a third ACFON title. The Leopards have won it twice before but it should be noted that their last success was in 1974.
Since then, they have won bronze on two different occasions, once in 1998 and 2015 but crashed out of the quarter-finals in the last tournament.
UGANDA
Uganda will be making back-to-back AFCON appearances for the first time since 1978. Their qualification for the 2017 edition ended a 39-year absence from the competition but the Cranes exited in the group stage in Gabon.
They are yet to win the trophy before with their fourth-placed and second-placed finishes in 1962 and 1978 being their best-ever campaigns.
ZIMBABWE
The odds are stacked against Zimbabwe in Group A. This will be only their fourth AFCON appearance and they have failed to make it past the group stages in their three previous attempts.
Of the Warriors’ nine AFCON games, six ended in defeats and only two saw them emerge victorious. However, it should be noted that Zimbabwe beat Group A rivals, DR Congo to the number one spot in the qualifiers which will be a confidence booster.
Pos Team P W D L GD Pts
1 Egypt 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 DR Congo 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Uganda 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Zimbabwe 0 0 0 0 0 0
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