2019 Africa Cup of Nations hosts Egypt will not use the Borg Al Arab stadium in the competition set for June to July this year.
The stadium which has a capacity of 86,000 fans and will be hard to fill if the hosts are playing this according to the Egypt Football Association (EFA) spokesman Ahmed Megahed; the venue said to be relatively remote and has no regular public transport for fans to use.
Instead, the stadium will be on standby to host any matches involving Egypt that are due to be played outside Cairo.
The Borg Al Arab stadium near Alexandria has been used to host the majority of international matches in recent years as well as many high-profile club games.
Six Stadia
It is believed the EFA has told the Confederation of African Football (CAF) that it plans to use a total of six stadia for the finals-Cairo International Stadium, Al-Salam Stadium in Cairo, Alexandria Stadium, Al Masry Club Stadium in Port Said, Ismailia Stadium and the Suez Stadium.
The EFA has also requested for the tournament to kick-off a day earlier than planned on Friday 14 June.
The 2019 tournament will be the first to feature 24 teams, expanded from 16, which led CAF requiring hosts to provide six stadia rather than four.
Read also: AFCON 2019: We are ready to host a successful tournament- Egypt sports minister
Egypt was chosen as hosts in January to replace Cameroon, who were stripped of the rights due to slow preparations and security concerns.