The wait to host AFCON 2021 may have been long, but beginning January 9 to February 6, the continental football competition will take place after it was rescheduled twice.
Fears and speculations that AFCON would be further rescheduled because of the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant (micron) were recently laid to rest when CAF president, Dr.Patrice Motsepe, reiterated that the delayed tournament will go ahead as planned in January 2022.
AFCON usually holds every two years. It was last hosted by Egypt, from June 21 – July 19, 2019 and Algeria is the defending champion, having won the 32nd edition .
Cameroon had originally been awarded the hosting of the 2019 finals, but the tournament was switched to Egypt when CAF found that the central African country was not ready.
Cameroon would then be scheduled to host the tournament in 2021, but the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 caused it to be postponed to 2022, giving the host time enough to be better prepared for the football showpiece.
Twenty-four (24) teams will play AFCON 2021, which is the 33rd edition .
The 24 teams are grouped as follows:
Group A: Cameroon (host), Burkina Faso, Cape Verde Islands, Ethiopia
Group B: Guinea, Malawi, Senegal, Zimbabwe
Group C: Comoros Islands, Gabon, Ghana Morocco
Group D: Egypt, Guinea Bissau, Nigeria, Sudan
Group E: Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone
Group F: Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Tunisia.
Key Dates
January 9 – AFCON group stage starts;
January 20 – AFCON group stage ends;
January 23 to 26 – AFCON last 16;
January 29 and 30 – AFCON quarter-finals;
February 2 and 3 – AFCON semi-finals; .
February 6 – AFCON final and third-placeplay-off
The tournament will take place in five cities, namely: Douala, Yaounde, Bafoussam, Garoua and Limbe.
Cameroon, which first hosted AFCON in 1972, will face Burkina Faso in the opening match on Sunday, January 9 ,at the newly constructed
Olembe Stadium in Yaounde in the evening. It is worth-noting that Africa Cup of Nations was founded in 1957; first hosted by Sudan and Egypt
defeated the host in the final, lifting the Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem Trophy, named after its donor, an Egyptian, who was the first President
of Confederation of African Football ( CAF). CAF is the administrative and controlling body of African associations of football.
