2021 Africa Cup of Nations

2021 Africa Cup of Nations
Coupe d'Afrique des Nations 2021
	Official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Cameroon
Dates	9 January – 6 February 2022
Teams	24
Venue(s)	6 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Senegal (1st title)
Runners-up	Egypt
Third place	Cameroon
Fourth place	Burkina Faso
Tournament statistics
Matches played	52
Goals scored	100 (1.92 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Vincent Aboubakar (8 goals)
Best player(s)	Sadio Mané
Best young player	Issa Kaboré
Best goalkeeper	Édouard Mendy
Fair play award	Senegal
	← 2019 2023 →

The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons,^[4] was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football championship of Africa organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament was hosted by Cameroon,^[5] and took place from 9 January to 6 February 2022.^[1]

The tournament was originally scheduled to be played in June and July 2021. However, the CAF announced on 15 January 2020 that due to unfavourable climatic conditions during that period, the tournament had been rescheduled to be played between 9 January and 6 February 2021.^[6] On 30 June 2020, the CAF moved the tournament's dates for the second time to January 2022 following the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic across the continent, whilst retaining the name 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes.^[7]

Matches were played in six venues across five cities. Algeria were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the first round after finishing bottom of their group.^[8] Senegal won their first AFCON title after defeating Egypt in the final 4–2 on penalties, following a 0–0 draw after extra time.^[9]

Host selection[edit]

After the CAF Executive Committee meeting on 24 January 2014, it was announced that there were three official candidates for the 2021 edition:^[10]

Bids:

Algeria
Guinea
Ivory Coast

Rejected bids:

DR Congo
Gabon
Zambia

This list was different from the list of the host nation bids for both the 2019 and 2021 edition of the Cup of Nations as announced by CAF in November 2013, with Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon and Zambia also on the original list.^[11] All three official candidates also bid for hosting the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

The decision of the host country was postponed from early 2014 to grant each bidding country adequate time to receive the inspection delegation.^[10] After the final vote at the CAF Executive Committee meeting, on 20 September 2014, the CAF announced the hosts for the 2019, 2021 and 2023 AFCON tournaments: 2019 to Cameroon, 2021 to Ivory Coast, and 2023 to Guinea.^[12]

Host change[edit]

On 30 November 2018, CAF stripped Cameroon of hosting the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations because of delays in the construction of stadiums and other necessary infrastructure;^[13] it was relocated to Egypt.^[14] CAF President at the time, Ahmad Ahmad, said that Cameroon had agreed to host the 2021 tournament instead.^[15] Consequently, Ivory Coast, original hosts of 2021, will host the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, and Guinea, original hosts of 2023, will host the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.^[16]^[17] On 30 January 2019, the CAF President confirmed the timetable shift, after a meeting with Ivory Coast President, Alassane Ouattara, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.^[18]

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic[edit]

The tournament was originally scheduled to take place between 9 January and 6 February 2021.^[19] The preliminary round and two matchdays of the qualifying group stage had already been played between 9 October and 19 November 2019. The third and fourth matchdays of the qualifying group stage, which were initially scheduled to take place from 23 to 31 March and 1 to 9 June 2020 respectively, were postponed and all remaining qualifying matches rescheduled due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa.^[20]

On 19 June 2020, the CAF stated it was undecided about when continental competitions would resume, and were prioritising new schedules for the 2019–20 CAF Champions League and the 2019–20 CAF Confederation Cup semi-finals, the postponed 2020 African Nations Championship and the 2020 Africa Women Cup of Nations, alongside the 2021 Africa Cup of Nation, as football competitions across the continent had been postponed, cancelled or suspended.^[21]

On 30 June 2020, however, the CAF announced the rescheduling of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations to January 2022 "after consultation with stakeholders and taking into consideration the current global situation" according to a published statement, with new dates to be announced at a later date.^[22] Subsequently, other continental competitions and events to be held were rescheduled or cancelled, including new dates for the remaining AFCON qualifiers, which were now to be completed by March 2021.^[23] On 31 March 2021, it was confirmed that the final tournament would take place from 9 January to 6 February 2022, exactly one year after its originally scheduled start date.^[1]

Qualification[edit]

Qualified teams[edit]

The following teams qualified for the tournament.

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Finals appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance	FIFA ranking at start of event
Cameroon	Hosts / Group F winners	8 January 2019	20th	2019	Winners (1984, 1988, 2000, 2002, 2017)	50
Senegal	Group I winners	15 November 2020	16th	2019	Runners-up (2002, 2019)	20
Algeria	Group H winners	16 November 2020	19th	2019	Winners (1990, 2019)	29
Mali	Group A winners	17 November 2020	12th	2019	Runners-up (1972)	53
Tunisia	Group J winners	17 November 2020	20th	2019	Winners (2004)	30
Burkina Faso	Group B winners	24 March 2021	12th	2017	Runners-up (2013)	60
Guinea	Group A runners-up	24 March 2021	13th	2019	Runners-up (1976)	81
Comoros	Group G runners-up	25 March 2021	1st	None	Debut	132
Gabon	Group D runners-up	25 March 2021	8th	2017	Quarter-finals (1996, 2012)	89
Gambia	Group D winners	25 March 2021	1st	None	Debut	150
Egypt	Group G winners	25 March 2021	25th	2019	Winners (1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2006, 2008, 2010)	45
Ghana	Group C winners	25 March 2021	23rd	2019	Winners (1963, 1965, 1978, 1982)	52
Equatorial Guinea	Group J runners-up	25 March 2021	3rd	2015	Fourth place (2015)	114
Zimbabwe	Group H runners-up	25 March 2021	5th	2019	Group stage (2004, 2006, 2017, 2019)	121
Ivory Coast	Group K winners	26 March 2021	24th	2019	Winners (1992, 2015)	56
Morocco	Group E winners	26 March 2021	18th	2019	Winners (1976)	28
Nigeria	Group L winners	27 March 2021	19th	2019	Winners (1980, 1994, 2013)	36
Sudan	Group C runners-up	28 March 2021	9th	2012	Winners (1970)	125
Malawi	Group B runners-up	29 March 2021	3rd	2010	Group stage (1984, 2010)	129
Ethiopia	Group K runners-up	30 March 2021	11th	2013	Winners (1962)	137
Mauritania	Group E runners-up	30 March 2021	2nd	2019	Group stage (2019)	103
Guinea-Bissau	Group I runners-up	30 March 2021	3rd	2019	Group stage (2017, 2019)	106
Cape Verde	Group F runners-up	30 March 2021	3rd	2015	Quarter-finals (2013)	73
Sierra Leone	Group L runners-up	15 June 2021	3rd	1996	Group stage (1994, 1996)	108

Format[edit]

A total of 24 teams competed in the final tournament. Only the hosts received an automatic qualification spot, with the other 23 teams qualifying through a qualification tournament. For the finals, the 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four teams. The teams in each group played a single round robin, and after the group stage, the top two teams from each group and the four highest ranked third-placed teams advanced to the round of 16. From then on the tournament proceeded with a knockout phase.

Match ball[edit]

CAF announced the official match ball named Toghu on 23 November 2021. It was made by English manufacturer Umbro.^[24]

Mascot[edit]

The mascot, "Mola", was unveiled on 17 May 2021, during a ceremony in Yaoundé. He was a lion and his kit bore resemblance to Cameroon's home colours, with words saying "Cameroon" with "2021" on the top and bottom of the kit.^[25]

Match officials[edit]

The following referees were chosen for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, with two referees from CONCACAF assigned. The list consists of 24 referees, 31 assistant referees and eight video assistant referees from 36 countries.^[26]

Referees[edit]

Assistant referees[edit]

Video assistant referees[edit]

Lahlou Benbraham
Mehdi Abid Charef
Mahmoud Mohamed Ashour
Fernando Guerrero (CONCACAF)
Samir Guezzaz
Adil Zourak
Bouchra Karboubi
Haythem Guirat

Draw[edit]

The final draw was originally scheduled to take place on 25 June 2021, but was postponed to 17 August 2021 due to logistical reasons relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1]^[4]^[27] The 24 teams were divided into four groups of six each, with the four initial pots determined based on the August 2021 FIFA World Rankings (shown in parentheses), listed below. Cameroon and Algeria were automatically given the top two seeds as hosts and title holders, respectively.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Cameroon (54) (hosts) Algeria (30) (title holders) Senegal (21) Tunisia (28) Morocco (32) Nigeria (34)	Egypt (46) Ghana (52) Ivory Coast (57) Mali (60) Burkina Faso (62) Guinea (76)	Cape Verde (77) Gabon (85) Mauritania (100) Sierra Leone (106) Zimbabwe (108) Guinea-Bissau (109)	Malawi (118) Sudan (121) Equatorial Guinea (132) Comoros (133) Ethiopia (137) Gambia (148)

Venues[edit]

With the Africa Cup of Nations expanded from 16 to 24 teams, six venues were used across five Cameroonian cities.^[28] The six stadiums selected to host matches were the Olembe Stadium and Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, both in the capital Yaoundé, the Japoma Stadium in Douala, the Limbe Stadium in Limbe, the Kouekong Stadium in Bafoussam and the Roumde Adjia Stadium in Garoua.^[29] The opening match of the tournament and the final took place at the newly built 60,000 seater Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé.^[30]

Douala	Yaoundé
Japoma Stadium	Olembe Stadium	Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium
Capacity: 50,000	Capacity: 60,000	Capacity: 42,500

Garoua	Bafoussam	Limbe
Roumdé Adjia Stadium	Kouekong Stadium	Limbe Stadium
Capacity: 25,000	Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 20,000

Opening ceremony[edit]

The opening ceremony of the stadium began at 10:00 with the setting up of the animation groups and the cultural activities which lasted until 14:00.^[31] Guests and officials were set up until the start of the opening match at 17:00. Among the guests were members of Confederation of African Football (CAF), members of the diplomatic corps, presidents of legislative and judicial institutions, members of government including the president of COCAN 2021 and the presidents of CAF and FIFA.

The set-up of officials ended by 16:00 with the arrival of the presidents of Comoros and Cameroon. After the performance of the hymns, the opening speech was made by Patrice Motsepe, CAF's president followed by the solemn opening of the competition by the President of the Republic of Cameroon, Paul Biya, after which a cultural parade of about an hour took place.

A cultural interlude representing the four cultural areas of Cameroon was presented with five hundred young ambassadors and the mascot Mola who participated in the dance, the host artist, Fally Ipupa offered a performance.^[32] During this parade, a virtual lion appeared to viewers, this was set up by Belgian graphic designer Thibault Baras on an idea of the creative company lib.^[33] Made in augmented reality and turned on a game engine, this lion was sixteen meters long, eight meters high and weighed a ton.^[34]^[35]

After the match, which took place from 17:00 to 19:00, there was a fireworks display.

Squads[edit]

Group stage[edit]

The top two teams of each group, along with the best four third-placed teams, advanced to the round of 16. All times are local, WAT (UTC+1).

Tiebreakers[edit]

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 74):^[36]

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, if two teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were applied exclusively to these two teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Drawing of lots.

Group A[edit]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cameroon (H)	3	2	1	0	7	3	+4	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Burkina Faso	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4^[a]
3	Cape Verde	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4^[a]
4	Ethiopia	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1

Source: CAF
(H) Hosts
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Head-to-head result: Cape Verde 0–1 Burkina Faso.

9 January 2022