2021 Africa Cup of Nations

The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021) is scheduled to be the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament is scheduled to be hosted by Cameroon.[1] The tournament was originally scheduled to be played in June and July 2021, but the CAF announced on 15 January 2020 that due to unfavourable climatic conditions during this period, the tournament would take place between 9 January and 6 February 2021.[2] On 30 June 2020, CAF moved the tournament for the third time to January 2022 following the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

2021 Africa Cup of Nations
Coupe d'Afrique des Nations 2021
Tournament details
Host countryCameroon
DatesJanuary – February 2022
Teams24 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)6 (in 5 host cities)

Algeria are the defending champions after winning the 2019 edition.

Host selection

After the CAF Executive Committee meeting on 24 January 2014, it was announced that there were three official candidates for the 2021 edition:[4]

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.[5] 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.[4] 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.[6]

Host change

On 30 November 2018, CAF stripped Cameroon from hosting the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.[7] However, CAF President Ahmad Ahmad said that Cameroon had agreed to host the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. 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.[8][9]

On 30 January 2019, the CAF President confirmed the timetable shift, after a meeting with Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.[10]

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

The tournament was earlier scheduled to take place between 9 January and 6 February 2021. The Preliminary rounds and two group stages qualifying rounds had been played between 9 October 2019 and 19 November 2019. The 3rd and 4th group stage qualifying rounds that were scheduled to take place between (23 to 31 March 2020) and (1 to 9 June 2020) respectively were postponed and all qualifying rounds rescheduled due to the Coronavirus outbreak in Africa.[11]

As of 19 June 2020, CAF were 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 Nations as football competitions across the continent had been postponed, cancelled or suspended.[12]

On 30 June 2020, however, 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 CAF, with new dates to be announced later. Subsequently, other continental competitions and events to be held were rescheduled or cancelled.[13]

Qualification
Main article: 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

Qualified teams

The following teams have qualified for the tournament.

Team Method of
qualification		 Date of
qualification		 Finals
appearance		 Last
appearance		 Previous best
performance		 FIFA ranking
at start of event
 CameroonHosts8 January 201920th2019Winners (1984, 1988, 2000, 2002, 2017)
 SenegalGroup I winners or runners-up15 November 202016th2019Runners-up (2002, 2019)
 AlgeriaGroup H winners or runners-up16 November 202019th2019Winners (1990, 2019)
 MaliGroup A winners or runners-up17 November 202012th2019Runners-up (1972)
 TunisiaGroup J winners or runners-up17 November 202020th2019Winner (2004)

Format

Assuming that the current format is maintained, a total of 24 teams will compete in the final tournament. Only the hosts will receive an automatic qualification spot, the other 23 teams will qualify through a qualification tournament. At the finals, the 24 teams will be drawn into six groups of four teams each. The teams in each group play a single round robin. After the group stage, the top two teams from each group and the best third teams will advance to the round of 16. The winners will advance to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinals. The semifinal losers will play in third place match, while semifinal winners will play in final.

Draw

The draw will take place in 2021. The 24 teams will be drawn into six groups of four.

Venues

With the Africa Cup of Nations expanded from 16 to 24 teams, at least six venues are expected to be used and in this way matches will take place in six venues across the five Cameroonian cities of Yaoundé, Douala, Garoua, Limbe and Bafoussam.[14] The six stadiums selected to host matches are the Paul Biya Stadium and the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo 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.[15] The opening ceremony as well as the opening match of the tournament and the final are set to take place at the newly built 60,000 seater Paul Biya Stadium in Yaoundé.[16]

 Douala Yaoundé
Japoma Stadium Paul Biya Stadium Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo
Capacity: 50,000 Capacity: 60,000 Capacity: 42,500
Garoua Bafoussam Limbe
Roumdé Adjia Stadium Kouekong Stadium Limbe Stadium
Capacity: 30,000 Capacity: 20,000 Capacity: 20,000

References
  1. "Cameroon to host 2019, Cote d'Ivoire for 2021, Guinea 2023". Confédération Africaine de Football. 20 September 2014.
  2. "Statement from the Organising Committee of the Total African Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021". CAF. 15 January 2020.
  3. "Decisions of CAF Executive Meeting – 30 June 2020". CAF. 30 June 2020.
  4. "Decisions made by the CAF Executive Committee, convened January 24th 2014" (PDF). Cafonline.com. 26 January 2014.
  5. "Six nations submit bids for 2019 & 2021 Africa Cup of Nations". Goal.com. 27 November 2013.
  6. "Nations Cup: 2019, 2012 and shock 2023 hosts unveiled by Caf". BBC Sport. 20 September 2014.
  7. "Cameroon stripped of hosting 2019 Africa Cup of Nations". BBC. 30 November 2018.
  8. "CAN 2019 : le pays hôte sera connu le 9 janvier". Le Monde (in French). 10 December 2018.
  9. Etchells, Daniel (8 January 2019). "Egypt named as hosts of 2019 Africa Cup of Nations". www.insidethegames.biz.
  10. "COTE D'IVOIRE AGREES CAF TIMETABLE SHIFT". CAF. 30 January 2019.
  11. "CAF postpones 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers for March". Goal.com. 15 March 2020.
  12. "Confusion trails AFCON 2021 starting dates". Thisdaylive. com. 19 June 2020.
  13. "CAF reschedules AFCON,CHAN,Interclubs competitions, cancels women AFCON". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  14. Bongben, Leocadia (19 July 2017). "Cameroon government moves to ease 2019 AFCON fears". BBC. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  15. "The Six stadiums To Host Afcon 2021 Cameroon". camer237.com. 25 July 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  16. Okeleji, Oluwashina (3 December 2018). "Football: Ready or not, here we come". The Africa Report.com.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.