2015 Africa Cup of Nations


The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was organized by the Confederation of African Football and was held from 17 January to 8 February.
The tournament was initially scheduled to be hosted by Morocco who later demanded postponement of the event because of the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa; subsequently Morocco was ruled out as a host country and replaced by Equatorial Guinea.
Ivory Coast won the tournament for their second Africa Cup of Nations title, defeating Ghana 9–8 in a penalty shoot-out after the final finished goalless following extra time. The DR Congo came third and the hosts Equatorial Guinea fourth, while defending champions Nigeria had failed to qualify for the tournament.

Host selection

Bids :
  • Botswana
  • Cameroon
  • DR Congo
  • Guinea
  • Morocco
  • South Africa
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe
CAF received 3 bids before 30 September 2010, the deadline, to host either the 2015 or 2017 Africa Cup of Nations from DR Congo, Morocco and South Africa. All three bids were originally put on a shortlist. CAF then began an inspection procedure, on November and December 2010, intending to visit each bidding country to view stadiums, infrastructure, and football interest. They inspected the DR Congo first. Shortly after the inspection, DR Congo informed CAF that they would be withdrawing their bids for both the 2015 and 2017 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments. Morocco was the next country to be inspected, with CAF visiting the country in early November 2010. South Africa was inspected in December 2010.
On 29 January, during the 2011 CAF Super Cup, the CAF Board decided that Morocco would host the 2015 African Cup of Nations, while the 2017 edition would be held in South Africa. The four Morocco host cities which were scheduled to host the tournament were Rabat, Marrakesh, Agadir and Tangier, as announced by the CAF Executive Committee on 23 September 2013. Casablanca would serve as an alternative venue.

Moroccan withdrawal

In October 2014, the government of Morocco requested a postponement of the tournament due to the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa. After the matter was discussed at the executive committee meeting on [|2] November 2014, CAF decided to keep the date of the tournament, while also asking for a clarification from the Royal Moroccan Football Federation of whether they still wish to host the tournament. On 8 November, Morocco failed to meet this deadline to confirm it would host the tournament. Three days later CAF confirmed that Morocco would not host the tournament and a new host would be chosen from a list of countries which have expressed interest. Morocco, who had previously qualified as hosts, were disqualified from participation at the tournament. CAF confirmed legal action against Morocco due to a contract signed in April 2014. Moroccan Sports Minister Mohamed Ouzzine said that CAF had falsely accused his country of "refusing" to host the tournament when it wanted it postponed, and justified the decision by citing that the World Health Organization gives every country the right to protect its citizens. On 6 February 2015, CAF announced that Morocco had been banned from the next two AFCON tournaments, fined [|1] million US dollars, as well as demanding 9 million US dollars in compensation. However, the ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, meaning Morocco could enter the tournaments.
Egypt, Ghana, South Africa and Sudan all declined to take over as hosts. Angola, the hosts of the 2010 edition, were spoken of as a potential replacement due to existing stadia and infrastructure in the country. However, a member of the Angolan Football Federation stated that it could not be possible as the new government budget did not include any tournaments.
On 14 November 2014, CAF announced that Equatorial Guinea would host the tournament.

Qualification

Qualification for the tournament were made up of four stages, three preliminary rounds and a final group stage. The 21 best-ranked teams were given a bye to the group stage, while the next 26 teams began play in the second preliminary round, and four lowest ranked teams started at the first round. The three preliminary rounds were a series of playoffs, with the winners advancing.
51 nations entered the tournament. It was the competitive debut of South Sudan. Djibouti and Somalia declined to enter.
Morocco would have automatically qualified as hosts; however, after their refusal to host, they were expelled from the tournament by the CAF. Equatorial Guinea was chosen as the new host, and despite having played in the qualifiers and been disqualified due to fielding an ineligible player, they qualified for the tournament automatically.
The defending champions Nigeria failed to qualify for the tournament.

Qualified teams

The following sixteen teams qualified for the tournament.
CountryQualified asQualified onPrevious appearance in tournament1–2

Venues

The four Equatorial Guinean cities selected to host the tournament were Malabo, Bata, Mongomo and Ebibeyin.
Malabo and Bata were also host venues for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.
Screening for Ebola was given to all spectators attending matches.
CityStadiumCapacity
BataEstadio de Bata41,000
MongomoEstadio de Mongomo15,000
EbibeyinEstadio de Ebibeyin8,000
MalaboEstadio de Malabo20,000

Format

Only the hosts got an automatic qualification spot, the other 15 teams qualified through qualification tournament. At the finals, the 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams each. The teams in each group played a single round robin. After the group stage, the top two teams from each group advanced to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinal winners advanced to the semifinals. The semifinal losers played in the third place match, while the semifinal winners played in the final.

Draw

The finals draw was held on 3 December 2014 in Malabo. It was initially to be held on 26 November 2014 in Rabat before the change of host country.
The 16 teams were divided into four pots based on the CAF Ranking, with the hosts Equatorial Guinea placed in Pot 1 automatically. The ranking was computed using the teams' results in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, 2013 Africa Cup of Nations finals and qualifiers, the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations finals and qualifiers, the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations finals, and the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4








Match officials

The following referees were chosen for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
;Referees
;Assistant referees
  • Albdelhak Etchiali
  • Jerson Emiliano Dos Santos
  • Jean-Claude Birumushahu
  • Oamogetse Godisamang
  • Evarist Menkouande
  • Yéo Songuifolo
  • Hassan Egueh Yacin
  • Tahssen Abo El Sadat Bedyer
  • Angesom Ogbamariam
  • Malik Alidu Salifu
  • Aboubacar Doumbouya
  • Marwa Range
  • Redouane Achik
  • Yahaya Mahamadou
  • Peter Edibe
  • Theogene Ndagijimana
  • Djibril Camara
  • El Hadji Malick Samba
  • Zakhele Siwela
  • Ali Waleed Ahmed
  • Anouar Hmila

    Squads

Each team could register a squad of 23 players.

Group stage

The group winners and runners-up advance to the quarter-finals.
;Tiebreakers
The teams are ranked according to points. If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of points obtained in games between the teams concerned;
  2. Goal difference in games between the teams concerned;
  3. Goals scored in games between the teams concerned;
  4. If, after applying criteria 1 to 3 to teams concerned, two or three teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between these teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 7 will apply;
  5. Goal difference in all games;
  6. Goals scored in all games;
  7. Drawing of lots.

    Group A

----
----

Group B

----
----

Group C

----
----

Group D

----
----

Knockout stage

In the knockout stages, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time shall be played and followed, if necessary, by kicks from the penalty mark to determine the winner, except for the play-off for third place where no extra time shall be played.
On 27 January 2015, the CAF announced that they had relocated the venues of two of the quarter-finals:
  • The venue of quarter-final 2 is relocated from Estadio de Ebibeyin, Ebibeyin to Estadio de Bata, Bata.
  • The venue of quarter-final 3 is relocated from Estadio de Mongomo, Mongomo to Estadio de Malabo, Malabo.
The kick-off time of quarter-finals 2 and 4 are also changed from 20:00 to 20:30 local time.