2021 Africa Cup of Nations


The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the TotalEnergies '2021 Africa Cup of Nations' for sponsorship reasons, 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. The tournament was hosted by Cameroon, and took place from 9 January to 6 February 2022.
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. 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.
Matches were played in six venues across five cities. The defending champions Algeria were eliminated in the first round after finishing bottom of their group. Senegal won their first AFCON title after defeating Egypt in the final 4–2 on penalties, following a 0–0 draw after extra time. This edition witnessed many organizational and refereeing disputes and problems, which raised a lot of criticism.

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:
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. All three official candidates also bid for hosting the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
The decision to award the hosting rights was postponed from early 2014 to grant each bidding country adequate time to receive the inspection delegation. After the final vote at the CAF Executive Committee meeting, on 20 September 2014, the CAF announced that the AFCON would be hosted in 2019 by Cameroon, in 2021 by Ivory Coast, and in 2023 by Guinea.

Host change

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; it was relocated to Egypt. CAF President at the time, Ahmad Ahmad, said that Cameroon had agreed to host the 2021 tournament instead. Consequently, Ivory Coast, original hosts of 2021, would host the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, and Guinea, original hosts of 2023, would host the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. On 30 January 2019, the CAF President confirmed the timetable shift, after a meeting with Ivory Coast President, Alassane Ouattara, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

The tournament was originally scheduled to take place between 9 January and 6 February 2021. 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.
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.
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. 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. 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.

Qualification

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the tournament.
TeamMethod of
qualification		Date of
qualification		Finals
appearance		Last
appearance		Previous best
performance		FIFA ranking
at start of event
20th2019 50
16th2019 20
19th2019 29
12th2019 53
20th2019 30
12th2017 60
13th2019 81
1stDebut132
8th2017 89
1stDebut150
25th2019 45
23rd2019 52
3rd2015 114
5th2019 121
24th2019 56
18th2019 28
19th2019 36
9th2012 125
3rd2010 129
11th2013 137
2nd2019 103
3rd2019 106
3rd2015 73
3rd1996 108

Format

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

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

Mascot

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.

Match officials

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. It includes Salima Mukansanga, who therefore became the first woman to referee at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Referees

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. 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, listed below. Cameroon and Algeria were automatically given the top two seeds as hosts and title holders, respectively.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4
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