2019 Africa Cup of Nations

2019 Africa Cup of Nations
Coupe d'Afrique des Nations 2019
Tournament details
Host country Cameroon
Dates 15 June – 13 July
Teams 24 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s) 6 (in 5 host cities)

The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, is scheduled to be the 32nd 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 competition will be held from 15 June to 13 July 2019, as per the decision of the CAF Executive Committee on 20 July 2017 to move the Africa Cup of Nations from January/February to June/July for the first time.[2] It will also be the first Africa Cup of Nations expanded from 16 to 24 teams.[3][4]

For the first time since 1972, Cameroon will host the competition. They are also the title holders after winning the previous edition.

Host selection

After the CAF Executive Committee meeting on 24 January 2014, it was announced that there were six official candidates for the 2019 edition:[5]

Bids:

Rejected Bids:

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 Gabon also on the original list, but Cameroon not on it.[6] Among the six official candidates, Algeria, Guinea and Ivory Coast also bid for hosting the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

Democratic Republic of the Congo had originally put themselves forward as host candidates but withdrew in July 2014.[7] Security concerns and threats from various militant groups particularly in the eastern part of the country were an early issue with a Congolese bid.[8] Before bidding solo Guinea was part of a four-way joint bid with Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone and Liberia, similarly Zambia was originally part of a joint bid with Malawi and Zimbabwe. Other nations who expressed early interest in hosting were 2013 champions Nigeria, Senegal, and a joint bid of Kenya and Uganda.[9][10][11][12]

The decision of the host country was postponed from early 2014 to grant each bidding country adequate time to receive the inspection delegation.[5] 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.[13]

Sponsorship

In July 2016, Total has secured an eight-year sponsorship package from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to support 10 of its principal competitions. Total started with the Africa Cup of Nations that was held in Gabon in 2017 therefore renaming it Total Africa Cup of Nations.[14]

Qualification

  Qualified
  Failed to qualify
  Withdrew or did not enter
  Not part of CAF

Due to Morocco withdrawing from being hosts of the 2015 edition, the CAF banned the national team of Morocco from entering the 2017 and 2019 Africa Cups of Nations.[15] However, the ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, meaning Morocco may enter the tournament.[16]

Due to the withdrawal of Chad during 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification, they are banned from entering the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.[17]

Qualified teams

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
 CameroonHosts20 September 201419th2017Winners
(1984, 1988, 2000, 2002, 2017)

Venues

With the Africa Cup of Nations expanded to 24 teams, six venues are expected to be used. FECAFOOT has claimed Cameroon has already three stadia ready and three others to be built or renovated. Furthermore, many venues were used during the 2016 Africa Women Cup of Nations.[18][19][20]

The CAF has established the following requirements for stadiums:[21]

Number Of StadiumsCapacity
(Minimum)
2 Stadium40,000
2 Stadiums20,000
2 Stadiums15,000
Yaoundé Douala
Paul Biya StadiumJapoma Stadium
Capacity: 60,000Capacity: 50,000
YaoundéGaroua
Stade Ahmadou AhidjoRoumdé Adjia Stadium
Capacity: 42,500Capacity: 30,000
BafoussamLimbe
Kouekong StadiumLimbe Stadium
Capacity: 20,000Capacity: 20,000

Squads

Each team can register a squad of 23 players (Regulations Article 72).[22]

Format

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 and the four 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.[22] The format is exactly the one which was applied to the 1986, 1990, and 1994 FIFA World Cups, as well as UEFA Euro 2016 and 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

Draw

Procedure to be confirmed. The 24 teams will be drawn into six groups of four teams. The hosts will be seeded in Group A.[22]

Group stage

The top two teams of each group, along with the best four third-placed teams advance to the round of 16.

All times are local, WAT (UTC+1).

Tiebreakers

Teams are 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 are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 74):[22]

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Drawing of lots.

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Cameroon (H) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Knockout stage
2 A2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 A3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Possible qualification
4 A4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
First match(es) will be played on June 2019. Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Host.
Cameroon  v
v
v
v
v
v

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 B1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Knockout stage
2 B2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 B3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Possible qualification
4 B4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
First match(es) will be played on June 2019. Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
v
v
v
v
v
v

Group C

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 C1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Knockout stage
2 C2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 C3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Possible qualification
4 C4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
First match(es) will be played on June 2019. Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
v
v
v
v
v
v

Group D

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 D1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Knockout stage
2 D2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 D3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Possible qualification
4 D4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
First match(es) will be played on June 2019. Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
v
v
v
v
v
v

Group E

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 E1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Knockout stage
2 E2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 E3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Possible qualification
4 E4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
First match(es) will be played on June 2019. Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
v
v
v
v
v
v

Group F

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 F1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Knockout stage
2 F2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 F3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Possible qualification
4 F4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
First match(es) will be played on June 2019. Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
v
v
v
v
v
v

Ranking of third-placed teams

Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 A Third place group A 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to knockout stage
2 B Third place group B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 C Third place group C 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 D Third place group D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 E Third place group E 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 F Third place group F 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
First match(es) will be played on June 2019. Source: CAF

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary, except for the third place match where a direct penalty shoot-out, without any extra time, is used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 75).[22]

Bracket

 
Round of 16Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
              
 
June –
 
 
 
 
June –
 
 
 
 
 
June –
 
 
 
 
 
June –
 
 
 
 
 
June –
 
 
 
 
 
June –
 
 
 
 
 
June –
 
 
 
 
 
June – Yaoundé
 
 
 
Winner SF1
 
June –
 
Winner SF2
 
 
 
June –
 
 
 
 
 
June –
 
 
 
 
 
June –
 
 
 
 
 
June –
 
 
 
 
 
June –
 
 
 
 
 
June –
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Round of 16

RD1
RD2
RD3
RD4
RD5
RD6
RD7
RD8

Quarter-finals

QF1
QF2
QF3
QF4

Semi-finals

SF1
SF2

Third place play-off

Loser SF1 v Loser SF2

Final

Winner SF1 v Winner SF2

References

  1. ↑ "CAMEROON TO HOST 2019, COTE D'IVOIRE FOR 2021, GUINEA 2023". Confédération Africaine de Football. 20 September 2014.
  2. ↑ "DECISIONS OF CAF EXECUTIVE COMMITEE [sic] - 27 & 28 SEPTEMBER 2018". Confédération Africaine de Football. 29 September 2018.
  3. ↑ "DECISIONS OF CAF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE – 20 JULY 2017". CAF. 20 July 2017.
  4. ↑ "Une CAN à 24 dès 2019 et en été" (in French). RFI.fr. 20 July 2017.
  5. 1 2 "Decisions made by the CAF Executive Committee, convened January 24th 2014" (PDF). Cafonline.com. 26 January 2014.
  6. ↑ [Goal.com] (27 November 2013). "Six nations submit bids for 2019 & 2021 Africa Cup of Nations".
  7. ↑ "Football: DR Congo withdraw CAN candidature". Agence France-Presse. 25 July 2014.
  8. ↑ DR Congo bids to host 2019 Africa Cup of Nations Official Website. Retrieved 16 February 2013
  9. ↑ DR Congo wants to host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 February 2013
  10. ↑ Nigeria target 2019 Africa Cup of Nations Retrieved 16 February 2013
  11. ↑ DR Congo bid to host 2019 Afcon Archived 2 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Star-Africa.com. Retrieved 16 February 2013
  12. ↑ Kenya names Amrouche as coach, bids for 2019 Cup Archived 2 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Star-Africa. Retrieved 20 February 2013
  13. ↑ "Nations Cup: 2019, 2012 and shock 2023 hosts unveiled by Caf". BBC Sport. 20 September 2014.
  14. ↑ "Total to sponsor CAF competitions for the next eight years". Africa News. Africa News. 21 July 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  15. ↑ "Morocco Fined, Banned From Two AFCON Tournaments". CAF Online. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  16. ↑ "Morocco win appeal over Afcon 2017 and 2019 bans". BBC Sport. 2 April 2015.
  17. ↑ "Withdrawal of Chad from AFCON 2017 qualifiers". CAF. 27 March 2016.
  18. ↑ "Blaise Moussa : « à Rabat, il n'a été fait aucun débat sur la CAN 2019 »" (in French). Camfoot. 19 July 2017.
  19. ↑ "2019 AFCON: Cameroon in the heat of preparations". CRTV. 21 July 2017. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  20. ↑ "CAN-2019 à 24: le Cameroun doit se doter d'un ou deux sites supplémentaires" (in French). TV5. 21 July 2017.
  21. ↑ "CAN 2019 : ce que prévoit le nouveau cahier de charges" (in French). Camfoot. 13 August 2017.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 "Regulations of the Africa Cup of Nations" (PDF). Confederation of African Football.
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