2021 Africa Cup of Nations
| Coupe d'Afrique des Nations 2021 | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Ivory Coast |
| Dates | June – July 2021 |
| Teams | 24 (expected) (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 6 (in 5 host cities) |
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 Ivory Coast.[1] The competition is likely to be held in Summer 2021.
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:[2]
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 Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon and Zambia also on the original list.[3] 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.[2] 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.[4]
Qualification
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Hosts | 20 September 2014 | 21 | 2017 | Winners (1992, 2015) |
Venues
With the Africa Cup of Nations expanded to 24 teams, six venues are expected to be used.
The Ivorian government confirmed the venues for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations on 21 September 2017.[5]
The CAF has established the following requirements for stadiums:[6]
| Number Of Stadiums | Capacity (Minimum) |
|---|---|
| 2 Stadium | 40,000 |
| 2 Stadiums | 20,000 |
| 2 Stadiums | 15,000 |
| Abidjan | Abidjan | |
|---|---|---|
| Stade National de la Côte d’Ivoire | Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny | |
 | ||
| Capacity: 60,000 | Capacity: 45,000 | |
| Bouaké | Yamoussoukro | |
| Stade Bouaké | Stade de Yamoussoukro | |
 | ||
| Capacity: 40,000 | Capacity: 20,000 | |
| San Pédro | Korhogo | |
| Stade de San Pédro | Stade de Korhogo | |
 | ||
| Capacity: 20,000 | Capacity: 20,000 |
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 ill 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.
References
- ↑ "CAMEROON TO HOST 2019, COTE D'IVOIRE FOR 2021, GUINEA 2023". Confédération Africaine de Football. 20 September 2014.
- 1 2 "Decisions made by the CAF Executive Committee, convened January 24th 2014" (PDF). Cafonline.com. 26 January 2014.
- ↑ "Six nations submit bids for 2019 & 2021 Africa Cup of Nations". Goal.com. 27 November 2013.
- ↑ "Nations Cup: 2019, 2012 and shock 2023 hosts unveiled by Caf". BBC Sport. 20 September 2014.
- ↑ "CAN 2021 : la Côte d'Ivoire lance un appel d'offres pour la construction d'infrastructures sportives et d'hébergements" (in French). Abidjan.net. 20 September 2017.
- ↑ "CAN 2019 : ce que prévoit le nouveau cahier de charges" (in French). Camfoot. 13 August 2017.
External links