The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), 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 (CAF). 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.

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.

Team Method ofqualification Date ofqualification Finalsappearance Lastappearance Previous bestperformance FIFA rankingat start of event 20th 2019 (1984, 1988, 2000, 2002, 2017) 50 16th 2019 (2002, 2019) 20 19th 2019 (1990, 2019) 29 12th 2019 (1972) 53 20th 2019 (2004) 30 12th 2017 (2013) 60 13th 2019 (1976) 81 1st Debut 132 8th 2017 (1996, 2012) 89 1st Debut 150 25th 2019 (1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2006, 2008, 2010) 45 23rd 2019 (1963, 1965, 1978, 1982) 52 3rd 2015 (2015) 114 5th 2019 (2004, 2006, 2017, 2019) 121 24th 2019 (1992, 2015)56 18th 2019 (1976)28 19th 2019 (1980, 1994, 2013)36 9th 2012 (1970)125 3rd 2010 (1984, 2010)129 11th 2013 (1962)137 2nd 2019 (2019) 103 3rd 2019 (2017, 2019) 106 3rd 2015 (2013) 73 3rd 1996 (1994, 1996) 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

Mustapha Ghorbal Hélder Martins Rodrigues de Carvalho Joshua Bondo Pacifique Ndabihawenimana Blaise Yuven Ngwa Mahmoud El Banna Amin Omar Bamlak Tessema Weyesa Daniel Nii Laryea Bakary Gassama Mario Escobar (CONCACAF) Peter Waweru Boubou Traore Dahane Beida Ahmad Imtehaz Heeralall Redouane Jiyed Jean-Jacques Ndala Salima Mukansanga Maguette N'Diaye Issa Sy Bernard Camille Victor Gomes Sadok Selmi Janny Sikazwe

Assistant referees

Abdelhak Etchiali Mokrane Gourari Jerson Emiliano dos Santos Seydou Tiama Elvis Guy Noupue Nguegoue Carine Atezambong Fomo Issa Yaya Soulaimane Almadine Mahmoud Ahmed Abouelregal Ahmed Hossam Taha Sidiki Sidibe Liban Abdourazak Ahmed Gilbert Cheruiyot Souru Phatsoane Attia Amsaaed Lionel Andrianantenaina Mustapha Akarkad Lahcen Azgaou Zakaria Brinsi Fatiha Jermoumi Arsenio Maringula Mahamadou Yahaya Samuel Pwadutakam Olivier Safari Djibril Camara El Hadj Malick Samba James Fredrick Emile Zakhele Siwela Mohammed Abdallah Ibrahim Khalil Hassani Dick Okello

Video assistant referees

Lahlou Benbraham Mehdi Abid Charef Mahmoud Mohamed Ashour Fernando Guerrero (CONCACAF) Samir Guezzaz Adil Zourak Bouchra Karboubi Haythem Guirat

Draw 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 (shown in parentheses), listed below. Cameroon and Algeria were automatically given the top two seeds as hosts and title holders, respectively.

Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4 (54) (hosts) (30) (title holders) (21) (28) (32) (34) (46) (52) (57) (60) (62) (76) (77) (85) (100) (106) (108) (109) (118) (121) (132) (133) (137) (148)

Venues

With the Africa Cup of Nations expanded from 16 to 24 teams, six venues were used across five Cameroonian cities. The six stadiums selected to host matches were the Olembe Stadium and Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium, both 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. The opening match of the tournament and the final took place at the newly built 60,000 seater Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé.

CityStadiumCapacityYaoundéOlembe Stadium60,000Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium42,500DoualaJapoma Stadium50,000GarouaRoumdé Adjia Stadium25,000BafoussamKouekong Stadium20,000LimbeLimbe Stadium20,000

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the stadium began at 10:00 with the setting up of the animation groups and the cultural activities which lasted until 14:00. Guests and officials were set up until the start of the opening match at 17:00. Among the guests were members of Confederation of African Football (CAF), members of the diplomatic corps, presidents of legislative and judicial institutions, members of government including the president of COCAN 2021 and the presidents of CAF and FIFA.

The set-up of officials ended by 16:00 with the arrival of the presidents of Comoros and Cameroon. After the performance of the hymns, the opening speech was made by Patrice Motsepe, CAF's president followed by the solemn opening of the competition by the President of the Republic of Cameroon, Paul Biya, after which a cultural parade of about an hour took place.

A cultural interlude representing the four cultural areas of Cameroon was presented with five hundred young ambassadors and the mascot Mola who participated in the dance, the host artist, Fally Ipupa offered a performance. During this parade, a virtual lion appeared to viewers, this was set up by Belgian graphic designer Thibault Baras on an idea of the creative company lib. Made in augmented reality and turned on a game engine, this lion was sixteen meters long, eight meters high and weighed a ton.

After the match, which took place from 17:00 to 19:00, there was a fireworks display.

Squads

Group stage

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

Tiebreakers Teams were 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 were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 74): Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, if two teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were applied exclusively to these two teams; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches; Drawing of lots.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Ranking of third-placed teams

Combinations of matches in the round of 16

The specific match-ups involving the third-placed teams depended on which four third-placed teams qualified for the round of 16:

Third-placed teamsqualify from groups 1Avs 1Bvs 1Cvs 1Dvs A B C D 3C 3D 3A 3B A B C E 3C 3A 3B 3E A B C F 3C 3A 3B 3F A B D E 3D 3A 3B 3E A B D F 3D 3A 3B 3F A B E F 3E 3A 3B 3F A C D E 3C 3D 3A 3E A C D F 3C 3D 3A 3F A C E F 3C 3A 3F 3E A D E F 3D 3A 3F 3E B C D E 3C 3D 3B 3E B C D F 3C 3D 3B 3F B C E F 3E 3C 3B 3F B D E F 3E 3D 3B 3F C D E F 3C 3D 3F 3E

Knockout stage