# 2017 Africa Cup of Nations

The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2017 or CAN 2017), known as the Total 2017 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st 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 The tournament was scheduled to be hosted by Libya, until CAF rescinded its hosting rights in August 2014 due to the Second Libyan civil war. The tournament was instead hosted by Gabon. This event was also part of the Africa Cup of Nations 60th Anniversary.
Cameroon won their fifth title after defeating seven-time champions Egypt 2–1 in the final. Burkina Faso finished third after beating Ghana 1–0 in the third place play-off.
As champions, Cameroon qualified for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia. Tournament hosts Gabon and defending champions Ivory Coast were both eliminated in the group stage.

## Host selection
### First bidding

Bids :
| Nation | Last hosted |
| Botswana | — |
| Cameroon | 1972 |
| DR Congo | — |
| Guinea | — |
| Morocco | 1988 |
| South Africa | 2013 |
| Zambia | — |
| Zimbabwe | — |
CAF received 3 bids before 30 September 2010, the deadline, to host either the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations or 2017 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.
| Nation | Last hosted |
| Morocco | 1988 |
| South Africa | 2013 |
On 29 January, during the 2011 CAF Super Cup, the CAF executive committee decided that Morocco would host 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, while the 2017 edition would be held in South Africa. However, due to the Libyan Civil War, Libya and South Africa traded years with South Africa hosting in 2013 and Libya hosting in 2017.

### Second bidding

Bids :
* Algeria
* Egypt
* Gabon
* Ghana
After Libya was withdrawn as the venue on 22 August 2014, the CAF announced that they would be receiving applications for the new hosts until 30 September 2014.
Algeria, Egypt, Gabon, and Ghana, were determined by the CAF to be compliant with the host criteria. Later, Egypt withdrew.
Other countries which expressed an interest but did not bid included Ethiopia, Mali, and Tanzania. Kenya discussed a joint bid with neighbors Rwanda and Uganda, but eventually bid alone.
On 8 April 2015, CAF President Issa Hayatou announced Gabon as the replacement hosts following votes by the CAF Executive Committee.
Results :
| Nation | Votes |
| Gabon | 9 |
| Algeria | 4 |
| Ghana | 0 |
| Egypt | Withdrew |
| Total votes | 13 |

## Qualification

The draw for the qualification stage took place on 8 April 2015, immediately after the announcement of the host nation. The host nation team were also drawn into a group and would play games against those in that group; however, those matches would only be considered as friendlies and not counted for the standings.
51 nations entered the qualifying stage with Eritrea and Somalia declining to enter and Chad withdrawing.
Due to the cancellation of Morocco being hosts of the 2015 edition, the national team of Morocco were originally banned by CAF from entering the 2017 and 2019 Africa Cups of Nations. However, the ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, allowing Morocco to enter the tournament.
Three-time champions Nigeria did not qualify.

### Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.
| Team | Method of qualification | Date of qualification | Finals appearance | Last appearance | Previous best performance | FIFA ranking at start of event |
| Gabon | Hosts | 8 April 2015 | 7th | 2015 | Quarter-finals (1996, 2012) | 108 |
| Morocco | Group F winners | 29 March 2016 | 16th | 2013 | Winners (1976) | 57 |
| Algeria | Group J winners | 2 June 2016 | 17th | 2015 | Winners (1990) | 39 |
| Cameroon | Group M winners | 3 June 2016 | 18th | 2015 | Winners (1984, 1988, 2000, 2002) | 62 |
| Senegal | Group K winners | 4 June 2016 | 14th | 2015 | Runners-up (2002) | 33 |
| Egypt | Group G winners | 4 June 2016 | 23rd | 2010 | Winners (1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2006, 2008, 2010) | 35 |
| Ghana | Group H winners | 5 June 2016 | 21st | 2015 | Winners (1963, 1965, 1978, 1982) | 54 |
| Guinea-Bissau | Group E winners | 5 June 2016 | 1st | none | Debut | 68 |
| Zimbabwe | Group L winners | 5 June 2016 | 3rd | 2006 | Group stage (2004, 2006) | 103 |
| Mali | Group C winners | 5 June 2016 | 10th | 2015 | Runners-up (1972) | 64 |
| Ivory Coast | Group I winners | 3 September 2016 | 22nd | 2015 | Winners (1992, 2015) | 34 |
| Uganda | Group D runners-up | 4 September 2016 | 6th | 1978 | Runners-up (1978) | 73 |
| Burkina Faso | Group D winners | 4 September 2016 | 11th | 2015 | Runners-up (2013) | 53 |
| Tunisia | Group A winners | 4 September 2016 | 18th | 2015 | Winners (2004) | 36 |
| DR Congo | Group B winners | 4 September 2016 | 18th | 2015 | Winners (1968, 1974) | 49 |
| Togo | Group A runners-up | 4 September 2016 | 8th | 2013 | Quarter-finals (2013) | 90 |

## Venues

The four venues were confirmed in October 2016.
| City | Stadium | Capacity |
| Franceville | Stade de l'Amitié | 40,000 |
| Libreville | Stade de Franceville | 25,000 |
| Oyem | Stade d'Oyem | 20,500 |
| Port-Gentil | Stade de Port-Gentil | 20,000 |

## Squads

Each team could register a squad of 23 players.

## Match officials

The following referees were chosen for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

### Referees

* Mehdi Abid Charef
* Joshua Bondo
* Sidi Alioum
* Denis Dembélé
* Gehad Grisha
* Bamlak Tessema Weyesa
* Eric Otogo-Castane
* Bakary Gassama
* Hamada Nampiandraza
* Redouane Jiyed
* Mahamadou Keita
* Ali Lemghaifry
* Daniel Bennett
* Malang Diedhiou
* Bernard Camille
* Youssef Essrayri
* Janny Sikazwe

### Assistant referees

* Albdelhak Etchiali
* Jerson Emiliano Dos Santos
* Jean-Claude Birumushahu
* Evarist Menkouande
* Elvis Guy Noupue Nguegoue
* Marius Donatien Tan
* Tahssen Abo El Sadat Bedyer
* Théophile Vinga
* Aboubacar Doumbouya
* Marwa Range
* Redouane Achik
* Arsénio Chadreque Marengula
* Yahaya Mahamadou
* Abel Baba
* Olivier Safari Kabene
* Djibril Camara
* El Hadji Malick Samba
* Zakhele Siwela
* Ali Waleed Ahmed
* Mohammed Abdallah Ibrahim
* Anouar Hmila

## Format

Only the hosts received an automatic qualification spot; the other 15 teams qualified through a 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 quarter-finals. The quarter-final winners advanced to the semi-finals. The semi-final losers played in a third place match, while the semi-final winners played in the final.

## Draw

The draw took place on 19 October 2016, 18:30 UTC+1, in Libreville, Gabon.
The seedings approved by the Organising Committee of the Africa Cup of Nations at its meeting on Monday, 26 September 2016 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, was determined taking into account the performance of the qualified teams during the following competitions:
* Africa Cup of Nations final tournaments (2012, 2013, 2015)
* Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers (2013, 2015, 2017)
* FIFA World Cup (2014)
* FIFA World Cup qualifiers (2014)
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| Gabon (22 pts; hosts, assigned to A1) Ivory Coast (63.5 pts; title holders, assigned to C1) Ghana (56.5 pts) Algeria (43.5 pts) | Tunisia (34.5 pts) Mali (33.5 pts) Burkina Faso (33.5 pts) DR Congo (29.5 pts) | Cameroon (29 pts) Senegal (24 pts) Morocco (18.5 pts) Egypt (15.5 pts) | Togo (15.5 pts) Uganda (12 pts) Zimbabwe (10 pts) Guinea-Bissau (8.5 pts) |

## Group stage

Group winners and runners-up advanced to the quarter-finals.
All times are local, WAT (UTC+1).

### Tiebreakers

The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order (Regulations Article 74):
* Number of points obtained in games between the teams concerned;
* Goal difference in games between the teams concerned;
* Goals scored in games between the teams concerned;
* If, after applying criteria 1 to 3 to teams concerned, two or three teams still had an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 were reapplied exclusively to the matches between these teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 7 applied;
* Goal difference in all games;
* Goals scored in all games;
* Drawing of lots.

### Group A

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Burkina Faso | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 5 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Cameroon | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 5 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Gabon (H) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4 | Guinea-Bissau | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 1 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Senegal | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Tunisia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Algeria | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 2 | |
| 4 | Zimbabwe | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 | −4 | 1 | |

### Group C

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | DR Congo | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Morocco | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Ivory Coast | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 | |
| 4 | Togo | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 1 | |

### Group D

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Egypt | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Ghana | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Mali | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 2 | |
| 4 | Uganda | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 1 | |

## Knockout stage

In the knockout stages, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time was played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner, except for the play-off for third place, where no extra time was played (Regulations Article 75).

### Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final |
| 28 January – Libreville | 28 January – Libreville | | | |
| Burkina Faso | 2 | | | |
| Burkina Faso | 2 | 1 February – Libreville | 1 February – Libreville | | |
| Tunisia | 0 | 1 February – Libreville | 1 February – Libreville | |
| Tunisia | 0 | Burkina Faso | 1 (3) | |
| 29 January – Port-Gentil | 29 January – Port-Gentil | | Burkina Faso | 1 (3) | |
| 29 January – Port-Gentil | 29 January – Port-Gentil | Egypt (pen.) | 1 (4) | |
| Egypt | 1 | Egypt (pen.) | 1 (4) | |
| Egypt | 1 | | | | 5 February – Libreville | 5 February – Libreville |
| Morocco | 0 | | | | 5 February – Libreville | 5 February – Libreville |
| Morocco | 0 | | | | Egypt | 1 |
| 28 January – Franceville | 28 January – Franceville | | | | | Egypt | 1 |
| 28 January – Franceville | 28 January – Franceville | | | | Cameroon | 2 |
| Senegal | 0 (4) | | | | Cameroon | 2 |
| Senegal | 0 (4) | 2 February – Franceville | 2 February – Franceville | | | |
| Cameroon (pen.) | 0 (5) | 2 February – Franceville | 2 February – Franceville | | | |
| Cameroon (pen.) | 0 (5) | Cameroon | 2 | | | |
| 29 January – Oyem | 29 January – Oyem | | Cameroon | 2 | | | |
| 29 January – Oyem | 29 January – Oyem | Ghana | 0 | | Third place play-off | Third place play-off |
| DR Congo | 1 | Ghana | 0 | | Third place play-off | Third place play-off |
| DR Congo | 1 | | | | 4 February – Port-Gentil | 4 February – Port-Gentil |
| Ghana | 2 | | | | 4 February – Port-Gentil | 4 February – Port-Gentil |
| Ghana | 2 | | | | Burkina Faso | 1 |
| | | | | | Ghana | 0 |

### Final
## Statistics
### Goalscorers

There were 66 goals scored in 32 matches, for an average of 2.06 goals per match.

#### 3 goals

* Junior Kabananga

#### 2 goals

* Riyad Mahrez
* Islam Slimani
* Aristide Bancé
* Préjuce Nakoulma
* Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui
* Paul-José M'Poku
* Mohamed Salah
* Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
* André Ayew
* Sadio Mané
* Naïm Sliti

#### 1 goal

* Sofiane Hanni
* Issoufou Dayo
* Alain Traoré
* Bertrand Traoré
* Vincent Aboubakar
* Christian Bassogog
* Benjamin Moukandjo
* Nicolas Nkoulou
* Sébastien Siani
* Neeskens Kebano
* Firmin Ndombe Mubele
* Mohamed Elneny
* Kahraba
* Abdallah Said
* Jordan Ayew
* Asamoah Gyan
* Piqueti
* Juary Soares
* Wilfried Bony
* Serey Dié
* Yves Bissouma
* Rachid Alioui
* Aziz Bouhaddouz
* Youssef En-Nesyri
* Romain Saïss
* Papakouli Diop
* Kara Mbodji
* Henri Saivet
* Moussa Sow
* Mathieu Dossevi
* Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba
* Wahbi Khazri
* Taha Yassine Khenissi
* Youssef Msakni
* Farouk Miya
* Kudakwashe Mahachi
* Tendai Ndoro
* Nyasha Mushekwi
* Knowledge Musona

#### Own goals

* Aïssa Mandi (against Tunisia)
* Rudinilson Silva (against Burkina Faso)

### Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

#### Total Man of the Competition

* Christian Bassogog

#### Top Scorer

* Junior Kabananga (3 goals)

#### Fair Play prize

* Egypt

#### CAF Team of the tournament

| Goalkeeper | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards | Substitutes |
| Fabrice Ondoa | Kara Mbodji Ahmed Hegazi Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui | Charles Kaboré Mubarak Wakaso Bertrand Traoré Christian Atsu Mohamed Salah | Christian Bassogog Junior Kabananga | Essam El-Hadary Cheikhou Kouyaté Préjuce Nakoulma Aristide Bancé Benjamin Moukandjo Zezinho Mbark Boussoufa |

## Sponsorship

In July 2016, Total secured an eight-year sponsorship package from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to support ten of its principal competitions, including the Africa Cup of Nations (renamed the Total Africa Cup of Nations).
| Title sponsor | Official sponsors |
| Total | Orange beIN Sports |

### Tournament rankings

* Ranking criteria
* For teams eliminated in the same knockout round, the following criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the final rankings:
* Goal difference in round eliminated;
* Goals scored in round eliminated;
* If teams eliminated in the semi-finals or quarter-finals are tied, the above criteria are reapplied for the previous knockout round, with this process repeated once more should two semi-finalists remain tied;
* Points in group stage;
* Goal difference in group stage;
* Goals scored in group stage;
* Disciplinary points.
* For teams eliminated in the group stage, the following criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the final rankings:
* Position in group;
* Points;
* Goal difference;
* Goals scored;
* Disciplinary points.
| Pos. | Team | G | Pld | W | D | L | Pts | GF | GA | GD |
| 1 | Cameroon | A | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 7 | 3 | +4 |
| 2 | Egypt | D | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 3 | +2 |
| 3 | Burkina Faso | A | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 8 | 3 | +5 |
| 4 | Ghana | D | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 4 | 5 | −1 |
| Eliminated in the quarter-finals |||||||||||
| 5 | Senegal | B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 2 | +4 |
| 6 | DR Congo | C | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 5 | +2 |
| 7 | Morocco | C | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 3 | +1 |
| 8 | Tunisia | B | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 7 | −1 |
| Eliminated in the group stage |||||||||||
| 9 | Gabon | A | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | Algeria | B | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | −1 |
| 11 | Ivory Coast | C | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | −1 |
| 12 | Mali | D | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | −1 |
| 13 | Uganda | D | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | −2 |
| 14 | Guinea-Bissau | A | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | −3 |
| 15 | Zimbabwe | B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 8 | −4 |
| 16 | Togo | C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | −4 |

## Match ball

Mitre took over as the official match ball supplier following the expiration of the contract between Adidas and CAF. CAF Mitre Delta Hyperseam was the name of the official match ball.

## Mascot

The official mascot of the tournament was "Samba", a black panther.

## Controversy
### Website attack

On 21 January, Russian hacking group New World Hackers claimed to have taken the official CAF website down in response to CAF's decision to choose Gabon as host nation. "We did this in protest against Gabon", the person claiming to be one of the hackers wrote in an email. "They are running the Africa Cup in a country where the dictator Ali Bongo is killing innocent people!"

## Media
### Broadcasting

| Territory | Channel |
| Asia-Pacific | BeIN Sports |
| Australia | beIN Sports |
| Bangladesh | Sony SIX Sony ESPN |
| Benin | ORTB |
| Bhutan | Sony SIX Sony ESPN |
| Brazil | SporTV |
| Canada | beIN Sports (English) Univision Canada (Spanish) RDS (French) |
| Cape Verde | RTC |
| Caribbean | Flow Sports |
| Central America | ESPN |
| Colombia | Caracol TV RCN Television |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | RTNC |
| DOMTOM | France Télévisions |
| Equatorial Guinea | RTVGE |
| France | beIN Sports |
| Gabon | GTV |
| Ghana | GTV/KTV |
| India | Sony SIX Sony ESPN |
| Ireland | Eurosport Ireland RTÉ Sport |
| Israel | Sport 5 |
| Italy | Fox Sports Italia |
| Ivory Coast | RTI |
| Cameroon | CRTV |
| Japan | NHK |
| Maldives | Sony SIX Sony ESPN |
| Mali | ORTM |
| MENA | beIN Sports |
| Mexico | Televisa ESPN |
| Nepal | Sony SIX Sony ESPN |
| Netherlands | Fox Sports Netherlands |
| New Zealand | Sky Sport |
| Pacific Islands | Sky Sport |
| Pakistan | Sony SIX Sony ESPN |
| Portugal | Eurosport Portugal |
| San Marino | Fox Sports Italia |
| Senegal | RTS |
| South Africa | SABC |
| South America (except Brazil) | ESPN |
| South Korea | JTBC3 Fox Sports |
| Southeastern Europe | Arena Sport |
| Spain | Eurosport Spain |
| Sri Lanka | Sony SIX Sony ESPN |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | SuperSport (English and Portuguese) TV5Monde Afrique (French) Canal+ Sport Afrique |
| Togo | TVT international |
| Turkey | Tivibu Spor |
| United Kingdom | Eurosport |
| United States | beIN Sports (English and Spanish) |
| Vatican City | Fox Sports Italia |
^1 - Available in the following countries: Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia