2023 Africa Cup of Nations

2023 Africa Cup of Nations
The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, known for short as the 2023 AFCON or CAN 2023 and for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, is scheduled to be the 34th edition of the biennial African association football tournament organized by Confederation of African Football. It will be hosted by Ivory Coast for the second time, and the first time since 1984.
This edition of the tournament was initially planned to be the third since 2019 to take place during the Northern Hemisphere's summer, in order to reduce scheduling conflicts with European club teams and competitions. However, on 3 July 2022, CAF postponed the tournament to 13 January – 11 February 2024 due to the adverse summer weather concerns in Ivory Coast, whilst retaining the edition's original name for sponsorship purposes. This followed the 2021 edition in Cameroon also being moved to the winter for similar reasons.
Senegal are the defending champions.
Host selection
Bids
Algeria
Guinea (Guinea was originally awarded the 2023 tournament, but hosting duties were pushed back to 2025 after Cameroon hosted in 2021 instead of 2019 owing to non-readiness at the time. However, Guinea could not reach the deadline for tournament preparations and was later stripped of 2023 hosting rights on 30 September 2022; Morocco was selected as the replacement host on 27 September 2023.)
Ivory Coast (Ivory Coast was originally awarded the 2021 tournament, which was later pushed forward to 2023 following Cameroon hosting the 2021 edition. However, Ivory Coast later requested to CAF for the 2023 edition to be hosted in January–February 2024 to avoid the West and Central African tropical rain season which typically reaches its peak around June–July.)
Zambia
Rejected bids
Cameroon
Kenya
Sudan
Senegal
CAF initially announced the hosts for the 2019, 2021 and 2023 editions of Africa Cup of Nations after the final vote at its executive committee meeting on 20 September 2014, awarding the 2019 edition to Cameroon, the 2021 edition to Ivory Coast and the 2023 edition to Guinea.
The announcement of the 2023 hosts was unscheduled. Guinea was one of the bidders for the 2019 and 2021 editions, whose host countries were scheduled to be announced on that day. A CAF spokesperson told BBC News that, on the basis of Guinea's presentation "and commitment", the committee "decided to exercise its power to make an immediate decision."
Host change
On 30 November 2018, CAF stripped Cameroon from hosting the 2019 edition due to lack of speed of progress in hosting preparations, but accepted former CAF President Ahmad Ahmad's request for Cameroon to stage the following edition in 2021. Consequently, the original hosts of 2021, Ivory Coast, would host the 2023 edition, and the original hosts of 2023, Guinea were planned to host the 2025 edition, which until that point was yet to have a host named.
On 30 January 2019, the CAF President confirmed the timetable shift, after a meeting with Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Sponsorship
Total S.A. has been a corporate sponsor of the Confederation of African Football since 2016.
Mascot
The organizing board of the 2023 African Cup of Nations unveiled the AFCON 2023 Mascot; "Akwaba", which means "Welcome" in Baoulé language. It is an elephant, which is Ivory Coast's animal symbol. Its kit bears resemblance to Ivory Coast's home colors.
Match ball
CAF replaced Umbro with Puma. On 12 October 2023, CAF and Puma unveiled "Pokou" as the offial match ball of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. It's named after Ivorian legendary forward Laurent Pokou, a doyen of African football whose five goals in the 6-1 victory over Ethiopia at the 1970 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations have remained a record during the Final competition.
Official song
On 12 October 2023, during the official draw, CAF unveiled the official song for the competition. The song featured MTV award-winning Nigerian artist Yemi Alade, the multi-talented Egyptian rapper Mohamed Ramadan and Ivorian hit-makers Magic System. Titled "Akwaba", meaning "Welcome" in the native language of Baoulé, the anthem is an exciting fusion of afrobeat, rap and zouglou in a unique musical mix that remains deeply entrenched with the tradition of the competition's previous anthems.
Qualification
Qualified teams
The following teams qualified for the tournament. For the first time since 2015 and first time ever since the 24-team format was introduced, there are no debutant nations.
Venues
CAF established the following requirements for the expected six stadiums for this edition of the tournament:
In September 2017, the government of Ivory Coast launched a public tender for the venues of the competition. This included public tender requested bids for renovating and expanding the existing Stade Félix-Houphouët Boigny and Stade de la Paix (Peace Stadium) of Bouaké, and building new stadiums in the cities of Korhogo, San Pédro and Yamoussoukro. The three new stadiums were to have a capacity of 20,000 each.
In addition to the renovation or construction of stadiums, the tender included the renovation or construction of training facilities in the host cities: eight in Abidjan, and four in Bouaké, Korhogo, Yamoussoukro and San Pédro. It also included the construction of 96 villas (five rooms per villa) in the cities of Bouaké, Korhogo, Yamoussoukro and San Pédro. In addition, bids were to be submitted to build a three-star hotel of fifty rooms in the city of Korhogo.
Match officials
On 12 September 2023, a total of 32 referees, 33 assistants, four video assistant referees (VAR), and six technical and physical instructors were shortlisted for the preparatory course ahead of the tournament.
Referees
Mustapha Ghorbal
Peter Waweru
Bamlak Tessema Weyesa
Jean Ngambo
Amin Omar
Dahane Beida
Samir Guezzaz
Boubou Traore
Tom Abongile
Atcho Pierre
Mahmoud Mahmood
Mahamat Aliaou
Issa Sy
Mutaz Ibrahim
Pacifique Ndabihawenimana
Samuel Uwikunda
Mohamed Maarouf
Abdel Bouh
Mebiame Tanguy
Omar Artan
Gamouh Youcef
Jalal Jayed
Kalilou Ibrahim
Sadok Selmi
Louis Houngnandande
Messie Nkoukou
Milazare Patrice
Lahlou Benbraham
Guirat Haithem
Daniel Laryea
Mahmoud M.Elbanna
Ahmed Heerelal
Assistant referees
Abbes Zerhouni
Mokrane Gourari
Ahmed Ibrahim
Mahmoud Abouregal
Azgaou Lahsen
Mostafa Akarkad
Emiliano Dos Santos
Lopes Oliveira
Djibril Camara
Nouha Bangoura
Ngoh Hermann
Nouho Ouattara
Zakhele Siwela
Elvis Noupue
Sourou Phatsoane
Arsenio Maringule
Ibrahim Mohamed
Hassani Khalil
Gilbert Cheriot
Amsaed Essa
Tiama Seydou
Amaldin Souleimane
Liban Abdoulrazack
Ditsoga Marlene
Dos Abdelmiro
Kwasi Brobbey
Ayimavo Eric
Yiembe Stephen
Dimbiniaina Andriatianarivelo
Ahonto Koffi
Steven Moutsassi
Modibe Samake
Zakaria Brinsi
Video assistant referees
Mahmoud Ashour
Maria Rivet
Akhona Makalima
Technical and physical instructors
Mike Van Der Roest (FIFA)
Malang Diedhou
Mohammed Guezzaz
Felix Tangawarima
Jean Birumushahu
Yeo Songuifolo
Draw
The final draw was held at the Parc des Expositions d'Abidjan in Abidjan on 12 October 2023. The event was hosted by Senegalese-American musician Akon, whilst the draw was conducted by former African international footballers Didier Drogba and Mikel John Obi, alongside current internationals Sadio Mané and Achraf Hakimi. The 24 teams were divided into six groups of four each, with the four initial pots determined based on the September 2023 FIFA World Rankings (shown in parentheses), listed below. Ivory Coast were automatically given the top seed and assigned to position A1 in the draw as hosts.
Group stage
All times are local, GMT (UTC±0).
The fixture schedule for the tournament was released on 20 October 2023, following the group stage draw.
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 depend on which four third-placed teams qualify for the round of 16:
Knockout stage
Bracket
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Third place play-off
Final
References
External links
AFCON official website
2023
Nations
International association football competitions hosted by Ivory Coast
football
January 2024 sports events in Africa
February 2024 sports events in Africa
Scheduled association football competitions