The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is the most prominent international men’s association football competition on the continent. It was held for the first time in 1957 under the supervision of the African Football Confederation (CAF). Since 1968, it has been held every two years, with odd-numbered years becoming even-numbered in 2013.
For the 33rd time, the AFCON will be held. The tournament, which began on January 9 and ends on February 6, 2022, is being hosted by Cameroon. It was intended to happen in the summer of 2021, in June and July. Due to adverse weather conditions within that time frame, the CAF announced in January 2020 that it will be postponed to take place between 9 January and 6 February 2021.
The CAF changed the tournament’s dates to January 2022 for the second time in 2020, but preserved the name 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes, due to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak across the continent. Algeria, the current winners and two-time champions, will be unable to defend their title after being eliminated in the Group Stage.
AFCON 2021 Playoffs:Format
The final event has a total of 24 teams. Only the hosts qualified automatically, with the remaining 23 teams competing in a qualifying competition. The 24 teams competing in the finals were divided into six groups of four. Each group’s teams competed in a single round-robintournament.
The top two teams from each group, as well as the fourhighest-rankingthird-placed teams, progressed to theRound of 16 after theGroupStage. The winnerswill progress to theQuarter-Finals, andfour of themwillthen advance to theSemi-Finals. The losers of theSemi-Finals will compete in a third-place match, while the winnerswill clashin theFinal.
If a match is tied at the completion of 90 minutes of normal playtimein thePlayoffs, except for the third-placematch, extra time will be played (two periods of 15 minutes each). If the game is still tied after extra time, the triumphantwill be determined by a penalty shoot-out. If the scores are tied after 90 minutes in the third-place game, itwill proceed straight to a penalty shoot-out, with no additional time being played.
AFCON 2021 Playoffs: Teams
The two best-placednationsfrom each of the six groups, as well as the four best third-placed teams, advanced to the Playoffs.
Group A:Cameroon, Burkina Faso
Group B:Senegal, Guinea
Group C:Morocco, Gabon
Group D:Nigeria, Egypt
Group E:Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea
Group F:Mali, Gambia
Third-placed teams:Cape Verde,Malawi, Comoros, Tunisia
AFCON 2021 Playoffs: Schedule and How to Watch in the US
Round of 16
Sunday, January 23
Burkina Faso vs Gabon
Nigeriavs Tunisia
Monday, January 24
Guinea vs Gambia
Cameroonvs Comoros
Tuesday, January 25
Senegal vs Cape Verde
Morocco vs Malawi
Wednesday, January 26
Ivory Coast vs Egypt
Mali vs Equatorial Guinea
Quarter-Finals
Saturday, January 29
QF1: Round-of-16 game 4 winner vs Round-of-16 game 3 winner
QF2: Round-of-16 game 1 winner vs Round-of-16 game 2 winner,
Sunday, January 30
QF 3: Round-of-16 game 7 winner vs Round-of-16 game 6 winner
QF 4: Round-of-16 game 5 winner vs Round-of-16 game 8 winner
Semi-Finals
Wednesday, February 2
SF 1: QF1 winner vs QF4 winner
Thursday, February 3
SF2: QF 2 winner vs QF 3 winner
Third-place match
Sunday, February 6
SF1 loser vs SF2 loser
Final
Sunday, February 6
SF1 winner vs SF2 winner
The 2021 AFCON is being broadcastbeIN SPORTS CONNECT,beIN SPORTS XTRA en Español,beIN SPORTS XTRAin the UnitedStates. Stream live in the US:fuboTV (7 Day Free Trial Streaming).
