2021 Africa Cup of Nations

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 Cameroon. The tournament was originally scheduled to be played in June and July 2021, but the CAF announced on 15 January 2020 that due to unfavourable climatic conditions during this period, the tournament would take place between 9 January and 6 February 2021.On 30 June 2020, CAF moved the tournament for the third time to January 2022 following the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Algeria are the defending champions after winning the 2019 edition.

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 of the host country 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 the hosts for the 2019, 2021 and 2023 AFCON tournaments: 2019 to Cameroon, 2021 to Ivory Coast, and 2023 to Guinea.

Host change
On 30 November 2018, CAF stripped Cameroon from hosting the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. However, CAF President Ahmad Ahmad said that Cameroon had agreed to host the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. Consequently, Ivory Coast, original hosts of 2021, will host the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, and Guinea, original hosts of 2023, will host the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

On 30 January 2019, the CAF President confirmed the timetable shift, after a meeting with Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
The tournament was earlier scheduled to take place between 9 January and 6 February 2021. The Preliminary rounds and two group stages qualifying rounds had been played between 9 October 2019 and 19 November 2019. The 3rd and 4th group stage qualifying rounds that were scheduled to take place between (23rd to 31st March 2020) and (1st to 9th June 2020) respectively were postponed and all qualifying rounds rescheduled due to the Coronavirus outbreak in Africa.

As of 19 June 2020, CAF were 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 Nations as football competitions across the continent had been postponed, cancelled or suspended.

On 30 June however, 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 CAF, with new dates to be announced later. Subsequently, other continental competitions and events to be held were rescheduled or cancelled.

Qualified teams
The following teams qualified for the tournament.

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 will 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.

Draw
The draw will take place on Friday 25th June 2021 in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The 24 teams will be drawn into 6 groups of 4 with the teams split into 4 pots based on the Fifa World Ranking of June 2021.

Venues
With the Africa Cup of Nations expanded from 16 to 24 teams, at least six venues are expected to be used and in this way matches will take place in six venues across the five Cameroonian cities of Yaoundé, Douala, Garoua, Limbe and Bafoussam. The six stadiums selected to host matches are the Paul Biya Stadium and the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo 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 ceremony as well as the opening match of the tournament and the final are set to take place at the newly built 60 000 seater Paul Biya Stadium in Yaoundé.