2015 Africa Cup of Nations

The  2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international football championship of Africa. It was organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and was held from 17 January to 8 February 2015.

The tournament was initially scheduled to be hosted by Morocco who later demanded postponement of the event because of the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa; subsequently Morocco was ruled out as a host country and replaced by Equatorial Guinea.

The Ivory Coast won the tournament for their second Africa Cup of Nations title, defeating Ghana 9–8 in a penalty shoot-out after the final finished goalless following extra time. The DR Congo came third and the hosts Equatorial Guinea fourth, while defending champions Nigeria did not qualify.

Qualification
Qualification for the tournament were made up of four stages, three preliminary rounds and a final group stage. The 21 best-ranked teams were given a bye to the group stage, while the next 26 teams began play in the second preliminary round, and four lowest ranked teams started at the first round. The three preliminary rounds were a series of playoffs, with the winners advancing.

51 nations entered the tournament (excluding initial hosts Morocco). It was the competitive debut of South Sudan. Djibouti and Somalia declined to enter.

Morocco would have automatically qualified as hosts; however, after their refusal to host, they were expelled from the tournament by the CAF. Equatorial Guinea was chosen as the new host, and despite having played in the qualifiers and been disqualified due to fielding an ineligible player, they qualified for the tournament automatically.

The defending champions Nigeria failed to qualify for the tournament.

Qualified teams
The following sixteen teams qualified for the tournament.


 * 1 Bold indicates champion for that year.
 * 2 Italic indicates host for that year.

Venues
The four Equatorial Guinean cities selected to host the tournament were Malabo, Bata, Mongomo and Ebebiyín.

Malabo and Bata were also host venues for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

Screening for Ebola was given to all spectators attending matches.

Draw
The finals draw was held on 3 December 2014 in Malabo. It was initially to be held on 26 November 2014 in Rabat before the change of host country.

The 16 teams were divided into four pots based on the CAF Ranking, with the hosts Equatorial Guinea placed in Pot 1 automatically. The ranking was computed using the teams' results in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers (weighted by 2), 2013 Africa Cup of Nations finals (weighted by 3) and qualifiers (weighted by 1), the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations finals (weighted by 2) and qualifiers (weighted by 0.5), the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations finals (weighted by 1), and the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Squads
Each team could register a squad of 23 players.

Group stage
The group winners and runners-up advance to the quarter-finals.

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
 * Tiebreakers


 * 1) Number of points obtained in games between the teams concerned;
 * 2) Goal difference in games between the teams concerned;
 * 3) Goals scored in games between the teams concerned;
 * If, after applying criteria 1 to 3 to teams concerned, two or three teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between these teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 7 will apply;
 * 1) Goal difference in all games;
 * 2) Goals scored in all games;
 * 3) Drawing of lots.

Group D
Guinea and Mali finished level on the second spot after the group stage, making the first drawing of lots needed at the tournament since 1988. Unlike some other international tournaments, 2015 Africa Cup of Nations tournament regulations would not use fair-play criteria or a penalty shoot-out after the teams met on the last match day to determine the final group ranking. Both head coaches have openly criticised the regulations.

Knockout stage
In the knockout stages, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time shall be played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by kicks from the penalty mark to determine the winner, except for the play-off for third place where no extra time shall be played.

On 27 January 2015, the CAF announced that they had relocated the venues of two of the quarter-finals: The kick-off time of quarter-finals 2 and 4 are also changed from 20:00 to 20:30 local time.
 * The venue of quarter-final 2 is relocated from Nuevo Estadio de Ebebiyín, Ebebiyín to Estadio de Bata, Bata.
 * The venue of quarter-final 3 is relocated from Estadio de Mongomo, Mongomo to Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo.

Scores after extra time are indicated by (a.e.t.), and penalty shoot-out are indicated by (pen.).

All times local, WAT (UTC+1).

Third place play-off
Note: no extra-time was played

Goalscorers

 * 3 goals


 * Thievy Bifouma
 * 🇨🇩 Dieumerci Mbokani
 * Javier Balboa
 * 🇬🇭 André Ayew
 * 🇹🇳 Ahmed Akaïchi


 * 2 goals


 * 🇨🇩 Jeremy Bokila
 * 🇬🇭 Christian Atsu
 * 🇨🇮 Wilfried Bony
 * 🇨🇮 Gervinho
 * 🇨🇮 Max Gradel


 * 1 goal


 * Nabil Bentaleb
 * Faouzi Ghoulam
 * Riyad Mahrez
 * Islam Slimani
 * El Arbi Hillel Soudani
 * Aristide Bancé
 * 🇨🇲 Benjamin Moukandjo
 * 🇨🇲 Ambroise Oyongo
 * 🇨🇻 Héldon
 * Férébory Doré
 * Fabrice Ondama
 * Prince Oniangue
 * 🇨🇩 Yannick Bolasie
 * 🇨🇩 Joël Kimwaki
 * Emilio Nsue
 * Ibán Edú
 * 🇬🇦 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
 * 🇬🇦 Malick Evouna
 * 🇬🇭 Kwesi Appiah
 * 🇬🇭 Jordan Ayew
 * 🇬🇭 John Boye
 * 🇬🇭 Asamoah Gyan
 * 🇬🇭 Wakaso Mubarak
 * Kévin Constant
 * Ibrahima Traoré
 * Mohamed Yattara
 * 🇨🇮 Seydou Doumbia
 * 🇨🇮 Wilfried Kanon
 * 🇨🇮 Yaya Touré
 * 🇲🇱 Bakary Sako
 * 🇲🇱 Modibo Maïga
 * 🇲🇱 Sambou Yatabaré
 * 🇸🇳 Mame Biram Diouf
 * 🇸🇳 Kara Mbodj
 * 🇸🇳 Moussa Sow
 * Oupa Manyisa
 * Mandla Masango
 * Thuso Phala
 * 🇹🇳 Yassine Chikhaoui
 * 🇹🇳 Mohamed Ali Moncer
 * Emmanuel Mayuka
 * Given Singuluma


 * 1 own goal
 * Thulani Hlatshwayo (playing against Algeria)

Awards

 * Pepsi Highest Scorer
 * 🇬🇭 André Ayew


 * Orange Man of the Competition
 * 🇬🇭 Christian Atsu


 * Best Goalkeeper
 * 🇨🇮 Sylvain Gbohouo


 * Nissan Goal of the tournament
 * 🇬🇭 Christian Atsu vs. Guinea (3rd goal of the match)


 * Samsung Fair Player of the Tournament
 * 🇬🇭 Kwesi Appiah


 * Fair Play of the tournament: 🇨🇩 congo


 * CAF Team of the Tournament

Discipline
In the final tournament, a player was suspended for the subsequent match in the competition for either getting red card or accumulating two yellow cards in two different matches. The disciplinary panel has the ability to increase the automatic one match ban for a red card (e.g. for violent conduct). Single yellow card cautions were erased at the conclusion of the group stage, and were not carried over to the knockout stage. The following players were or are suspended during the final tournament – for one or more games – as a result of red cards or yellow card accumulations: