All you need to know about the upcoming AFCON 2021 draws: Pots, Date, Format, Match venues

Nkwain Desmond July 25th, 2021, 10:33 pm

The AFCON 2021 scheduled to take place in Cameroon in January 2022 is fast approaching.

The competition was originally scheduled for June 2021 but was postponed to January 2022 due to Covid 19 crisis.
This is all you need to know ahead of the tournament starting from Qualified teams, Pots, draws date, Match venues.

Qualified nations
24 teams have qualified for the tournament which was extended from 16 teams to 24 teams since the last edition in 2019.
The qualified nations are:
🇨🇲Cameroon (hosts)
🇩🇿Algeria (title holders)
🇸🇳Senegal
🇹🇷Tunisia
🇳🇬Nigeria
🇲🇦Morocco
🇪🇬Egypt
🇬🇭Ghana
🇲🇱Mali
🇮🇪Ivory Coast
🇬🇳Guinea
🇧🇫Burkina Faso
🇨🇻Cape Verde
🇬🇦Gabon
🇲🇷Mauritania
🇿🇼Zimbabwe
🇬🇼Guinea-Bissau
🇸🇱Sierra Leone
🇸🇩Sudan
🇲🇼Malawi
🇰🇲Comoros
🇬🇶Equatorial Guinea
🇪🇹Ethiopia
🇬🇲Gambia

The qualified teams will be seeded in pots of 4 consulting of 6 teams each. The pots are based on FIFA rankings with the the host nation occupying the first place at pot one and the rest of the teams placed based on their FIFA ranking.

The four pots are
Pot 1
🇨🇲Cameroon (hosts)
🇩🇿Algeria (title holders)
🇸🇳Senegal
🇹🇷Tunisia
🇳🇬Nigeria
🇲🇦Morocco

Pot 2
🇪🇬Egypt
🇬🇭Ghana
🇲🇱Mali
🇮🇪Ivory Coast
🇬🇳Guinea
🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Pot 3
🇨🇻Cape Verde
🇬🇦Gabon
🇲🇷Mauritania
🇿🇼Zimbabwe
🇬🇼Guinea-Bissau
🇸🇱Sierra Leone

Pot 4
🇸🇩Sudan
🇲🇼Malawi
🇰🇲Comoros
🇬🇶Equatorial Guinea
🇪🇹Ethiopia
🇬🇲Gambia

The draws shall take place on the 17th of August at the Yaounde Congress center in Cameroon
The teams shall be put in mini balls and placed in their various pots
A team shall be selected from each pot starting from the first one at random, after the mini ball is opened and the team revealed. Thesame criteria applies for the next 3 pots and at the end the first four drawn teams from the four different pots are placed in Group A. Thesame criteria is applied for the next twenty teams in the 4 pots resulting to Group B,C,D,E, and F.

Match venues
With the Africa Cup of Nations expanded from 16 to 24 teams, at least six venues are expected to be used across five Cameroonian cities. The six stadiums selected to host matches are the Paul Biya Stadium and 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.

Format
The two top teams shall qualify from each group with the best four third place teams from the six groups also qualifying for the knock out making it 16 teams.

Who do you think will lift the AFCON?