Dates 14 Jan 2017 – 5 Feb 2017 Venues 4 | Matches played 32 Teams 16 | |
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Similar 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, 2018 FIFA World Cup, 2016 African Nations C | ||
The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Total Africa Cup of Nations, Gabon 2017 (also referred to as AFCON 2017 or CAN 2017), was the 31st 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 The tournament was scheduled to be hosted by Libya, until CAF rescinded its hosting rights in August 2014 due to ongoing war in the country. The tournament was instead hosted by Gabon. This event was also part of the Africa Cup of Nations 60th Anniversary.
Contents
- First bidding
- Second bidding
- Qualification
- Qualified teams
- Venues
- Squads
- Match officials
- Format
- Draw
- Group stage
- Knockout stage
- Goalscorers
- Awards
- Sponsorship
- Mascot
- Website attack
- Broadcasting
- References
Cameroon won their fifth title after defeating seven-time champions Egypt 2–1 in the final.
As champions, Cameroon qualified for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia. Tournament hosts Gabon and defending champions Ivory Coast were both eliminated in the group stage after failing to win any of their three group games.
First bidding
The following countries expressed an interest in hosting the tournament: Botswana, Cameroon, DR Congo, Guinea, Morocco, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
CAF received three bids before the 30 September 2010 deadline, to host either the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations or 2017 Africa Cup of Nations. The three bids were from DR Congo, Morocco and South Africa. All three bids were originally put on a short list.
CAF then began an inspection procedure, intending to visit each bidding country to view stadiums, infrastructure, and football interest. They inspected the DR Congo first. The inspection was intended to run from 12 to 15 November, but was cut short. Shortly after the inspection, DR Congo informed CAF that they would be withdrawing their bids for both the 2015 and 2017 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.
Morocco was the next country to be inspected, with CAF visiting the country in early November 2010. South Africa was inspected in December 2010.
On 29 January, during the 2011 CAF Super Cup, the CAF executive committee decided that Morocco would host 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, while the 2017 edition would be held in South Africa. However, due to the Libyan Civil War, Libya and South Africa traded years with South Africa hosting in 2013 and Libya hosting in 2017.
Second bidding
After Libya was withdrawn as the venue on 22 August 2014, the CAF announced that they would be receiving applications for the new hosts until 30 September 2014, and would announce the hosts in 2015; the host announcement was later set to take place on 8 April 2015.
Seven countries submitted a bid to host the tournament: Algeria, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Sudan, and Zimbabwe. Only four of them, Algeria, Egypt, Gabon, and Ghana, were determined by the CAF to be compliant with the host criteria. Later, Egypt withdrew its application.
Other countries which expressed an interest but did not bid included Ethiopia, Mali, and Tanzania. Kenya discussed a joint bid with neighbors Rwanda and Uganda, but eventually bid alone.
On 8 April 2015, CAF President Issa Hayatou announced Gabon as the replacement hosts following votes by the CAF Executive Committee. Gabon previously co-hosted the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations with Equatorial Guinea, who were also named replacement hosts for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations following Morocco's withdrawal.
Qualification
The draw for the qualification stage took place on 8 April 2015, immediately after the announcement of the host nation. The host nation team were also drawn into a group and would play games against those in that group; however, those matches would only be considered as friendlies and not counted for the standings.
51 nations entered the qualifying stage with Eritrea and Somalia declining to enter.
Due to the cancellation of Morocco being hosts of the 2015 edition, the national team of Morocco were originally banned by CAF from entering the 2017 and 2019 Africa Cups of Nations. However, the ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, allowing Morocco to enter the tournament.
Three-time champions Nigeria did not qualify.
Qualified teams
The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.
Venues
The four venues were confirmed in October 2016.
Squads
Each team can register a squad of 23 players.
Match officials
The following referees were chosen for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
Format
Only the hosts received an automatic qualification spot, the other 15 teams qualified through a qualification tournament. At the finals, the 16 teams were drawn into four 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 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 took place on 19 October 2016, 18:30 UTC+1, in Libreville, Gabon.
The seedings approved by the Organising Committee of the Africa Cup of Nations at its meeting on Monday, 26 September 2016 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, was determined taking into account the performance of the qualified teams during the following competitions:
Group stage
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 (Regulations Article 74):
- Number of points obtained in games between the teams concerned;
- Goal difference in games between the teams concerned;
- 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;
- Goal difference in all games;
- Goals scored in all games;
- Drawing of lots.
All times are local, WAT (UTC+1).
Knockout stage
In the knockout stages, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time was 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 was played (Regulations Article 75).
Goalscorers
Awards
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
Sponsorship
In July 2016, Total secured an eight-year sponsorship package from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to support ten of its principal competitions, including the Africa Cup of Nations (renamed the Total Africa Cup of Nations).
Mascot
The official mascot of the tournament was "Samba", a black panther.
Website attack
On 21 January, Russian hacking group New World Hackers claimed to have taken the official CAF website down in response to CAF's decision to choose Gabon as host nation. "We did this in protest against Gabon", the person claiming to be one of the hackers wrote in an email. "They are running the Africa Cup in a country where the dictator Ali Bongo is killing innocent people!"
Broadcasting
^1 - Available in the following countries: Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia