2012 Africa Cup of Nations

The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations will be the 28th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). It will be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The two countries won the right to host the tournament after defeating a Nigerian bid along with two other bid winning nations, Angola and Libya. Bids from Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Senegal were rejected. For the first time in CAF history, the hosts of three successive tournaments were chosen at the same time; Angola was chosen to host in 2010, Gabon/Equatorial Guinea were chosen as hosts for the 2012 Cup and Libya for the 2013 edition. Due to security concerns in Libya, South Africa has been given the rights to host the 2013 edition and therefore automatically qualify for the 2013 Cup. Nigeria was chosen as a stand-by host in the event that one of the chosen nations were to become unsuitable.

Venues
Stade d'Angondjé (45,000)
Stade de Franceville (40,000)
Estadio de Bata (40,000)
Nuevo Estadio de Malabo (15,250)

Qualified Teams (Appearance)
Gabon (5)
Equatorial Guinea (1)
Mali (7)
Guinea (10)
Zambia (15)
Morocco (14)
Senegal (12)
Burkina Faso (8)
Niger (1)
Côte d'Ivoire (19)
Ghana (18)
Angola (6)
Botswana (1)
Tunisia (15)
Libya (3)
Sudan (8)

Draw
The draw for the finals will take place on October 29, 2011 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. The draw will see the 16 qualified teams being pitted into four groups of four teams each. The two top teams from each group will qualify for the quarter finals with the winners progressing to the semi finals and final eventually. A weighted formula will be used to determine the seedings.

Groups

Group A
Equatorial Guinea | 0pld | 0pts
Libya | 0pld | 0pts
Senegal | 0pld | 0pts
Zambia | 0pld | 0pts

Group B
Côte d'Ivoire | 0pld | 0pts
Sudan | 0pld | 0pts
Burkina Faso | 0pld | 0pts
Angola | 0pld | 0pts

Group C
Gabon | 0pld | 0pts
Niger | 0pld | 0pts
Morocco | 0pld | 0pts
Tunisia | 0pld | 0pts

Group D
Ghana | 0pld | 0pts
Botswana | 0pld | 0pts
Mali | 0pld | 0pts
Guinea | 0pld | 0pts

Matches

Group A
January, 21 - 19:30 WAT
Equatorial Guinea v Libya - Estadio de Bata, Bata

January, 21 - 22:00 WAT
Senegal v Zambia - Estadio de Bata, Bata

January 25 - 17:00 WAT
Libya v Zambia - Estadio de Bata, Bata

January 25 - 20:00 WAT
Equatorial Guinea v Senegal - Estadio de Bata, Bata

January 29 - 19:00 WAT
Equatorial Guinea v Zambia - Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo

January 29 - 19:00 WAT
Libya v Senegal - Estadio de Bata, Bata

Group B
January 22 - 17:00
Ivory Coast v Sudan - Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo

January 22 - 20:00
Burkina Faso v Angola - Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo

January 26 - 17:00
Sudan v Angola - Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo

January 26 - 20:00
Ivory Coast v Burkina Faso - Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo

January 30 - 19:00
Sudan v Burkina Faso - Estadio de Bata, Bata

January 30 - 19:00
Ivory Coast v Angola - Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo

Group C
January 23 -17:00
Gabon v Niger - Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville

January 23 - 20:00
Morocco v Tunisia - Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville

January 27 - 17:00
Niger v Tunisia - Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville

January 27 - 20:00
Gabon v Morocco -Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville

January 31 - 19:00
Gabon v Tunisia - Stade de Franceville, Franceville

January 31 - 19:00
Niger v Morocco - Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville

Group D
January 24 - 17:00
Ghana v Botswana - Stade de Franceville, Franceville

January 24 - 20:00
Mali v Guinea - Stade de Franceville, Franceville

January 28 - 17:00
Botswana v Guinea - Stade de Franceville, Franceville

January 28 - 20:00
Ghana v Mali - Stade de Franceville, Franceville

February 1 - 19:00
Botswana v Mali - Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville

February 1 - 19:00
Ghana v Guinea - Stade de Franceville, Franceville

Big Absentees: Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria, South Africa, and Algeria

So the three consecutive champions and 4/6 of the 2010 WC participants.

Crazy how some of those teams didn't make it. Im extremely happy Senegal is back at it again though, we've looked extremely good as of late.

What is going on with Burkina Faso? I read they used an unqualified player against Namibia and may face some sort of legal action. If they are kicked out of the tournament who would replace them?

XavIniesta_6 wrote:Crazy how some of those teams didn't make it. Im extremely happy Senegal is back at it again though, we've looked extremely good as of late.

Yeah, I've heard good things about Senegal. They are favorites along with Ghana and Ivory Coast.

Weather130 wrote:What is going on with Burkina Faso? I read they used an unqualified player against Namibia and may face some sort of legal action. If they are kicked out of the tournament who would replace them?

CAF have opened an investigation, but if found guilty, they will forfeit their two matches in which they fielded the player (both against last place Namibia). Burkina Faso coach Paulo Duarte says that the player is eligible as he has a Burkinabé wife.

I'm not clear on how things will work out if found guilty. Currently, the standings are...

Burkina Faso 10pts
Gambia 4pts
Namibia 3pts

If found guilty, they would look like this...

Namibia 9pts
Burkina Faso 4pts
Gambia 4pts

Does Namibia get 3 points for the two matches against Burkina Faso? Or does Burkina Faso just drop 6 points? If they only drop 6 pts, then they still qualify ahead of Gambia.

Come on Ghana.

Zimbabwe

Ivory Coast have this. I can see Ghana going out before the final. I'll go for a Morocco - Ivory Coast final.

The draw for the tournament took place today. Here are the groups...

Group A
Equatorial Guinea | 0pld | 0pts
Libya | 0pld | 0pts
Senegal | 0pld | 0pts
Zambia | 0pld | 0pts

Group B
Côte d'Ivoire | 0pld | 0pts
Sudan | 0pld | 0pts
Burkina Faso | 0pld | 0pts
Angola | 0pld | 0pts

Group C
Gabon | 0pld | 0pts
Niger | 0pld | 0pts
Morocco | 0pld | 0pts
Tunisia | 0pld | 0pts

Group D
Ghana | 0pld | 0pts
Botswana | 0pld | 0pts
Mali | 0pld | 0pts
Guinea | 0pld | 0pts

Here are my predictions...

Group A
Senegal
Libya
Zambia
Equatorial Guinea

Group B
Côte d'Ivoire
Angola
Burkina Faso
Sudan

Group C
Tunisia
Morocco
Gabon
Niger

Group D
Ghana
Mali
Guinea
Botswana

Senegal v Angola
Tunisia v Mali
Côte d'Ivoire v Libya
Ghana v Morocco

Senegal v Tunisia
Côte d'Ivoire v Ghana

Tunisia v Ghana

Senegal v Côte d'Ivoire

Looking forward to this.

It sucks that Ghana will most likely face Côte d'Ivoire in the semifinal.

Will this be broadcast on television in English at all, and if so where?

Weather130 wrote:Will this be broadcast on television in English at all, and if so where?

Not sure, but I think Sky has shown the games in the past. It's never broadcasted in the USA though. If you want to watch it in the USA, you have to have the Arabic channels on Dish Network.

ahlycotc wrote:

Weather130 wrote:Will this be broadcast on television in English at all, and if so where?

Not sure, but I think Sky has shown the games in the past. It's never broadcasted in the USA though. If you want to watch it in the USA, you have to have the Arabic channels on Dish Network.

That is okay, I did not actually plan to watch this on TV but rather on some sort of online streaming site. Not sure how much I will follow this but I would like at the very least to watch the final in English.

Weather130 wrote:

ahlycotc wrote:

Not sure, but I think Sky has shown the games in the past. It's never broadcasted in the USA though. If you want to watch it in the USA, you have to have the Arabic channels on Dish Network.

That is okay, I did not actually plan to watch this on TV but rather on some sort of online streaming site. Not sure how much I will follow this but I would like at the very least to watch the final in English.

Finding English language streams shouldn't be a problem.

[quote="ahlycotc"][quote="Weather130"]

I suppose that is true since you only need one English broadcast anywhere but that is still good to know. I think it is messed up that this tournament is almost completely ignored here but we have some really odd things like an English language broadcast of the Mexican league.