The Africa Cup of Nations 2021 draw will take place on August 17 in Yaounde, Cameroon, with the 24 participating nations divided into six groups of four teams each.
The teams will be divided into four pots of six teams each based on the Fifa global rankings published a few days earlier.
Procedure for Drawing
The top four teams in the standings will be placed in pot one, with hosts Cameroon and reigning champions Algeria. Senegal, Tunisia, and Nigeria have been included in this pot as well.
The remaining teams will be seeded in pots two, three, and four, according to their decreasing rating. Egypt, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea are all in pot two.
Cape Verde, Gabon, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, and Guinea Bissau are grouped together in pot three, whereas Malawi, Sudan, Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, and The Gambia are grouped together in pot four.
Pots representing teams will be labeled 1-4, while pots representing groupings will be labeled A to F. The Indomitable Lions will be assigned to position A1, while the other participants in pot one will be automatically assigned to the first position in each of the following groups, B to F.
The remaining pots will be filled in the same manner, and each team pot must be emptied before proceeding to the next pot.
Host Stadiums
The biannual event will be held in six venues across the central African nation. The capital’s Ahmadou Ahidjo and Paul Biya Stadiums will host some games, while the Limbe Stadium in Limbe town, Daoula’s Japoma Stadium, Bafoussam’s Kouekong Stadium, and Garoua’s Roumde Adjia Stadium will host other matches.
The tournament is planned to run from January 9 to February 6 next year, after a scheduling disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic in mid-2021.
