This edition of the tournament was initially planned to take place during the Northern Hemisphere's summer like the 2019 Cup, in order to reduce scheduling conflicts with European club teams and competitions.[2][3][4][5] However, it was postponed by CAF to 13 January – 11 February 2024 on 3 July 2022 due to the summer weather concerns in Ivory Coast, although the competition retained the original name for sponsorship purposes.[6][7] This followed the previous edition in 2021 in Cameroon also being moved to the Northern Hemisphere's winter season for similar reasons, albeit coupled with postponement due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the CAF calendar.[8]
Host nation Ivory Coast won the tournament for their third title. They beat Nigeria2–1 in the final, having also beaten defending champions Senegal in the round of 16 in a penalty shootout after the allocated playing time had ended in a 1–1 draw.
Host selection
The hosting rights for this edition of the tournament were initially awarded to Guinea during a meeting of the CAF executive committee on 20 September 2014, which also awarded the 2019 edition to Cameroon and the 2021 edition to Ivory Coast. At the time, the announcement of the 2023 host was unscheduled; Guinea was one of the bidders for the 2019 and 2021 editions, and per CAF's assertions, on the basis of the country's presentation "and commitment", the committee "decided to exercise its power to make an immediate decision."[9]
A CAF executive committee meeting on 20 July 2017 brought about changes for the tournament moving forward, including an increase in group stage participation teams from 16 to 24 from the 2019 edition.[10] With the new specifications, Cameroon could not reach the preparation deadlines for the-then following 2019 edition and got stripped of the hosting rights on 30 November 2018,[11] with the hosting rights handed over to Egypt on 8 January 2019.[12] Cameroon opted for and hosted the 2021 edition instead,[13] which led to original 2021 hosts Ivory Coast organising the 2023 edition.[14] Guinea's hosting duties were pushed back to 2025, which until then had unscheduled hosts, though it could not get ready on time either and was eventually stripped from hosting.[15][16]
Although the tournament retained its original 2023 branding, it was moved to January–February 2024 upon Ivory Coast's request, in order to avoid the West and Central African tropical rain season, which typically reaches its peak around June–July.[6]
Akwaba, the official mascot of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations
The organising board of the 2023 African Cup of Nations, commonly called COCAN 2023, unveiled the competition's mascot "Akwaba", which means "Welcome" in Baoulé language. It is an elephant whose kit bears resemblance to the host nation Ivory Coast's home colours.[24]
Match ball
On 12 October 2023, CAF and Puma unveiled "Pokou" as the official tournament edition match ball ahead of the final tournament draw. The name was chosen to honour deceased legendary Ivorian forward Laurent Pokou, locally known for scoring five goals in the 6–1 victory over Ethiopia at the 1970 edition of the tournament, which had stood as a record to date.[25]
Official song
On 12 October 2023, CAF unveiled "Akwaba", the official anthem for the competition during the official draw. The song features Nigerian artist Yemi Alade, Egyptian rapper Mohamed Ramadan, and Ivorian music band Magic System. The anthem, whose title means "welcome" in the native Baoulé language, is a fusion of Afrobeats, rap and zouglou considered stylistically similar to the competition's previous anthems.[26][27]
All 54 teams originally registered for qualification was held in two rounds like in the previous editions in 2019 and 2021. Réunion and Zanzibar were not full members of CAF and were therefore excluded from participation. Eritrea withdrew after the first round draw. Kenya and Zimbabwe were suspended by FIFA at the time of the second round draw and were excluded from the competition after their suspensions were not lifted in time.
In the preliminary round, the twelve lowest-ranked teams in the FIFA world rankings of December 2021 competed against each other in a knockout system with two legs. The six winners of the preliminary round and the remaining 42 higher-placed teams were drawn into twelve groups of four in April 2022. The second round was played from June 2022 to September 2023 in a double round format. The group winners and runners-up from all twelve groups, with the exception of Group H, qualified for the final round. Apart from the hosts from Ivory Coast, only one other team qualified from Group H.
Qualified teams
The following teams qualified for this edition of the tournament with no debutant nation for the first time since the 2015 edition. Seventeen teams that participated in the most recent edition in 2021 returned for the event.
In September 2017, the government of Ivory Coast launched a public tender for the venues of the competition. This included public tender requested bids for renovating and expanding the existing Felix Houphouët Boigny Stadium in Abidjan and the Stade de la Paix (Peace Stadium) of Bouaké, and building new stadiums in Yamoussoukro as well as the cities of Korhogo and San-Pédro. The three new stadiums were to have a capacity of 20,000 each.
In addition to the renovation or construction of stadiums, the tender included the renovation or construction of training facilities in the host cities: eight in Abidjan and four in Bouaké, Korhogo, Yamoussoukro and San-Pédro. It also included the construction of 96 villas (five rooms per villa) in those cities. In addition, the bidding nations were to be submitted to build a three-star hotel of fifty rooms in Korhogo.[32]
The opening ceremony of the stadium began at 17:25 with the setting up of the animation groups and the cultural activities which lasted until 20:00. Guests and officials were set up until the start of the opening match at 20:00. Among the guests were members of Confederation of African Football (CAF), members of the diplomatic corps, presidents of legislative and judicial institutions, members of government including the president of COCAN 2023 and the presidents of CAF and FIFA.[33][34]
The final draw was held at the Parc des Expositions d'Abidjan in Abidjan on 12 October 2023.[36] The event was hosted by Senegalese-American musician Akon,[37] whilst the draw was conducted by former African footballers Didier Drogba and Mikel John Obi, alongside current internationals Sadio Mané and Achraf Hakimi.[38] The 24 teams were divided into six groups of four each, with the four initial pots determined based on the September 2023 FIFA World Rankings (shown in parentheses), listed below. Ivory Coast were automatically given the top seed and assigned to position A1 in the draw as hosts.[39]
The fixture schedule for this edition of the tournament was released on 20 October 2023, following the group stage draw.[40][41]
Tiebreakers
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss).
If two teams were tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 74):[42]
Points in head-to-head matches match between the two tied teams;
If more than two teams were tied, the following criteria were applied instead:
Points in matches between the tied teams;
Goal difference in matches between the tied teams;
Goals scored in matches between the tied teams;
If after applying all criteria above, two teams were still tied, the above criteria were again applied to matches played between the two teams in question. If this did not resolve the tie, the next three criteria were applied;
^ ab"CAF President Dr Motsepe announces African Super League launch details, AFCON 2023 and Champions League key decisions" (Press release). CAFOnline.com. 3 July 2022. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2023. ...the Executive Committee has decided that this edition of the tournament will be postponed to the months of January and February 2024. The postponement is as a direct and sole result of the adverse weather conditions in the country and after also having received further technical opinion from experts on adverse effects of staging the matches in that period, as June and July are rainy seasons in Ivory Coast.
^"Seleção do Marrocos divulga convocados para a Copa Africana de Nações 2023" [Morocco national team announces squad for 2023 African Cup of Nations]. Band (in Brazilian Portuguese). 28 December 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2024. The African Cup of Nations will be broadcast in full by Grupo Bandeirantes, starting on January 13th, on open TV, on Bandsports and on digital platforms, such as Bandplay, Band.com.br and YouTube.
^"אליפות אפריקה 2023" [African Championship 2023 – schedule of matches, updates, news and broadcasts]. Sport 5 (in Icelandic). Retrieved 13 January 2024.
