With a match between the hosts Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau, the 34th edition of the African Cup of Nations will be launched this evening at 22:00 Bulgarian time. 24 teams will battle it out for Africa's throne and football fans will have the opportunity to watch some of the world's best footballers take to the pitches in Europe and Saudi Arabia.
Among the brightest stars of the tournament will be Mohamed Salah (Egypt), Victor Osimhen (Nigeria), Yassine Bounou, Achraf Hakimi, Noussair Mazraoui and Hakim Ziyech (Morocco), Andre Onanna (Cameroon), Riyad Mahrez (Algeria), Sadio Mane, Kalidou Koulibaly and Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal) and others. Of course, this will hurt the teams in Europe, who will lose key players for several weeks.
The matches will be played in six stadiums in five cities in Côte d'Ivoire - Abidjan (2), Bouake, Korhogo, San Pedro and Yamoussoukro. The opening match and the final on February 11 will be held at the 60,000-capacity "Alassane Ouattara" Stadium in the country's largest city, Abidjan.
Senegal will defend its trophy from 2022, when it became the African champion for the first time. The team is considered one of the favorites for the title, and will face Cameroon, Guinea and Gambia in the group stage. The bookmakers set the Morocco team as the number 1 favorite for the trophy. The Atlas Lions were the big surprise of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar when they put in a great performance to become the first African team to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup. Morocco will now try to become champions of Africa for the second time in their history after the triumph in 1976. DR Congo, Zambia and Tanzania are Morocco's opponents in Group F.
Undoubtedly, the biggest star of African football in recent years is Mohamed Salah, but Egypt has not been able to achieve good results in international tournaments. The Pharaohs, who hold the competition's record seven titles, lost in the final two years ago to Senegal and are now drawn in a group with Cape Verde, Ghana and Mozambique.
Hosts Cote d'Ivoire and Algeria also enter the race with title ambitions, and Nigeria's hopes are undeniably high as well. The Super Eagles have not won the title for more than 10 years and are now led by two of Europe's best strikers in Victor Osimhen and Victor Boniface, but Boniface dropped out of the group at the last minute due to injury. The more experienced Alex Iwobi and Ahmed Musa are also in the lineup. Ivory Coast and Nigeria will compete in the group stage.
The group phase of the competition will take place in the period 13-24 January with three matches per day - from 16:00, 19:00 and 22:00 Bulgarian time. The top two teams from each of the six groups, as well as the four best third-placed teams, qualify for the round of 16 battles, which begin on January 27. The final will be played on February 11 at 22:00.
In Bulgaria, the matches from the Cup of African Nations will be broadcast on Max Sport 1. /BGNES
