African Cup of Nation is just knocking at the door. Teams are in the course of their preparations; some outside the continent while only a few like Egypt and Tanzania are at Cairo getting used to the surrounding.
You are probably looking for the best way to comfortably watch Africa’s elite tournament without distraction, right?
Of course, squads have been named the teams that will grace the competition are in the public domain.
But do you know how the AFCON format works?
This piece will help you know how teams will play until the final. Here we go!
Initially, only 16 teams used to participate but a new arrangement has added 8 more to make them 24 teams. This is due to an extension to the number of participants by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
How does it work?
The 24 qualified teams were seeded into four pots based on CAF rankings with the host nation Egypt being seeded in group A.
Then they were drawn into six groups of four teams in each group.
The two teams who emerge top in each group alongside the best four third-placed teams will proceed to the round of 16.
In the knock-out stage, extra-time and penalties will be allowed to identify the winner should a match end in a draw. only 8 teams will make it to the quarter-finals where they will battle for semi-finals spots.
Then Semi-Final winners successfully proceed to the finals on 19th July with the losers battling it out for a third place.
Africa’s most prized tournament kicks off on 21st June.