2012 Africa Cup of Nations

2012 Africa Cup of Nations
Coupe d'Afrique des nations de football 2012
Copa Africana de Naciones 2012
AFCON 2012
CAN 2012
Tournament details
Host countries  Gabon
 Equatorial Guinea
Dates January 21 – February 12
Teams 16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s) 4 (in 4 host cities)
← 2010
2013 →

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.[1] 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. Nigeria was chosen as a stand-by host in the event that one of the chosen nations were to become unsuitable.

Contents

Bids shortlist

Five countries were put on the shortlist to host the tournament including one joint bid.

Squads

Main article: 2012 Africa Cup of Nations squads

Match officials

The following referees were chosen for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.[2]

Referees Assistant Referees

Mohamed Benouza
Djamel Haimoudi
Neant Alioum
Noumandiez Désiré Doué
Gehad Grisha
Eric Otogo-Castane
Bakary Papa Gassama
Hamada Nampiandraza
Koman Coulibaly
Ali Lemghaifry
Rajindraparsad Seechurn
Bouchaib El Ahrach
Badara Diatta
Eddy Maillet
Daniel Bennett
Khalid Abdel Rahman
Slim Jedidi
Janny Sikazwe

Albdelhak Etchiali
Jean-Claude Birumushahu
Evarist Menkouande
Yanoussa Moussa
Richard Bouende-Malonga
Songuifolo Yeo
Angesom Ogbamariam
Theophile Vinga
Aboubacar Doumbouya
Marwa Range
Moffat Champiti
Balla Diarra
Balkrishna Bootun
Redouane Achik
David Shaanika
Peter Edibe
Felicien Kabanda
Djibril Camara
Jason Damoo
Zakhele Siwela
Bechir Hassani

Qualification

Main article: 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

The qualification process involves ten groups of four, one of which was reduced to a group of three after the withdrawal of Mauritania, and one group of five. The top team from each group goes through, as well as the second placed team from the group of five. The two best second place teams also qualify. At the end of the qualification process, fourteen teams would have qualified, as well as the two host nations. The first qualifiers were held on 1 July 2010.[3]

Qualified teams

Country Qualified as Qualification date Appearance in finals Previous best performance FIFA ranking*
 Gabon 00Co-hosts 0029 July 2007 5th Quarterfinals (1996) 77 (17)
 Equatorial Guinea 01Co-hosts 0029 July 2007 1st Debut appearance 151 (42)
 Mali 10Group A Winner 048 October 2011 7th Second place (1972) 67 (15)
 Guinea 10Group B Winner 048 October 2011 10th Second place (1976) 79 (18)
 Zambia 10Group C Winner 048 October 2011 15th Second place (1974, 1994) 79 (19)
 Morocco 10Group D Winner 059 October 2011 14th Winner (1976) 60 (11)
 Senegal 01Group E Winner 033 September 2011 12th Second place (2002) 44 (6)
 Burkina Faso 01Group F Winner 033 September 2011 8th Fourth place (1998) 62 (13)
 Niger 10Group G Winner 048 October 2011 1st Debut appearance 98 (24)
 Côte d'Ivoire 01Group H Winner 025 June 2011 19th Winner (1992) 16 (1)
 Ghana 10Group I Winner 048 October 2011 18th Winner (1963, 1965, 1978, 1982) 29 (2)
 Angola 10Group J Winner 048 October 2011 6th Quarterfinals (2008, 2010) 84 (20)
 Botswana 01Group K Winner 0126 March 2011 1st Debut appearance 96 (23)
 Tunisia 10Group K Runner-up 048 October 2011 15th Winner (2004) 60 (11)
 Libya 10 Top Two Runner-Up 048 October 2011 3rd Second place (1982) 63 (14)
 Sudan 10 Top Two Runner-Up 059 October 2011 8th Winner (1970) 112 (27)

Exclusions

Togo

Togo were initially banned from the 2012 and 2013 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments by CAF after they withdrew from the 2010 tournament following a deadly attack on their team bus.[4] Togo appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with FIFA president Sepp Blatter stepping in to mediate. The ban was subsequently lifted with immediate effect on 14 May 2010, after a meeting of the CAF Executive Committee. Togo are therefore free to play in the 2012 and 2013 qualifiers.[5]

Nigeria

On 30 June, after Nigeria's exit from the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan punished the team for a poor campaign by imposing a two-year ban from international competition.[6] This would have resulted in the Nigerians missing out on both the 2012 qualifying phase and the 2012 African Cup of Nations. However, on 5 July, the Nigerian government dropped the ban after FIFA threatened to impose harsher international sanctions as a result of the government interference.[7] Nigeria competed in qualifying for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations as scheduled.

Venues

The opening match, one semi-final and the third place match will be held in Equatorial Guinea while the other semi-final and the final will be held in Gabon.[8]

Libreville Franceville Bata Malabo
Stade d'Angondjé Stade de Franceville Estadio de Bata Nuevo Estadio de Malabo
Capacity: 40,000 Capacity: 35,000 Capacity: 40,000 [9] Capacity: 15,250 [10]

Draw

The draw for the final tournament took place on 29 October 2011 at the Sipopo Conference Palace in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.[11] The draw ceremony was attended by the two presidents from the host countries, President Ali Bongo of Gabon and President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea.[12] The draw saw 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.

The two hosts were automatically seeded into pot 1. The other 14 qualified teams were ranked based on their performances during the last three Africa Cup of Nations, i.e. the 2006, 2008 and 2010 editions.[13] For each of the last three African Cup of Nations final tournaments, the following system of points is adopted for the qualified countries:

Classification Points awarded
Winner 7
Runner-up 5
Losing semi-finalists 3
Losing quarter-finalists 2
Eliminated in 1st round 1

Moreover, a weighted coefficient on points was given to each of the last three editions of the Africa Cup of Nations as follows:

The teams were then divided into four pots based on the ranking. Each group contained one team from each pot.

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4

 Equatorial Guinea (assigned to A1)
 Gabon (assigned to C1)
 Ghana (22 pts)
 Côte d'Ivoire (17 pts)

 Angola (11 pts)
 Tunisia (9 pts)
 Zambia (9 pts)
 Guinea (6 pts)

 Mali (5 pts)
 Senegal (5 pts)
 Morocco (3 pts)
 Burkina Faso (3 pts)

 Sudan (2 pts)
 Libya (1 pt)
 Botswana (0 pts)
 Niger (0 pts)

Group stage

Groups A and B will take place in Equatorial Guinea, while Groups C and D will take place in Gabon.[14]

All times are West Africa Time (UTC+1).

Key to colours in group tables
Top two placed teams advance to the quarterfinals
Third and fourth placed teams are eliminated

Group A

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Equatorial Guinea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Libya 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Senegal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Zambia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
21 January 2012
19:30
 Equatorial Guinea  Match 1  Libya Estadio de Bata, Bata
21 January 2012
22:00
 Senegal  Match 2  Zambia Estadio de Bata, Bata
25 January 2012
17:00
 Libya  Match 9  Zambia Estadio de Bata, Bata
25 January 2012
20:00
 Equatorial Guinea  Match 10  Senegal Estadio de Bata, Bata
29 January 2012
19:00
 Equatorial Guinea  Match 17  Zambia Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo
29 January 2012
19:00
 Libya  Match 18  Senegal Estadio de Bata, Bata

Group B

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Côte d'Ivoire 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Sudan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Burkina Faso 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Angola 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22 January 2012
17:00
 Côte d'Ivoire  Match 3  Sudan Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo
22 January 2012
20:00
 Burkina Faso  Match 4  Angola Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo
26 January 2012
17:00
 Sudan  Match 11  Angola Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo
26 January 2012
20:00
 Côte d'Ivoire  Match 12  Burkina Faso Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo
30 January 2012
19:00
 Sudan  Match 19  Burkina Faso Estadio de Bata, Bata
30 January 2012
19:00
 Côte d'Ivoire  Match 20  Angola Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo

Group C

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Gabon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Niger 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Morocco 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Tunisia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
23 January 2012
17:00
 Gabon  Match 5  Niger Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville
23 January 2012
20:00
 Morocco  Match 6  Tunisia Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville
27 January 2012
17:00
 Niger  Match 13  Tunisia Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville
27 January 2012
20:00
 Gabon  Match 14  Morocco Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville
31 January 2012
19:00
 Gabon  Match 21  Tunisia Stade de Franceville, Franceville
31 January 2012
19:00
 Niger  Match 22  Morocco Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville

Group D

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Ghana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Botswana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Mali 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Guinea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
24 January 2012
17:00
 Ghana  Match 7  Botswana Stade de Franceville, Franceville
24 January 2012
20:00
 Mali  Match 8  Guinea Stade de Franceville, Franceville
28 January 2012
17:00
 Botswana  Match 15  Guinea Stade de Franceville, Franceville
28 January 2012
20:00
 Ghana  Match 16  Mali Stade de Franceville, Franceville
1 February 2012
19:00
 Botswana  Match 23  Mali Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville
1 February 2012
19:00
 Ghana  Match 24  Guinea Stade de Franceville, Franceville

Knockout phase

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
                   
4 February – Bata        
 Winner Group A   
8 February – Bata
 Runner-up Group B     
     
5 February – Franceville
         
 Winner Group D   
12 February – Libreville
 Runner-up Group C     
     
5 February – Libreville
       
 Winner Group C   
8 February – Libreville
 Runner-up Group D     
      Third place
4 February – Malabo
         
 Winner Group B         
 Runner-up Group A           
11 February – Malabo

Quarter-finals

4 February 2012
17:00
 Winner Group A Match 25 Runner-up Group B Estadio de Bata, Bata
4 February 2012
20:00
 Winner Group B Match 26 Runner-up Group A Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo
5 February 2012
17:00
 Winner Group C Match 27 Runner-up Group D Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville
5 February 2012
20:00
 Winner Group D Match 28 Runner-up Group C Stade de Franceville, Franceville

Semi-finals

8 February 2012
17:00
 Winner Match 25 Match 29 Winner Match 28 Estadio de Bata, Bata
8 February 2012
20:00
 Winner Match 27 Match 30 Winner Match 26 Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville

Third place match

11 February 2012
20:00
 Loser Match 29 Match 31 Loser Match 30 Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo

Final

12 February 2012
20:00
 Winner Match 29 Match 32 Winner Match 30 Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville

Mascot

The mascot for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations was unveiled on 16 September 2011 at a ceremony in Libreville, Gabon. The mascot, named Gaguie, is a gorilla sporting the national team colors of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.[15]

Match ball

The official match ball for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, manufactured by Adidas, is named the Comoequa. The name is inspired from the Como River which runs through the host nations, and the Equator which runs throughout Africa unites the host nations.[16]

References

  1. ^ "Angola to host 2010 Nations Cup". BBC Sport. 2006-09-04. Archived from the original on 2007-03-13. http://web.archive.org/web/20070313192320/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/football/africa/5314036.stm. Retrieved 2006-09-27. 
  2. ^ "Referees". CAF Online. Confederation of African Football. http://www.cafonline.com/competition/african-cup-of-nations_2012/referees. Retrieved 4 January 2012. 
  3. ^ "Full schedule of qualifiers matches for CAN 2012". 2010-02-15. http://arogeraldes.blogspot.com/2010/02/coupe-africaine-des-nations-2012.html. 
  4. ^ "Togo officially disqualified from Africa Cup of Nations". BBC Sport (BBC). 11 January 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/8450529.stm. Retrieved 14 May 2010. 
  5. ^ "Togo's African Cup ban is lifted". BBC Sport (BBC). 14 May 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/8682511.stm. Retrieved 14 May 2010. 
  6. ^ "Nigeria's President Suspends Soccer Team". Wall Street Journal (Wall Street Journal). 30 June 2010. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575338881245120688.html. Retrieved 8 July 2010. 
  7. ^ "Nigeria backs down on soccer ban". ESPN (ESPN). 6 July 2010. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/5355645/ce/us/nigeria-president-goodluck-jonathan-dropping-plan-suspend-tea?cc=5901&ver=us. Retrieved 8 July 2010. 
  8. ^ "Gabon : Libreville et Malabo s'accordent pour la CAN 2012 [Gabon: Libreville and Malabo agree for the 2012 ACN]" (in French). Gaboneco. 2010-01-05. http://www.gaboneco.com/show_article.php?IDActu=16437. Retrieved 2010-01-13. 
  9. ^ http://www.starafrica.com/en/sport/can-orange-2012/article/afcon-orange-2012-equatorial-guinea-g-135701.html
  10. ^ http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_pictures/africa/equatorial_guinea/malabo_estadio.shtml
  11. ^ "Official Draw for the Orange CAN 2012 fixed for October 29, 2011". cafonline.com (Confederation of African Football). 26 June 2011. http://www.cafonline.com/competition/african-cup-of-nations_2012/news/10250-official-draw-for-the-orange-can-2012-fixed-for-october-29-2011.html. 
  12. ^ "2012 Africa Cup of Nations draw conducted". cafonline.com (Confederation of African Football). 29 October 2011. http://www.cafonline.com/competition/african-cup-of-nations_2012/news/11854-orange-can-2012-final-fixtures-released-today.html. 
  13. ^ "Orange CAN 2012 Official Draw 29 Oct 2011 – Procedures". cafonline.com (Confederation of African Football). 12 October 2011. http://www.cafonline.com/userfiles/file/Comp/Orange%20CAN%202012%20Official%20Draw%2029_Oct%202011%20-%20Procedures%20(English)%5B1%5D.pdf. 
  14. ^ "Fixtures of the 28th Orange -Africa Cup of Nations, CAN 2012 Equatorial Guinea –Gabon". cafonline.com. Confederation of African Football. 29 October 2011. http://www.cafonline.com/userfiles/file/Comp/CAN2012_Fixtures_Final_Tournament.pdf. 
  15. ^ "Orange CAN 2012 mascot Gaguie unveiled". cafonline.com (Confederation of African Football). 16 September 2011. http://www.cafonline.com/competition/african-cup-of-nations_2012/news/11420-orange-can-2012-mascot-gaguieo-unveiled.html. Retrieved 16 September 2011. 
  16. ^ "CAF and Adidas present the official match ball for the African Cup of Nations". cafonline.com (Confederation of African Football). 3 January 2011. http://www.cafonline.com/competition/african-cup-of-nations_2012/news/12522-adidas-presents-the-official-match-ball-for-the-african-cup-of-nations.html. Retrieved 3 January 2011. 

External links

2012 Africa Cup of Nations
Stages
Group A · Group B · Group C · Group D · Knockout stage · Final
General information
Tournaments
Finals
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Qualification
19571 · 19591 · 1962 · 1963 · 1965 · 1968 · 1970 · 1972 · 1974 · 1976 · 1978 · 1980 · 1982 · 1984 · 1986 · 1988 · 1990 · 1992 · 1994 · 1996 · 1998 · 2000 · 2002 · 2004 · 2006 · 2008 · 2010 · 2012 · 2013
Squads
1957 · 1959 · 1962 · 1963 · 1965 · 1968 · 1970 · 1972 · 1974 · 1976 · 1978 · 1980 · 1982 · 1984 · 1986 · 1988 · 1990 · 1992 · 1994 · 1996 · 1998 · 2000 · 2002 · 2004 · 2006 · 2008 · 2010 · 2012
1No qualification took place as places were given by invitation only.