Super Eagles camp bubbles, as 2021 AFCON kicks off in Cameroun, Sunday

Camp of the Super Eagles is brimming with all invited player present as the much-postponed 2021 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) finally kicks off, Sunday, in Yaounde, the Cameroun capital.

The 2021 AFCON finally starts, three years later than planned in addition to two postponements.

The 33rd edition of the football tournament in Africa was originally scheduled for June and July 2021, opens this Sunday with a total of 24 national teams in contention as host Cameroun get the show off with the opener against Burkina Faso at the Olembe Stadium in Yaounde, Sunday evening.

Following Cameroon’s curtain-raiser against Burkina Faso, Ethiopia will then take on Cape Verde later same Sunday.

The tournament is expected to end at the same venue on February 6, in Yaounde.

Aside the threat of the Omicron variant of the Covid-19, European clubs have also posed a challenge to the commencement of the tournament with many threatening to sanction their African players called up by their nations for the competition.

This is also as the host country, Cameroun, has not helped matters, as the first postponement followed the non-preparedness of the Central African nation to put in place its facilities on time.

Meanwhile, tournament organisers, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has ruled that all 52 matches of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations will have the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in place.

The final match of the 24-team competition will hold at the same venue on February 6.

CAF had previously used VAR from the quarter-finals stage of the 2019 edition in Egypt.

However, the football governing body for Africa has now advanced with a full use of the innovation which gained worldwide recognition by 2018.

It is expected to help improve the image of refereeing and also produce world-class match officials in Africa.

Sixty-three match officials, including women referees Salima Mukasanga (Rwanda), Carine Atemzabong (Cameroon), Fatiha Jermoumi (Morocco) and Bouchra Karboubi (Morocco), have been listed for the matches.

The list consists of 24 referees, 31 assistant referees and eight VARs, all coming from 36 countries.

The roster includes; two referees from the CONCACAF as part of an inter-confederation skills exchange programme.

Nigeria’s Super Eagles will see action on Tuesday afternoon, when they open their Group D account with a clash with tournament favourites’ Egypt at the Roumde Adjia Stadium, in Garoua.

Nigeria is in Group D alongside Egypt, Sudan and Guinea-Bissau.

A last-minute reshuffling of the team list of the Super Eagles saw the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) drop Victor Oshimhen, Emmanuel Dennis, Leon Balogun and Abdulahi Shehu from the squad over health and injury concerns.

The three were subsequently replaced with Venezia’s right back Tyrone Ebuehi, West Brom in England–based Oluwasemilogo Ajayi, Greece-based Henry Onyekuru, and Czech Republic-based forward Peter Olayinka.

The revised squad for 2021 AFCON include:

Goalkeepers: Francis Uzoho (AC Omonia/CYP), John Noble (Enyimba), Daniel Akpeyi (Kaizer Chiefs/RSA), Maduka Okoye (Sparta Rotterdam/NED).

Defenders: Chidozie Awaziem (Alanyaspor FC/TUR), Kenneth Omeruo (CD Leganes/SPA), Oluwasemilogo Ajayi (West Bromwich Albion/ENG), William Ekong (Watford/ENG), Olaoluwa Aina (Torino FC/ITA), Jamilu Collins (SC Padeborn 07/GER), Tyrone Ebuehi (Venezia FC/ITA), Zaidu Sanusi (FC Porto/POR), Olisa Ndah (Orlando Pirates/RSA).

Midfielders: Frank Onyeka (Brentford/ENG), Joseph Ayodele-Aribo (Rangers/SCO), Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City/ENG), Chidera Ejuke (CSKA Moscow/RUS), Kelechi Nwakali (SD Huesca/SPA)

Forwards: Ahmed Musa (Fatih Karagumruk/TUR), Samuel Chukwueze (Villarreal FC/SPA), Henry Onyekuru (Olympiakos FC/GRE), Moses Simon (FC Nantes/FRA), Sadiq Umar (UD Almeria/SPA), Taiwo Awoniyi (Union Berlin/GER), Odion Jude Ighalo (Al-Shabab Riyadh/KSA) (doubtful), Alex Iwobi (Everton/ENG), Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City/ENG), Peter Olayinka (SK Slavia Prague/CZE).

AFCON 2021 complete fixtures:

Sunday, January 9

Group A: Cameron vs Burkina Faso, 4pm (Olembe Stadium, Yaounde)

Group A: Ethiopia vs Cape Verde, 7pm (Olembe Stadium, Yaounde)

Monday, January 10

Group B: Senegal vs Zimbabwe, 1pm (Kouekong Stadium, Bafoussam)

 Group B: Guinea vs Malawi, 4pm (Kouekong Stadium, Bafoussam)

Group C: Morocco vs Ghana, 4pm (Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaounde)

Group C: Comoros vs Gabon, 7pm (Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaounde)

Tuesday, January 11

Group E: Algeria vs Sierra Leone, 1pm (Japoma Stadium, Douala)

Group D: Nigeria vs Egypt, 4pm (Roumde Adjia Stadium, Garoua)

Group D: Sudan vs Guinea-Bissau, 7pm (Roumde Adjia Stadium, Garoua)

Wednesday, January 12

Group F: Tunisia vs Mali, 1pm (Limbe Stadium, Limbe)

Group F: Mauritania vs Gambia, 4pm (Limbe Stadium, Limbe)

Group E: Equatorial Guinea vs Ivory Coast (Japoma Stadium, Douala)

Thursday, January 13

Group A: Cameroon vs Ethiopia, 4pm (Olembe Stadium, Yaounde)

Group A: Cape Verde vs Burkina Faso, 7pm (Olembe Stadium, Yaounde)

Friday, January 14

Group B: Senegal vs Guinea, 1pm (Kouekong Stadium, Bafoussam)

Group B: Malawi vs Zimbabwe, 4pm (Kouekong Stadium, Bafoussam)

Group C: Morocco vs Comoros, 4pm (Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaounde)

Group C: Gabon vs Ghana, 7pm (Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaounde)

Saturday, January 15

Group D: Nigeria vs Sudan, 4pm (Roumde Adjia Stadium, Garoua)

Group D: Guinea-Bissau vs Egypt, 7pm (Roumde Adjia Stadium, Garoua)

Sunday, January 16

Group F: Gambia vs Mali, 1pm (Limbe Stadium, Limbe)

Group E: Ivory Coast vs Sierra Leone, 4pm (Japoma Stadium, Douala)

Group F: Tunisia vs Mauritania, 4pm (Limbe Stadium, Limbe)

Group E: Algeria vs Equatorial Guinea, 7pm (Japoma Stadium, Douala)

Monday, January 17

Group A: Burkina Faso vs Ethiopia, 4pm (Kouekong Stadium, Bafoussam)

Group A: Cape Verde vs Cameroon, 4pm (Olembe Stadium, Yaounde)

Tuesday, January 18

Group B: Malawi vs Senegal, 4pm (Kouekong Stadium, Bafoussam)

Group B: Zimbabwe vs Guinea, 4pm (Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaounde)

Group C: Gabon vs Morocco, 7pm (Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaounde)

Group C: Ghana vs Comoros, 7pm (Roumde Adjia Stadium, Garoua)

Wednesday, January 19

Group D: Egypt vs Sudan, 7pm (Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaounde)

Group D: Guinea-Bissau vs Nigeria, 7pm (Roumde Adjia Stadium, Garoua)

Thursday, January 20

Group E: Ivory Coast vs Algeria, 4pm (Japoma Stadium, Douala)

Group E: Sierra Leone vs Equatorial Guinea, 4pm (Limbe Stadium, Limbe)

Group F: Gambia vs Tunisia, 7pm (Limbe Stadium, Limbe)

Group F: Mali vs Mauritania, 7pm (Japoma Stadium, Douala)

AFCON 2021 round-of-16 fixtures and results

Sunday, January 23

Game 1: Group A runner-up vs Group C runner-up, 4pm (Limbe Stadium, Limbe)

Game 2: Group D winner vs Group B/E/F third-place, 7pm (Roumde Adjia Stadium, Garoua)

Monday, January 24

Game 3: Group B runner-up vs Group F runner-up, 4pm (Kouekong Stadium, Bafoussam)

Game 4: Group A winner vs Group C/D/E third-place, 7pm (Olembe Stadium, Yaounde)

Tuesday, January 25

Game 5: Group B winner vs Group A/C/D third-place, 4pm (Kouekong Stadium, Bafoussam)

Game 6: Group C winner vs Group A/B/F third-place, 7pm (Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaounde)

Wednesday, January 26

Game 7: Group E winner vs Group D runner-up, 4pm (Japoma Stadium, Douala)

Game 8: Group F winner vs Group E runner-up, 7pm (Limbe Stadium, Limbe)

AFCON 2021 quarter-final fixtures and results

Saturday, January 29

Quarter-final 1: Round-of-16 game 4 winner vs Round-of-16 game 3 winner, 4pm (Japoma Stadium, Douala)

Quarter-final 2: Round-of-16 game 1 winner vs Round-of-16 game 2 winner, 7pm (Roumde Adjia Stadium, Garoua)

Sunday, January 30

Quarter-final 3: Round-of-16 game 7 winner vs Round-of-16 game 6 winner, 4pm (Olembe Stadium, Yaounde)

Quarter-final 4: Round-of-16 game 5 winner vs Round-of-16 game 8 winner, 7pm (Japoma Stadium, Douala)

AFCON 2021 semi-final fixtures

Wednesday, February 2

Semi-final 1: Quarter-final 1 winner vs Quarter-final 4 winner, 7pm (Japoma Stadium, Douala)

Thursday, February 3

Semi-final 2: Quarter-final 2 winner vs Quarter-final 3 winner, 7pm (Olembe Stadium, Yaounde)

AFCON 2021 third-place match

Sunday, February 6

Semi-final 1 loser vs Semi-final 2 loser, 4pm (Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaounde)

Sunday, February 6

Semi-final 1 winner vs Semi-final 2 winner, 7pm (Olembe Stadium, Yaounde)