Africa Cup of Nations 2023: Dates, Groups, Odds, Fixtures, How to Watch

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Football Today

·11 January 2024

Africa Cup of Nations 2023: Dates, Groups, Odds, Fixtures, How to Watch

This year is littered with footballing spectacles, starting with the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) which takes centre stage this month.

The continent’s biggest sporting event was originally scheduled to be played during the summer of the northern hemisphere.

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However, it was postponed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) due to weather concerns in host nation Ivory Coast and will now take place from January 13 – February 11.

Defending champions Senegal are among the favourites to retain the trophy, but it won’t be a walk in the park with several heavyweights vying for the highly coveted title.

Having won the title seven times, 2021 finalists Egypt hold the record for the most AFCON successes. Cameroon (five) and Ghana (four) round off the top three (see the full list of Africa Cup of Nations winners).

Read on as we provide you with a comprehensive guide to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

Africa Cup of Nations Host

The 2023 AFCON will be the 34th edition of the tournament and will be hosted by Ivory Coast for only the second time and the first since 1984.

The opening game will be played at one of the country’s newly built stadiums, the Alassane Ouattara, while the National Stadium in Abidjan will form the backdrop for the grand finale.

Africa Cup of Nations 2023 Schedule

The opening phase of the tournament features six groups of four teams, with the top two in each section progressing to the round of 16 alongside the best four third-placed teams.

The AFCON group stage will follow a single-round format, and the knockout phase will proceed with an identical pattern.

The knockout stage features the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, a third-place play-off and the final.

The draw and opening phase schedule is as follows:

Group A: Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau.

Ivory Coast vs Guinea-Bissau – January 13
Nigeria vs Equatorial Guinea – January 14
Equatorial Guinea vs Guinea-Bissau – January 18
Ivory Coast vs Nigeria – January 18
Equatorial Guinea vs Ivory Coast – January 22
Guinea-Bissau vs Nigeria – January 22

Group B: Egypt, Ghana, Cape Verde, Mozambique.

Egypt vs Mozambique – January 14
Ghana vs Cape Verde – January 14
Egypt vs Ghana – January 18
Cape Verde vs Mozambique – January 19
Cape Verde vs Egypt – January 22
Mozambique vs Ghana – January 22

Group C: Senegal, Cameroon, Guinea, The Gambia.

Senegal vs The Gambia – January 15
Cameroon vs Guinea – January 15
Senegal vs Cameroon – January 19
Guinea vs The Gambia – January 19
The Gambia vs Cameroon – January 23
Guinea vs Senegal – January 23

Group D: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Angola.

Algeria vs Angola – January 15
Burkina Faso vs Mauritania – January 16
Algeria vs Burkina Faso – January 20
Mauritania vs Angola – January 20
Angola vs Burkina Faso – January 23
Mauritania vs Algeria – January 23

Group E: Tunisia, Mali, South Africa, Namibia.

Tunisia vs Namibia – January 16
Mali vs South Africa – January 16
Tunisia vs Mali – January 20
South Africa vs Namibia – January 21
Namibia vs Mali – January 24
South Africa vs Tunisia – January 24

Group F: Morocco, DR Congo, Zambia, Tanzania.

Morocco vs Tanzania – January 17
DR Congo vs Zambia – January 17
Morocco vs DR Congo – January 21
Zambia vs Tanzania – January 21
Tanzania vs DR Congo – January 24
Zambia vs Morocco – January 24

Africa Cup of Nations 2023 – Knockout Stage

Round of 16 – January 27-30
Quarter-finals – February 2-3
Semi-finals – February 7
Third place play-off – February 10
Final – February 11

Africa Cup of Nations 2023 odds

Following their record-breaking success in the 2022 World Cup tournament in Qatar, Morocco has been heavily tipped to clinch the 2023 AFCON title.

However, they face an uphill battle, considering their only previous triumph in Africa’s most prominent competition came nearly half a century ago.

Morocco – 6.00
Senegal – 7.00
Algeria – 8.00
Ivory Coast – 8.00
Egypt – 10.00
Cameroon – 11.00
Nigeria – 11.00
Tunisia – 13.00
Ghana – 15.00
Others – 20+

Africa Cup of Nations 2023 Predictions

Having reached the final of the previous edition, you wouldn’t put it past Egypt to have another go at the AFCON title to solidify their position as the competition’s most successful nation.

All eyes will be on Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah, who is one of a plethora of Premier League stars poised to headline the AFCON tournament.

Salah bagged just two goals in Egypt’s run to the 2021 final, but he’ll be instrumental to the Northeast nation’s ambitions this time around.

His performance in the previous tournament is probably the reason why online bookmakers don’t fancy Egypt’s chances of a deep run, offering better value on the likes of Morocco and Senegal.

Morocco’s emergence as the favourites is largely due to their 2022 World Cup heroics, defying the odds to reach the semi-final of football’s most prominent competition.

However, their AFCON performances in recent years leave little to be desired. They have reached the final just once since their 1976 triumph, losing 2-1 to Tunisia in 2004.

Nonetheless, they’ll fancy their chances, but wrestling the crown off the claws of Senegal would be difficult. Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Algeria could also prove to be good value-for-money bets.