Premier international competition in Africa will be taking place in January 2017 which is widely known as “African Cup of Nations”. Gabon will be hosting the 21 day competition starting from 14th January 2017 and will be played through 05 February 2017. Many top African players will be leaving their club sides in Europe to be part of the premier African competition. There will be 16 teams participating in the tournament which starts with group stage of 4 groups with 4 teams each. Top two qualify for the knockout stages and the final takes places on Sunday, 05 February 2017 at Stade de l’Amitié, Libreville.
This will be the 31th ediction of African Continents premier football competition. It was started back in 1957 when only three teams competed in a tri-nation competition but with the passage of time football has evolved in africa and now 16 teams take part in what is a very competitive competition. So far 18 nations in Africa has hosted the competition and 2017 African cup of nations will be taking place in Gabon who are hosting it for the very first time.
Ivory Coast will be defending their title which they won back in 2015. They will be favourites alongside Egypt and Cameroon.
14 nations have won the competition so far with Egypt being the most successful team in the competition having won it 7 times while Ghana and Cameroon has won it 4 times each. Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon has the all time leading goal scorer in African cup of nations and he will be part of Cameroon squad.
African Cup of Nations 2017 – Match Schedule:
The competition will start with the opening game between hosts Gabon and Guinea-Bissau on 14th January while the final match will be played 5th February 2017. here is the complete match schedule of the tournament.
| NO# | MATCH | DATE | TIME (Local) |
| 1 | Gabon vs Guinea-Bissau (Group A) | 14 January | 17:00 |
| 2 | Burkina Faso vs Cameroon (Group A) | 14 January | 20:00 |
| 3 | Algeria vs Zimbabwe (Group B) | 15 January | 17:00 |
| 4 | Tunisia vs Senegal (Group B) | 15 January | 20:00 |
| 5 | Ivory Coast vs Togo (Group C) | 16 January | 17:00 |
| 6 | DR Congo vs Morocco (Group C) | 16 January | 20:00 |
| 7 | Ghana vs Uganda (Group D) | 17 January | 17:00 |
| 8 | Egypt vs Mali (Group D) | 17 January | 20:00 |
| 9 | Gabon vs Burkina Faso (Group A) | 18 January | 17:00 |
| 10 | Cameroon vs Guinea-Bissau (Group A) | 18 January | 20:00 |
| 11 | Algeria vs Tunisia (Group B) | 19 January | 17:00 |
| 12 | Senegal vs Zimbabwe (Group B) | 19 January | 20:00 |
| 13 | Ivory Coast vs DR Congo (Group C) | 20 January | 17:00 |
| 14 | Morocco vs Togo (Group C) | 20 January | 20:00 |
| 15 | Ghana vs Mali (Group D) | 21 January | 17:00 |
| 16 | Egypt vs Uganda (Group D) | 21 January | 20:00 |
| 17 | Cameroon vs Gabon (Group A) | 22 January | 20:00 |
| 18 | Guinea-Bissau vs Burkina Faso (Group A) | 22 January | 20:00 |
| 19 | Senegal vs Algeria (Group B) | 23 January | 20:00 |
| 20 | Zimbabwe vs Tunisia (Group B) | 23 January | 20:00 |
| 21 | Morocco vs Ivory Coast (Group C) | 24 January | 20:00 |
| 22 | Togo vs DR Congo (Group C) | 24 January | 20:00 |
| 23 | Egypt vs Ghana (Group D) | 25 January | 20:00 |
| 24 | Uganda vs Mali (Group D) | 25 January | 20:00 |
| 25 | Quarter Final #1 (Winner A vs Runnerup B) | 28 January | 17:00 |
| 26 | Quarter Final #2 (Winner D vs Runnerup C) | 28 February | 20:00 |
| 27 | Quarter Final #3 (Winner C vs Runnerup D) | 29 February | 17:00 |
| 28 | Quarter Final #4 (Winner D vs Runnerup A) | 29 January | 20:00 |
| 29 | Semi Final # 1 | 01 February | 20:00 |
| 30 | Semi Final # 2 | 02 February | 20:00 |
| 31 | Third Place Playoff | 04 February | 20:00 |
| 32 | The Final | 05 February | 20:00 |
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