The continental showpiece will kick off in Côte d’Ivoire today.
The opening match will pit host and two-times AFCON winner Côte d’Ivoire against Guinea-Bissau.
The fixture will kick off at 8 pm local time and will be played at the newly built Ébimpé Alassane Ouattara stadium.
African giant Nigeria will then take on Equatorial Guinea on Sunday in group A’s second match.
Matches will be played in5 cities including the capital Yamoussoukro and economic capital Abidjan.
The hosts are making their 10th consecutive appearance in the competition. They were eliminated from the round of 16 in the previous edition by eventual runners-up Egypt and will look to improve upon that record this time around.Guinea-Bissau have qualified for the competition for the fourth time in a row. Interestingly, they have been eliminated from the group stage in the last three editions and will aim to qualify for the knockout stage.
Both teams warmed up for the competition with a friendly last week. The hosts registered a comfortable 5-1 win over Sierra Leone thanks to goals from Ousmane Diomande, Franck Kessié, Jonathan Bamba, Jeremie Boga, and Lazare Amani. The visitors, on the other hand, lost 6-2 to Mali.
Peoplesmind