Relive the Road to 2021 AFCON, Cameroon

30 days before the kickoff of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2021, CAFOnline.com relives the facts of the qualifiers in the road to the 9 January – 6 February 2022 finals.

* Eritrea and Somalia did not enter the qualifiers.

* Liberia, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Djibouti were eliminated from the preliminary round.

Group A

* Mali qualified to TotalEnergies AFCON for the 12th time, their seventh in a row.

* Guinea qualified for the 13th time, their second successive appearance for the first time since 2008.

* After appearing in Egypt 2019 for the 3rd time in their AFCON history, Namibia will miss next edition.

* Chad were disqualified from the qualifiers. They are one of ten teams never to appear in AFCON finals to the moment.

Group B

* Burkina Faso returns for TotalEnergies AFCON finals after missing on last edition. This is their 13th appearance.

* Malawi qualified for their 3rd AFCON finals, their first since 2010.

* After 39 years of absence Uganda returned to make back-to-back AFCON appearances in 2017 and 2019. They could not make it three in a row missing this time.

* South Sudan are yet to reach their first AFCON finals, one of ten teams never to achieve that.

Group C

* Four-time champions Ghana are playing their 23rd AFCON finals, a record bettered only by Egypt and Cote d’Ivoire. Their last glory dates to 1982.

* Sudan are back to AFCON finals for the first time since 2012. It’s the 8th appearance for the team that was part of the first edition in 1957, and were champions in 1970.

* After reaching quarterfinals in 2019, South Africa will miss next year’s AFCON. It’s just the 5th time Bafana Bafana fail to pass the qualifying stages.

* Sao Tome and Principe failed to qualify for their first ever AFCON.

Group D

* Gabon will have their eighth AFCON appearance, the first since hosting the tournament in 2017.

* Gambia will have their AFCON finals debut. They became the 44th African country to reach the finals.

* Two-time champions DR Congo will miss the AFCON finals for the first time since 2012.

* Angola trailed the group to miss a chance of second consecutive appearance in the finals.

Group E

* Morocco is having their 18th AFCON appearance, they were crowned champions in 1976.

* This is the second time Mauritania qualify to the finals, and their consecutive appearance after having their debut in 2019.

* Burundi had their first AFCON experience in 2019, but failed to make consecutive qualifications.

* Central African Republic is one of the 10 African teams yet to appear in AFCON finals.

Group F

* Hosts Cameroon topped their qualification group even though they are automatically qualified. The five-time champions (last being in 2017) will appear in the finals for the 19th time.

* Cape Verde return to AFCON finals for the third time, their first after having back-to-back appearances in 2013 and 2015.

* Rwanda could not make it to the finals. Their last (and only) AFCON appearance dates back to 2004.

* Mozambique last AFCON participation was in 2010. They failed to make it to the finals since then.

Group G

* Egypt extended their record by qualifying to AFCON finals for the 25th time. They also hold the record for most titles (seven), last being in 2010.

* Comoros will have their AFCON debut, having qualified for the first time. Their first qualifiers appearance was just in 2010.

* Kenya missed the chance of a second consecutive AFCON appearance by finishing third.

* Togo failed to qualify. Their last AFCON participation dates to 2017.

Group H

* Holders Algeria will try to be the first team to successfully defend their title since Egypt 2010. It’s the 19th AFCON appearance for the two-time champions.

* Zimbabwe will appear in their fifth AFCON finals, and their third consecutive one for the first time in their history.

* Botswana could not qualify, their only AFCON appearance was back in 2012.

* Zambia’s last AFCON appearance was in 2015. This is the first time in the 2012 Champions history that they fail to reach AFCON finals for three consecutive times.

Group I

* Senegal was the first team to reach the finals from the qualifications’ series. 2019 losing finalists will try to better that record in their 16th AFCON appearance.

* Guinea Bissau waited till 2017 to have their AFCON debut. They made it three qualifications in a row since then.

* Congo could not make it to the finals. The last appearance for the 1972 champions was back in 2015.

* Eswatini failed to qualify once again. They have never played in AFCON finals before.

Group J

* Tunisia will appear in AFCON finals for the 20th time, and 14th in a row. The 2004 champions last missed the continental showpiece in 1992.

* Equatorial Guinea will have their third AFCON appearance. It’s the first time they reach the tournament through qualifications, as their past two participations were as hosts (2012 and 2015).

* Tanzania ended a 39 years absence to reach the finals in 2019, but failed to make consecutive AFCON appearances finishing third in the group

* Libya third and last AFCON appearance was back in 2012. But they will have something to cheer about with international football finally back home after seven years of absence.

Group K

* Cote d’Ivoire are playing their 24th AFCON finals, a record only bettered by Egypt (25). The two-time champions last tasted glory in 2015.

* Ethiopia were one of the teams to appear in the first ever AFCON finals. This is their 11th appearance and the first since 2013, having won the title at home in 1962.

* Madagascar reached the quarterfinals in their debut in 2019, but failed to make it two AFCON appearances in a row.

*Niger made back-to-back AFCON appearances in 2012 and 2013, but failed to qualify since then.

Group L

* This is the 19th time Nigeria will play in AFCON finals. They won the title three times, latest being in 2013.

* Sierra Leone reached the finals for the third time in their history, first since back-to-back appearances in 1994 and 1996.

* Benin that had their best outing in the last edition in 2019 reaching the quarterfinals failed to qualify to the next edition.

* Lesotho is one of the 10 countries that never played in AFCON finals to the moment.

Source: cafonline.com