The 31st edition of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations tournament kicks off tomorrow in Gabon.

Africa’s most prestigious soccer showdown returns to the West African nation, five years after the country co-hosted the tournament with Equatorial Guinea in 2012.

Hosts Gabon takes on Guinea-Bissau at 17:00 hours at the Stade de l’Amitié in Libreville in the Group A opener while Burkina Faso takes on Cameroon at 20:00 at the same venue in the other Group A match.

2012 African champions Zambia will miss this year’s tournament after failing to qualify while defending champions Ivory Coast will be hoping to defend the title.

ZANIS Sports reports that Zimbabwe is the only team representing the Southern African region at this year’s 16 nations ORANGE and TOTAL sponsored AFCON championship.

Group A has Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso and Gabon while group B has Senegal, Algeria, Zimbabwe and Tunisia.

Togo, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) makes group C while Mali, Uganda, Ghana and Egypt completes group D.

And according to the media, the Black Stars of Ghana will again be one of the favorites for the Africa Cup of Nations as they aim to clinch a fifth title after their last triumph 35 years ago.

11 COMMENTS

Pwetete Pwe January 13, 2017 At 2:09 pm

Chipolopolo will be watching on TV this time around…thanks to Lwandamina and Janza. No wonde -r kalusha did a dununa reverse on Kalaba or is it donchi kubeba.
- Real Soccer Fanatic January 13, 2017 At 9:02 pm
  
  And Kamanga
Dr. Makasa Kasonde (Private Citizen) January 13, 2017 At 5:42 pm

Point of correction: Gabon belongs to Central Africa and not West Africa. West Africa includes Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, etc. whereas central Africa includes Gabon, Cameroon, Congo Brazaville, Tcahd, central African Republic etc. The Atlantic Ocean is not enough to covre the term west Africa. What about namibia and Angola? These two fall under Southern Africa.
- Real Soccer Fanatic January 13, 2017 At 9:11 pm
  
  Cameroon falls under west Africa. Its in both ECOWAS and the west African football Conf
joe January 13, 2017 At 6:38 pm

Comment:ls this tonament b live on tv2 and znbc tv or what?
Jay Jay January 13, 2017 At 7:13 pm

Zambia or not I will still enjoy it. Anywhere its Galu’s fault …they eat everything in 2013 never pumped anything in grassroots or youth football!
Zimbo January 13, 2017 At 7:34 pm

Comment:let the ball start rolling guys .wish all the teams luck bless
Uyandwa Mubotu January 13, 2017 At 8:58 pm

Comment: It’s unfortunate that our team will not participate. Whatever went wrong,the people in the fore front are to blame
Real Soccer Fanatic January 13, 2017 At 9:07 pm

No 18 year old Zedian has watched afcon without Zambia. Its a disaster, catastrophic, sham.
Don’t even blame Kalusha if this happened under his watch he would commit suicide. We never missed afcon with KALU. Since this Kamanga arrived its been loss after loss after loss.
We should withdraw from the world cup cos we are just wasting funds
James Bwalya.Zambia January 13, 2017 At 10:06 pm

Comment:Go Go Africa.Football is good. It unite,entertain,educate and open our eyes to see things far from Zambia.
emmy joe January 14, 2017 At 2:58 pm

Zambian players too much chibuku and tugili gili once they shine next is beer and womanizing no wonder they even fail to play in europe. Change of altitude will help us