2020 African Nations Championship

The 2020 African Nations Championship, known as the Total African Nations Championship (also referred to as CHAN 2020) was the 6th edition of the African Nations Championship, a biennial football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) exclusively featuring players from the respective national championships.

The tournament was held in Cameroon from 16 January to 7 February 2021. Originally it was scheduled to be played from 4 to 25 April 2020. However, CAF announced on 17 March 2020 that the tournament had been postponed to a later date due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 30 June, CAF announced that the tournament would be rescheduled to January 2021.

Ethiopia were formerly awarded as host of the tournament, but the EFF admitted it was not ready to host this competition, and hosting rights were awarded to Cameroon instead. The final tournament was originally to be played during January and February 2020, but it was moved to April 2020, before being postponed again.

Unlike the Africa Cup of Nations, the competing national teams must be composed of players playing in their domestic league. For example, a Cameroonian player is only eligible to play for the Cameroon national team if he is playing for a Cameroonian club.

CAF has delivered a satisfactory certificate to Cameroon in which they indicated the percentage of attendance in line with health exigencies outlined by FIFA. Twenty five percent of spectators were admitted in the different stadia during the first phase of the competition, that is group matches and It could rise to 50 per cent in the knock-out phases of the competition.

Morocco were the defending champions, and successfully defended their title, defeating Mali in the final.

Host selection

Ethiopia were originally officially appointed to host the tournament on 4 February 2018, after the final of the previous tournament in Morocco. Cameroon were appointed to replace Ethiopia to host the tournament on 13 April 2019.

Qualification

The qualifying rounds took place in 2019. Djibouti and Gabon were banned as they withdrew during the 2018 African Nations Championship qualification. Djibouti, along with the original hosts Ethiopia were later reinstated.

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament. Tunisia qualified for the tournament but withdrew in January 2020. On 20 January 2020, Libya, which were eliminated by Tunisia in the qualifying round, were invited to take part in place and given a deadline of 28 January 2020 to decide whether to participate. Libya decided to accept the invitation. Tunisia were banned from the next edition of the African Nations Championship.

Venues

Matches were held in four venues at three cities: Yaoundé, Limbe and Douala. The fixtures were announced on 24 February 2020.

Squads

Each squad can contain a maximum of 23 players (Regulations Article 72).

Match officials

The following 43 match officials officiated during the 2020 African Nations Championship.

;Referees

* Lahlou Benbraham
* George Gatogato
* Pacifique Ndabihawenimana
* Sidi Alioum
* Jean-Jacques Ndala
* Mahmoud El Banna (+ VAR)
* Mohamed Marouf
* (Ms) Lidya Tafesse
* Daniel Laryea
* Peter Waweru
* Andofetra Rakotojaona
* Adil Zourak (+ VAR)
* Boubou Traoré
* Beida Dahane (+ VAR)
* Ahmad Imtehaz Heeralall
* Samir Guezzaz
* Jean Claude Ishimwe
* Sadok Selmi

;Assistant referees

* Jerson Dos Santos (+ AVAR)
* Elvis Noupue (+ AVAR)
* (Ms) Carine Atezambong Fomo
* Issa Yaya
* Liban Abdirazack Ahmed
* Oliver Safari
* Mahmoud Abouelregal (+ AVAR)
* Boris Ditsoga
* Abdul Aziz Jawo
* Gilbert Cheruiyot
* Attia Amsaaed
* Lionel Andrianantenaina
* (Ms) Bernadettar Kwimbira
* Mostafa Akarkad
* Zakaria Brinsi
* Abdoul Aziz Saley
* Mimisen Iyorhe
* Samuel Pwadutakam
* James Emile
* Mohammed Abdallah Ibrahim (+ AVAR)
* Kahalil Hassani (+ AVAR)
* Zakhele Siwela (+ AVAR)

;Video assistant referees

* Bamlak Tessema Weyesa
* Bakary Gassama
* Haythem Guirat
* Janny Sikazwe

Draw

The draw of the final tournament was held on 17 February 2020, 19:00 WAT (UTC+1), at the Palais Polyvalent des Sports de Yaoundé in Yaoundé. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. Teams were allocated into four pots, with the hosts Cameroon seeded in Group A and the defending champions Morocco seeded in Group C.

Group stage

The top two teams of each group advance to the quarter-finals.

;Tiebreakers
Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 74):
#Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
# Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
#Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
#If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
#Goal difference in all group matches;
#Goals scored in all group matches;
#Drawing of lots.

All times are local, WAT (UTC+1).

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Group D

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Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary, except for the third place match where penalty shoot-out (no extra time) is used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 75).

Bracket

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Third place match

Final

Goalscorers

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

Team of the Tournament

Man of the match

Tournament team rankings

References

External links

Total African Nations Championship
CAFonline.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:African Nations Championship 2020

2020
2021 in African football
January 2021 sports events in Africa
February 2021 sports events in Africa
2021 in Cameroonian sport
International association football competitions hosted by Cameroon
Association football events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic