The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations will be the 28th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). It will be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.[1] The two countries won the right to host the tournament after defeating a Nigerian bid along with two other bid winning nations, Angola and Libya. Bids from Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Senegal were rejected. For the first time in CAF history, the hosts of three successive tournaments were chosen at the same time; Angola was chosen to host in 2010, Gabon/Equatorial Guinea were chosen as hosts for the 2012 cup and Libya for the 2013 edition, however a decision by CAF to move the competition to South Africa[2] means Libya will not host. Nigeria was chosen as a stand-by host in the event that one of the chosen nations were to become unsuitable.
Bids shortlist
Five countries were put on the shortlist to host the tournament including one joint bid.
The qualification process involves ten groups of four, one of which was reduced to a group of three after the withdrawal of Mauritania, and one group of five. The top team from each group goes through, as well as the second placed team from the group of five. The two best second place teams also qualify. At the end of the qualification process, fourteen teams would have qualified, as well as the two host nations. The first qualifiers were held on 1 July 2010.[4]
Togo were initially banned from the 2012 and 2013 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments by CAF after they withdrew from the 2010 tournament following an attack on their team bus.[5] Togo appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with FIFA president Sepp Blatter stepping in to mediate. The ban was subsequently lifted with immediate effect on 14 May 2010, after a meeting of the CAF Executive Committee. Togo are therefore free to play in the 2012 and 2013 qualifiers.[6]
Nigeria
On 30 June, after Nigeria's exit from the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan punished the team for a poor campaign by imposing a two-year ban from international competition.[7] This would have resulted in the Nigerians missing out on both the 2012 qualifying phase and the 2012 African Cup of Nations. However, on 5 July, the Nigerian government dropped the ban after FIFA threatened to impose harsher international sanctions as a result of the government interference.[8] Nigeria competed in qualifying for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations as scheduled.
Venues
The opening match, one semi-final and the third place match will be held in Equatorial Guinea while the other semi-final and the final will be held in Gabon.[9]
The draw for the final tournament took place on 29 October 2011 at the Sipopo Conference Palace in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.[10] The draw ceremony was attended by the two presidents from the host countries, President Ali Bongo of Gabon and President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea.[11] The draw saw the 16 qualified teams being pitted into four groups of four teams each. The two top teams from each group will qualify for the quarter finals with the winners progressing to the semi finals and final eventually.
The two hosts were automatically seeded into pot 1. The other 14 qualified teams were ranked based on their performances during the last three Africa Cup of Nations, i.e. the 2006, 2008 and 2010 editions.[12] For each of the last three African Cup of Nations final tournaments, the following system of points is adopted for the qualified countries:
Classification
Points awarded
Winner
7
Runner-up
5
Losing semi-finalists
3
Losing quarter-finalists
2
Eliminated in 1st round
1
Moreover, a weighted coefficient on points was given to each of the last three editions of the Africa Cup of Nations as follows:
The mascot for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations was unveiled on 16 September 2011 at a ceremony in Libreville, Gabon. The mascot, named Gaguie, is a gorilla sporting the national team colors of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.[14]
Match ball
The official match ball for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, manufactured by Adidas, is named the Comoequa. The name is inspired from the Como River which runs through the host nations, and the Equator which runs throughout Africa unites the host nations.[15]
2010 
2013 → 
Gabon / 
Equatorial Guinea
Libya
Nigeria (reserve hosts)
Mali
Guinea
Zambia
Morocco
Senegal
Burkina Faso
Niger
Ivory Coast
Ghana
Botswana
Tunisia
Sudan
