Angola were the first to qualify after the Parancas Negras (Black Sable Antelopes) thrashed Namibia on Saturday evening. The attacking-sided team will now face the Super Eagles of Nigeria, believed to be one of the favourites of the competition, after beating the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.

The surprise of the tournament was the Round 16 match between the hosts, Côte d’Ivoire, and the defending champions, Senegal, as the hosts advanced to the last eight, thanks to Frank Kessie’s penalty that kept them in the game to penalty shoot-outs in the Elephant’s favour.

Meanwhile, a late Ryan Mendes penalty sealed the win for Cape Verde, sending them through to the quarter-finals for the second time in their history.

Cape Verde boss Bubista, who was delighted with his side’s performance, said, “We are carving our path; we know there are many bigger teams than us, but we are trying to focus on our game to have the opportunity to face these African powerhouses.

“Our goal is to work towards having a stronger squad.”

Another blow in this tournament is Guinea’s dramatic winner in the eighth minute of injury time as they beat 10-man Equatorial Guinea 1-0 on Sunday.

The last-16 tie at the Ebimpe Olympic Stadium in Abidjan was heading for extra time when Bayo, of French Ligue 1 side Le Havre, struck right at the death to spark frenzied scenes of celebration among the Guinea team and their large support.

It was a historic moment for the Syli National, who had never previously won a Cup of Nations knockout tie — they were runners-up in 1976, in an era when the final four played a round-robin format to decide the winner of the trophy.

The Pharaohs of Egypt were also victims of one of the upsets of this tournament as DR Congo sent them back home after a penalty shootout. And Bafana Bafana of South Africa shocked 10-man Morocco to reach the last eight.

Below are the full Quarter-Finals fixtures with venue, date, and time.

1. Nigeria vs Angola

Date: Friday, February 2, 2024

Venue: Felix Houphouet-Boigny

Time: 6:00pm

2. DR Congo vs Guinea

Date: Friday, February 2, 2024

Venue: Stade Olympique Alassane Ouattara

Time: 9:00 pm

3. Mali vs Cote d’ivoire

Date: Saturday, February 3, 2024

Venue: Stade de Bouaké

Time: 6:00 pm

4. Cape Verde vs South Africa

Date: Saturday, February 3, 2024

Venue: Stade Charles Konan Banny de Yamoussoukro

Time: 9:00 pm.

The six top seeds include Morocco, who created history at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar by becoming the first semi-finalists from Africa.

Nigeria is among the second seeds while South Africa has had to settle for a place among the third seeds for the draw in Abidjan, the Ivorian economic capital.

Add surprise 2021 Cup of Nations quarter-finalists Gambia from the fourth seeds and it would be a striking “group of death,” the term given to particularly tough sections.

Nigeria, three-time winners of the premier African football competition, and former champions South Africa were unlucky not to be seeded higher.

The Super Eagles lie sixth in the continental rankings and, ordinarily, would have been a top seed, avoiding Morocco, title-holders Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt in the group stage.

But host countries not only automatically qualify for the two-year tournament, they are also always among the first seeds.

To accommodate the ninth-ranked Ivory Coast, sixth-placed Nigeria had to give way and now share second-seed status with Cameroon, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

South Africa had been ranked above DR Congo for some time but, in the rankings that decided the seedings, they were placed one place below the Congolese.

It was an ironic change of positions as South Africa defeated DR Congo in a friendly match just a couple of days before the rankings were released.

Guinea has been awarded the hosting rights for 2025 but Africa’s football ruling body, CAF may likely strip Guinea of the hosting right of the biennial African football showpiece.

According to Pinnick, CAF is on course to withdraw the hosting right from the West African country and Nigeria is working on a bid with Benin Republic.

We are putting a bid together for a co-hosting of the tournament with the Benin Republic,” Pinnick told Completesports.

“The Minister of Sports has given his endorsement on the bidding.It is high time Nigeria hosted an international tournament because there are many advantages attached to hosting of such competitions.There are many countries bidding for the competition; we are confident of getting the nod from Caf. We are working with the ministry of sports to ensure that Nigeria gets the hosting right.”

Since the inception of AFCON, Nigeria have hosted the rest of the continent on two occasions.

The first time was in 1980 while the second time was in 2000 when the country co-hosted with Ghana .

Mali was 1-0 up after Ibrahima Kone scored a spot-kick when referee Janny Sikazwe blew the final whistle early.

The Zambian official first blew the final whistle after just 85 minutes before restarting play for four minutes but blew again with just 89 minutes and 43 seconds of the clash gone before 90 minutes.

According to DailyMail, Mali coach Mohamed Magassouba’s post-match press conference was later interrupted as it was announced the final three minutes of the game would be played. About 40 minutes later the Mali players and officials returned to the pitch but the Tunisian players refused as they had reportedly already had their ice baths.

Tunisia’s refusal to return to play the remainder of the game led to Sikazwe blowing his whistle once again to call off the match, meaning the 1-0 victory for Mali will stand.

In the aftermath, Tunisia coach Mondher Kebaier slammed the decision as ‘inexplicable’ and the nation have now called for the game to be replayed, according to beIN SPORTS.

Should the 1-0 result stand, Mali will be in a strong position to advance into the knockout stages of the competition for the second tournament running.

In his post-match press conference, Kebaier said: ‘Very tough to manage non-sporting affairs. At the 85th minute, he blows the final whistle. Again at the 89th minute. There was supposed to be 7-8 minutes of additional time. His decision is inexplicable. The players were taking ice baths for 35 minutes before they were called back out again, I’ve been coaching for a long time never seen anything like it. Even the 4th referee was preparing to lift the board and then the whistle was blown.’

In a letter to the Deputy General Secretary of Fifa – Mattias Grafstrom, the ECA expressed its concerns over the rising cases of the new variant of coronavirus, Omicron, and travel restrictions put in place by the government authorities.

Classifying its worries into three principles, the ECA wrote “The obligation for each national association that wishes to call a player for national team duty to establish, to the satisfaction of the respective clubs, that all applicable medical protocols have been implemented and enforced. Secondly, there cannot be mandatory release in circumstances where the release period’s duration would necessitate players missing official club matches. Lastly, the unavailability of players for club activities cannot extend beyond the agreed release periods.”

However, the European clubs claim Caf are yet to meet the principles which could restrict them from releasing their players this month. “Against this background, please note that, at its meeting of December 2021, the ECA Executive Board unanimously re-confirmed its position that the three principles referred to above must be strictly respected and, should this not be the case, that players not be released for national team duty,” read a part of ECA’s letter. At present, these three principles are at risk of not being respected in connection with the upcoming January releases. With regards to applicable protocols, as far as we are aware, Caf has not yet made available a suitable medical and operational protocol for the Afcon tournament, in the absence of which clubs will not be able to release players for the tournament. For certain clubs expected to release players, including English and French clubs, domestic competition matches are due to take place up until early January and hence, the overlap of the 2022 Afcon release dates (with call ups from 27th of December) is unmanageable.”

Also, the newly-elected president of the Cameroonian Football Federation (Fecafoot), Samuel Eto’o, dismissed reports that the Afcon tournament might be postponed after meeting with the country’s Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Mouelle Kombi on Wednesday, December 15.

Eto’o confirmed that preparations are in full gear for the tournament that will begin on January 9.

He wrote on Instagram. “It was great meeting with Professor Narcisse Mouelle Kombi, Minister of Sports & Physical Education as the preparations for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations intensify,” With just 24 days to go until we host Afcon here in Cameroon, collaboration is key.”

French media on Wednesday said the competition will be cancelled amid concerns from national team coaches despite the first game of the tournament already set to kick off in Cameroon.

A number of Premier League clubs had been due to losing some of their African players for the duration of the tournament, with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp set to lose Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, and Naby Keita.

Now, after a CAF meeting on Wednesday, it’s expected the competition will be postponed indefinitely, as first reported by El Balad’s Ismael Mahmoud in Egypt.

Earlier, France’s RMC Sport cited concerns from “several national coaches” regarding the Omicron variant, while also detailing the complex issues around players attached to English clubs.

“The African players called up by their selection should…undergo a quarantine on their return to the United Kingdom, which would therefore deprive the clubs of their players for a longer period,” the publication noted.

The report adds that “the country [England] is currently affected by a significant wave of Covid cases.”

At a virtual executive committee meeting chaired by CAF president Patrice Motsepe, it was also decided that a draw to divide the 24 qualifiers into six groups will be held on June 25.

A total of 23 teams have confirmed their places at the continental showpiece.

The nations are Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Comoros, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe.

However, there is one spot left to be contested between the Benin Republic and Sierra Leone.

The match between the two countries in Freetown was called off after five key players from the visiting nation tested positive for Coronavirus. The game has been rearranged for the May 31-June 15th international window.

This was contained in a press statement titled, ‘AFCON Qualifier: CAF bars media, journalists from Nigeria, Sierra Leone match’ by the Nigeria Football Federation’s spokesperson, Ademola Olajire on Monday.

The statement read in part, “The Confederation of African Football has categorically stated that no journalists or supporters would be allowed inside the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City for Friday’s 2022 AFCON qualifying match between the Super Eagles and the Leone Stars.

“In the guidelines communicated to the Nigeria Football Federation, CAF instructed, under Media Operations, that there would be no mixed zone, virtual press conference only if possible (media officers from both teams only), and that only the TV channels with the rights will be allowed flash interviews.

“Also, only photographers of participating teams would be allowed at the match.

“The above puts to rest all previous speculations regarding having spectators at the match venue, and whether members of the media would be allowed into the arena.”

The statement also quoted the NFF’s Director of Competitions, Bola Oyeyode, as saying that “only individuals accredited by the NFF would be allowed inside the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium for the Day 3 qualifier, which will kick off at 5pm Nigeria time.”

In the latest ranking published by FIFA on Thursday, Nigeria climbed to 33rd in the world from 45th in the June 2019 ranking and also maintained its 3rd position in the continent.

Algeria, who won the 2019 African Cup of Nations moved 28 places to 40th in the world and climbed from 12th in Africa to fourth place.

AFCON silver medal winners, Senegal, moved two spots up from 22nd to 20th and also maintained their number one spot in the continent. They are still the highest-ranked African country in the world.

Egypt, who are the host nation, lost 1-0 to an 85th-minute goal from Thembinkosi Lorch on Saturday.

Egypt Football Association president Hany Abo Rida announced the firing of the coach, and his own resignation, less than three hours after the game as a stunned host nation digested the defeat.