Behold Your ‘24 Elders’ For 2021 AFCON
By Amaechi Agbo
The qualifying race for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations AFCON holding in Cameroon next year was rounded up on Tuesday across the continent except one slot.
With some countries going on the race unbeaten including Algeria who has maintained 25 matches unbeaten run in the continent, below are the “24 Elders” or senior men in Africa Football that will be slugging it out when hostilities return in January 2022 to decide who is the king of Africa Football.
Group L remaining one slot is going to be decided later in June between Sierra Leone and Lesotho
Algeria is the defending champions after winning the tournament in 2019 with a 1-0 victory over Senegal.
| Qualified Team | Participation Number | Last Appearance | Best Performance |
| Algeria | 19 | 2019 | Champions (1990, 2019) |
| Burkina Faso | 12 | 2017 | Runner-up (2013) |
| Cameroon | 20 | 2019 | Champions (1984, 1988, 2000, 2002, 2017) |
| Cape Verde | 3 | 2015 | Quarterfinals (2013) |
| Comoros | 1 | – | – |
| Cote d’Ivoire | 24 | 2019 | Champions (1992, 2015) |
| Egypt | 25 | 2019 | Champions (1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2006, 2008, 2010) |
| Equatorial Guinea | 3 | 2015 | Fourth place (2015) |
| Ethiopia | 11 | 2013 | Champions (1962) |
| Gabon | 8 | 2017 | Quarterfinals (1996, 2012) |
| Gambia | 1 | – | – |
| Ghana | 23 | 2019 | Champions (1963, 1965, 1978, 1982) |
| Guinea | 13 | 2019 | Runner-up (1976) |
| Guinea Bissau | 3 | 2019 | Group stage (2017, 2019) |
| Malawi | 3 | 2010 | Group stage (1984, 2010) |
| Mali | 12 | 2019 | Runner-up (1972) |
| Mauritania | 2 | 2019 | Group stage (2019) |
| Morocco | 18 | 2019 | Champions (1976) |
| Nigeria | 19 | 2019 | Champions (1980, 1994, 2013) |
| Senegal | 16 | 2019 | Runner-up (2002, 2019) |
| Sudan | 9 | 2012 | Champions (1970) |
| Tunisia | 20 | 2019 | Champions (2004) |
| Zimbabwe | 5 | 2019 | Group stage (2004, 2006, 2017, 2019) |
* Last qualifying (Benin or Sierra Leone) team will be determined in June.
