The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations finally gets underway today, after a Covid-enforced delay of one year, as hosts Cameroon face Burkina Faso.
Cabo Verde and Ethiopia are the other nations in Group A, with those teams meeting later in the evening.
Neither of the opening fixture’s countries are considered among the absolute front-runners to win, with Cameroon around fifth-favourites for overall glory in the tournament on home soil.
They have plenty of established players in Europe, though the only Premier League-based individual in this game is Aston Villa’s Bertrand Traore, representing Burkina Faso.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the game.
When is the match?
The first game at the AFCON kicks off at 4pm GMT on Sunday 9 January, 2022.
Where can I watch it?
The match will be shown live on Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Football. If you’re not a Sky customer you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription. We may earn commission from some of the links in this article, but we never allow this to influence our content. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Predicted line-ups
CAM - Onana, Fai, Moukoudi, Ngadeu, Tolo, Hongla, Gouet, Anguissa, Ngamaleu, Aboubakar, Toko Ekambi
BFA - Koffi, Kabore, Tapsoba, Dayo, Yago, Blati Toure, Sangare, Bertrand Traore, Guira, Bayala, Konate
Odds to win match
Cameroon 4/6
Draw 11/4
Burkina Faso 29/5
Latest odds to win AFCON
Senegal 7/2
Algeria 9/2
Egypt 6/1
Ivory Coast 8/1
Cameroon 9/1
Nigeria 10/1
Morocco 11/1
Ghana 16/1
Prediction
The hosts will expect to get off to a positive start and fuel optimism that they can make the nation proud with a run deep into the competition. Cameroon 2-1 Burkina Faso.
