21 January 2012: The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations brings together 16 of the continents national teams in a combined countries festival of football in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Egypt, the most successful team in the tournament have won the Cup seven times in its 55 years history and are the current holders of the Cup but are missing from this year's tournament having been knocked out by lowly Niger!

Four teams make up each of the four groups. Group A consists of Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Senegal and Zambia. Group B draws together Angola, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Sudan. Group C is made up of Gabon, Morocco, Niger and Tunisia. And Group D has Botswana, Ghana, Guinea and Mali national teams.

Three of the 16 teams stand out among the rest. Ghana's Black Stars had a tremendous World Cup in 2010 and should have progressed to the semi-finals. They have the mecurial Asamoah Gyan up front and will certainly have an opportunity to show who is the best in Africa. Ivory Coast, the top ranked FIFA team in Africa have some of the top Premier League players in their team including Africa's Player of the Year, Yaya Toure. If The Elephants perform as well as they did in the qualifiers, winning all six games, they could run away with the trophy. However Senegal with its impressive forward line of Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse could cause havoc in the oppositions goal-mouths.

The Africa Cup of Nations takes place from the 21^st. January until February 12^th. 2012.