It was the first edition which featured the semi-final stage consisting of the runners-up from all 4 groups and the last to be sponsored by Orange as French energy and petroleum giant Total was set to take over from the following edition onward.

[3] CAF approved 4 stadiums provided by the Rwanda Football Federation.

[5] The draw for this edition of the tournament took place on 15 November 2015, 72 hours earlier than planned, at 18:30 CAT (UTC+2), in Kigali.

If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order:[5] All times were local; CAT (UTC+2).

[10] In the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time would be played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by kicks from the penalty mark to determine the winner, except for the third place match where no extra time would be played.