Tournament hosts Gabon and defending champions Ivory Coast were both eliminated in the group stage.

[14] CAF then began an inspection procedure, on November and December 2010, intending to visit each bidding country to view stadiums, infrastructure, and football interest.

[15] Shortly after the inspection, DR Congo informed CAF that they would be withdrawing their bids for both the 2015 and 2017 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

[1] Bids : After Libya was withdrawn as the venue on 22 August 2014, the CAF announced that they would be receiving applications for the new hosts until 30 September 2014.

[3] The draw for the qualification stage took place on 8 April 2015, immediately after the announcement of the host nation.

[27] However, the ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, allowing Morocco to enter the tournament.

[33][34] The seedings approved by the Organising Committee of the Africa Cup of Nations at its meeting on Monday, 26 September 2016 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, was determined taking into account the performance of the qualified teams during the following competitions:[35][36][37] Group winners and runners-up advanced to the quarter-finals.

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:[40] In July 2016, Total secured an eight-year sponsorship package from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to support ten of its principal competitions, including the Africa Cup of Nations (renamed the Total Africa Cup of Nations).

[41] For teams eliminated in the group stage, the following criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the final rankings:[43] Mitre took over as the official match ball supplier following the expiration of the contract between Adidas and CAF.

"They are running the Africa Cup in a country where the dictator Ali Bongo is killing innocent people!