[1] Originally scheduled from 4 to 25 April 2020,[2] CAF announced its postponement on 17 March 2020 to a later date due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa,[3] eventually rescheduling it to January 2021 on 30 June that year.

Ethiopia were originally officially appointed to host the tournament on 4 February 2018 after the final of the previous edition in Morocco,[5] but the country's football federation admitted it wasn't ready[6] so it was handed over to Cameroon instead.

After inspecting all stadia and infrastructure, CAF delivered a satisfactory certificate to Cameroon in which they indicated the percentage of attendance in line with health exigencies outlined by FIFA.

[15] Libya accepted the invitation[16] and Tunisia were fined $75,000 and banned from participating in the qualification rounds of the next edition.

In the knockout stages, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary, except for the third place match where penalty shoot-out (no extra time) is used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 75).