[4] Ivory Coast won the tournament for their second Africa Cup of Nations title, defeating Ghana 9–8 in a penalty shoot-out after the final finished goalless following extra time.

The DR Congo came third and the hosts Equatorial Guinea fourth, while defending champions Nigeria did not qualify.

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

[14] 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.

[19] In October 2014, the government of Morocco requested a postponement of the tournament due to the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa.

[28] Angola, the hosts of the 2010 edition, were spoken of as a potential replacement due to existing stadia and infrastructure in the country.

The four Equatorial Guinean cities selected to host the tournament were Malabo, Bata, Mongomo and Ebibeyin.

For teams eliminated in the group stage, the following criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the final rankings:[44] In the final tournament, a player was suspended for the subsequent match in the competition for either getting red card or accumulating two yellow cards in two different matches.

The disciplinary panel has the ability to increase the automatic one match ban for a red card (e.g. for violent conduct).

Guinea and Mali finished with equal records in Group D, thus the drawing of lots was required to choose who would advance into the quarter-finals.

[53] Guinea won the draw, causing a complaint from Boubacar Diarra, president of the Malian FA.

"[55] Wadie Jary, the president of the Tunisian Football Federation, claimed that there was a bias against Tunisia following their controversial quarter-final defeat to Equatorial Guinea on 31 January 2015.

At the half-time break with Ghana leading the game 2–0, the Ghanaian players were protected from hostile Equatoguinean fans by police using plastic shields.

During the 82nd minute in the second half, fans rushed onto the pitch and missiles were thrown at the Ghanaian substitute players.

The travelling Ghanaian fans were also targets and took shelter near the goal of the pitch, out of the range of those throwing objects.

[58] Equatorial Guinea's Police force had fired smoke bombs into the stands in an attempt to bring order.

CAF imposed a US$100k fine on the Equatoguinean Football Federation and were informed an 'official match' in Equatorial Guinea must be held 'behind closed doors' after the tournament's completion.

[60] DR Congo defender Gabriel Zakuani stated that he would rather his team forfeit the third-place playoff instead of play in front of Equatorial Guinea's fans, an opinion which was not shared by his manager Florent Ibengé.