The 2022 Africa Cup is set to start on January 9, about six months later than originally planned, but the tournament is finally here.
The players have left their club teams to travel to Africa for the competition and will train with their respective national teams before the tournament begins. After two games on the opening day, three to four games per game day will be played in the group stage.
The two first-placed teams in each of the six groups reach the knockout round, together with the four third-placed teams with the highest points. The knockout stage begins on January 23rd and is a quick turnaround for each subsequent round, with the quarter-finals on January 29th, the semifinals on February 2nd, and the championship and third-place games on February 6th.
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AFCON 2022 odds: who will win it all?
The tournament field is wide open. Of the 24 teams that qualified for the tournament, seven completed the qualification without a loss. And qualifying was tight, because 10 of the 11 qualifying groups only decided by one or two points. The teams fought for AFCON berths until the last day.
Algeria is the defending champion, led by Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez, who was temporarily unplayable in the 2019 edition. However, you will face stiff competition from Egypt as well as Senegal , both led by Liverpool stars (Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane).
the Ivory Coast Kader has a number of recognizable names, and Morocco is led by Wolves’ staunch Romain Saiss. Nigeria raged in qualifying but will be without its biggest star in Cameroon: Napoli striker Victor Osimhen, who tested positive for COVID-19 and is still recovering from a serious facial injury.
Here are the top 10 teams expected to win everything with odds from DraftKings and BetMGM:
| nation | BetMGM | Draft kings |
|---|---|---|
| Senegal | +350 (from +550) | +400 (from +450) |
| Algeria | +450 (from +600) | +450 (from +550) |
| Egypt | +750 (from +600) | +800 (from +650) |
| Ivory Coast | +750 (unchanged) | +700 (from +800) |
| Morocco | +850 (from +900) | +800 (unchanged) |
| Nigeria | +1000 (from +800) | +1000 (unchanged) |
| Cameroon | +850 (from +800) | +850 (from +1000) |
| Tunisia | +2200 (from +1600) | +2000 (from +1400) |
| Ghana | +1600 (from +1400) | +1400 (unchanged) |
| Mali | +2200 (unchanged) | +2000 (from +1800) |
BetMGM and DraftKings’ futures markets also offer odds for teams to reach the finals. They are essentially the halved trophy winning chances:
| nation | BetMGM | Draft kings |
|---|---|---|
| Senegal | +185 (from +250) | +190 |
| Algeria | +220 (from +275) | +250 |
| Egypt | +350 (from +275) | +300 |
| Ivory Coast | +333 (from +325) | +380 |
| Morocco | +350 (from +400) | +380 |
| Nigeria | +400 (from +350) | +450 |
| Cameroon | +350 (unchanged) | +450 |
| Tunisia | +1000 (from +800) | +650 |
| Ghana | +750 (from +700) | +650 |
| Mali | +1100 (unchanged) | +850 |
AFCON 2022 group winner
Group-winner odds are available through DraftKings and BetMGM, with the latter’s odds being listed below. (The odds only refer to group victory, not to advancing out of the group.)
Not only are Senegal an easy favorite to win, they’re an overwhelming favorite to top Group B (-550). Algeria, Egypt and Morocco have higher chances of winning in their respective groups given the quality of the opponents they face.
| Group a | Cameroon (-200) | Burkina Faso (+300) | Cape Verde (+500) | Ethiopia (+2500) |
| Group B | Senegal (-550) | Guinea (+500) | Zimbabwe (+1 600) | Malawi (+2200) |
| Group C | Morocco (-145) | Ghana (+180) | Gabon (+550) | Comoros (+4000) |
| Group D | Egypt (-145) | Nigeria (+115) | Guinea-Bissau (+2200) | Sudan (+4000) |
| Group E | Algeria (-200) | Ivory Coast (+150) | Equi. Guinea (+3300) | Sierra Leone (+4000) |
| Group F. | Tunisia (-185) | Mali (+150) | Gambia (+2000) | Mauritania (+3300) |
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AFCON 2022 top scorer
There are many familiar names among star-studded cadres in Africa in January.
Nobody in the tournament has more international goals than Liverpool Mohamed Salah . Algeria’s attack is loaded with Man Citys Riad Mahrez accompanied by Baghdad Bounedjah who scored four goals in qualifying and holds an incredible goal scorer record with Qatari club Al-Sadd with 128 goals in 108 games.
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Ivory Coast also has a number of key players ahead of the net, as an in-form Ajax man Sebastian Haller is assisted by two Premier League wingers in the attack by the elephants Nicolas Pepe and Wilfried Zaha. Haller has scored 12 goals in 17 Eredivisie games this season, but what’s more impressive is that he scored a staggering 10 goals in six Champions League group games when Ajax had a perfect record in the group stage.
These are the 18 players with the shortest odds to win the Topscorer Award at AFCON 2022, courtesy of BetMGM and DraftKings:
| player | country | BetMGM | Draft kings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mohamed Salah | Egypt | +350 | +400 |
| Sadio Mane | Senegal | +700 | +700 |
| Riad Mahrez | Algeria | +800 | +900 |
| Islam Slimani | | Algeria | +1100 | +800 |
| Sebastian Haller | Ivory Coast | +1200 | +1400 |
| Vincent Abubakar | Cameroon | +1200 | +1600 |
| Kelechi Iheanacho | Nigeria | +1400 | +1400 |
| Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | Gabon | +1600 | +3500 |
| Baghdad Bounedjah | Algeria | +2000 (from +1800) | +2200 |
| Keita Balde | Senegal | +2000 | +4000 |
| Youssef en-Nesyri | Morocco | +2500 | +3500 |
| Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting | Cameroon | +2500 | +2800 |
| Odion Ighalo | Nigeria | +2500 | +2800 |
| Taiwo Awoniyi | Nigeria | +2500 | +2500 |
| André Ayew | Ghana | +2500 | +3500 |
| Nicolas Pepe | Ivory Coast | +5000 | +2500 |
| Ibrahima Kone | Mali | +3300 | +2800 |
| Famara Diedhiou | Senegal | N / A | +2800 |
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