TRUE Africa

The 16 national teams to compete at AFCON 2017

Central African Republic 's and Democratic Republic of the Congo's Youssouf Mulumbu (C) jubilates with teammates at the end of the 2017 African Cup of Nations qualifying football match between Democratic Republic of the Congo and Central African Republic on September 4, 2016 at the Martyrs stadium, in Kinshasa. / AFP / JUNIOR D.KANNAH (Photo credit should read JUNIOR D.KANNAH/AFP/Getty Images)

The final qualifying matches for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations tournament took place this past weekend, confirming the 16 teams that would take part in the competition in Gabon from January 14 to February 5 next year.

Ten of the teams were known before this final round of matches, as the last six managed to snatch a qualification to fight for the AFCON title early next year.

Gabon qualified automatically as host nation, while North Africa will be very well represented with Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco all set to battle for Nations Cup glory.

The Côte d’Ivoire national team is set to defend their AFCON title, while Senegal emerged from the qualifiers with a perfect record of six wins from six.

The Teranga Lions will be accompanied from the West and Central African region by Cameroon, Burkina Faso, DR Congo, Togo, Mali and Ghana, while Southern Africa will have less representation than usual, with only Zimbabwe qualifying.

Uganda managed their first qualification to the flagship competition in 38 years, while Guinea-Bissau will be making their AFCON debut in January after topping Group E.