A new cycle of Africa Cup of Nations competition gets under way in earnest on Thursday as group qualifiers for the 2027 finals kick off, with the winners of the last edition still in dispute.
A total of 48 countries are divided into 12 groups and begin a six-round qualifying process running to March next year, with the top two in nine of the groups advancing to the finals.
The tournament is being co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, who are also competing in the qualifiers. In the groups in which they play, only one other side will go through to the 24-team tournament, which runs from 19 June to 17 July 2027.
With the finals less than a year away, the continent still awaits a decision on the last Cup of Nations decider in Morocco in January.
Senegal beat the hosts in the final but because they walked off the pitch in a 14-minute protest towards the end, they were stripped of the title and it was handed to Morocco.
Senegal have appealed against the Confederation of African Football's decision, and the case will be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 8 October.
Morocco went on to be the best-performing African side at the World Cup, reaching the quarter-finals, and begin their Group A qualifiers at home to Gabon in Rabat before facing Lesotho on 29 September in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Lesotho are one of 12 countries forced to play home games at a neutral venue because they do not have a stadium that CAF deems adequate for international competition.
Senegal have switched their home fixture against Mozambique because of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, and start their Group J campaign in Maputo on Friday, with Patrick Vieira their new coach. Sadio Mane is one of several previously key players not in his first squad.
Tunisia were the only one of 10 African countries at the World Cup who did not get past the first round, and have retained only 14 players from that tournament. Their new coach, Moin Chaabani, takes charge for the first time against Uganda in Group H on Thursday, as Tunisia look to extend their record number of successive finals appearances to 18. The opening round also features Ivory Coast against Ghana in Group C, while South Africa's meeting with Guinea in Johannesburg on Saturday matters to both.
The calendar, then, is running in an unusual order. Qualification for the 2027 tournament begins on Thursday. The identity of the 2026 champion is listed for 8 October.
This makes the defence of the title a fixture in two places at once. Morocco open the next campaign in Rabat as holders. Senegal open theirs in Maputo as a side that may be about to have won the previous one.
Sport is normally settled in the order in which it is played, and the appeal of a league table is that the past half of it is fixed. Here the first round of the new cycle will be complete and recorded before the last round of the old one is known. Thursday's results are the reliable part of the record. January's are not.
The fixture list has in any case already loosened its grip on more familiar terms. Lesotho are at home in another country. Senegal's home tie is in Mozambique. Morocco's away trip to Lesotho is to South Africa. Against that, a champion appointed nine months after the final is a modest adjustment.
The Department of Unnecessary Research observes that a title may be won in January, awarded in January, removed in January and restored in October, and that only the last of these appears anywhere on the fixture list.