Confederation of African Football (CAF), the continent’s football governing body, has announced that the prize money that would be awarded to the winning team of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2021.

The competition, which is scheduled to begin on Sunday, January 9, 2022, would see AFCON 2021 winning team claiming a $5 million grand prize, which is over N2 billion when converted to the current exchange rate of N413.21 to $1.

This development emerged after an Executive Committee meeting, which was held on Friday, January 7.

A total of $1.850 million was added to the prize money from the quarter-final stage to the final. The new prize money for eventual champions of the competition is $5 million – a $500,000 increase from the previous prize in the 2019 edition.

The runner-up will get $2.75 million while the semi-finalists and quarter-finalists will take home $2.2 million and $1.175 million respectively.

“The new TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Prize Monies; Winner: USD 5 million (an increase of USD 500,000).

“Runner-up: USD 2.75 million (an increase of USD 250,000). Semi-Finalists: USD 2.2 million (an increase of USD 200,000). Quarter-Finalists: USD 1.175 million (an increase of USD 175,000),” a statement from CAF’s website read.

The AFCON 2021 tournament, which would begin with Cameroon vs Burkina Faso on Sunday, January 9, would have Video Assistant Referee (VAR), as CAF announced that it would be used in all 52 matches.

For the tournament, 63 match officials would be on parade – 24 referees, 31 assistant referees and eight video assistant referees have been drawn from 36 countries, with two referees from Concacaf.