- Egypt is the most decorated team on the continent having won the Afcon seven times.
- This is also the first time in the last six quarter-finals will be played without a North African country in the mix.
Image: CAFONLINE
A new champion will be crowned on February 11 when the Africa Cup of Nations finals will be played in Cote d'Ivoire.
This follows the elimination of the 2022 winners Senegal by the hosts Ivory Coast from the round of 16 on Monday in the prestigious 34th edition.
The elimination of the Teranga Lions means no team has defended the Afcon title in the last six editions of Africa's Premier competition.
This is also the first time in the last six quarter-finals will be played without a North African country in the mix.
Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco suffered heart-breaking defeats in the group stage or round of 16 to quit the biennial championship.
Mauritania and Equatorial Guinea acquired giant-killing status after beating powerhouses Algeria and Cote d'Ivoire respectively
Equatorial Guinea striker Emilio Nsue remains the top scorer with five goals even though his team exited the championship.
Gelson Dala and Mabululu (Angola) are on four and three goals respectively. Should Dala score against Nigeria in quarters, he becomes joint top-scorer alongside Nsue.
This year's Afcon has ushered in an era of selecting players playing for Saudi clubs.
Sadio Mané moved from Bayern Munich to Al Nassr. Franck Kessié left Barcelona for Al Ahly, Kalidou Koulibaly Chelsea for Al Hilal and Yassine Bounou Sevilla for the same team as Koulibaly.
Karl Toko Ekambi, Seko Fofana, Edouard Mendy, Abdou Diallo, Romain Saiss, Habib Diallo are all leaders of their teams in the Saudi league
This year's showpiece is called Cote d'Ivoire 2023 because Ivory Coast was originally awarded the rights to host the 2021 Cup of Nations back in 2014. However, a string of changes in 2018 and 2019 saw Ivory Coast's rights pushed back one edition to 2023.
Egypt is the most decorated team on the continent having won the Afcon seven times and having defended on two separate occasions.
The North African giants won the tournament in 1957 and 1959, and they went on to win it three times in a row (2006, 2008 and 2010) becoming the only nation to achieve such a feat in Africa under the guidance of coach Hassan Shehata.
Cameroon and Ghana are the other teams to defend their titles despite being sent packing in Cote d'Ivoire.
The Indomitable Lions did so in 2000 and 2002 while Ghana achieved a similar feat in 1963 and 1965.
Of the eight teams set to play in the quarter-finals, Angola, Guinea, Mali and Cape Verde have never won the Afcon title.
Nigeria are three-time champions with their last glory coming in 2013, when the Super Eagles beat Burkina Faso 1-0 courtesy of Sunday Mba's goal.
DR Congo (1974) and South Africa (1996) have both bagged the title once while Cote d'Ivoire boasts of two trophies (1992 and 2015).
Nigeria faces Angola as DR Congo squares it out with Guinea on Saturday in two of the four quarter-final matches slated for the weekend.
Mali will rub shoulders with Cote d'Ivoire on Sunday. Cape Verde entertains South Africa on the same day.