opening ceremony of the stadium began at 10:00 with the setting up of the animation groups and the cultural activities which lasted until 14:00. Guests and officials were set up until the start of the opening match at 17:00. Among the guests were members of Confederation of African Football (CAF), members of the diplomatic corps, presidents of legislative and judicial institutions, members of government including the president of COCAN 2021 and the presidents of CAF and FIFA. The set-up of officials ended by 16:00 with the arrival of the presidents of Comoros and Cameroon. After the performance of the hymns, the opening speech was made by Patrice Motsepe, CAF's president followed by the solemn opening of the competition by the President of the Republic of Cameroon, Paul Biya, after which a cultural parade of about an hour took place. A cultural interlude representing the four cultural areas of Cameroon was presented with five hundred young ambassadors and the mascot Mola who participated in the dance, the host artist, Fally Ipupa offered a performance. During this parade, a virtual lion appeared to viewers, this was set up by Belgian graphic designer Thibault Baras on an idea of the creative company lib. Made in augmented reality and turned on a game engine, this lion was sixteen meters long, eight meters high and weighed a ton. After the match, which took place from 17:00 to 19:00, there was a fireworks display. Squads Group stage The top two teams of each group, along with the best four third-placed teams, advanced to the round of 16. All times are local, WAT (UTC+1). Tiebreakers Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 74): Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, if two teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were applied exclusively to these two teams; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches; Drawing of lots. Group A Group B Group C Group D Group E Group F Ranking of third-placed teams Combinations of matches in