2015 AFRICA CUP - EQUATORIAL GUINEA - ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW
The 30th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations will kick off on Saturday, with organisers, players and fans hoping the tournament can thrive in the face of adversity.
It was only in December that Equatorial Guinea took over as hosts from Morocco, whose plea to postpone the finals over fears about the spread of Ebola was rejected by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
With concerns over the short time for Equatorial Guinea to prepare, worries about potentially poor attendances at matches in remote parts of the country and doubts about the infrastructure and facilities, football itself has taken a back seat in the build-up to the 16-team, 17 January to 8 February event.
THE HOSTS - short notice, big concerns
It is not the first time the small, oil-rich central African state of Equatorial Guinea, with a population of just 740,000, has hosted the tournament - they did so jointly with Gabon in 2012.
However, the extra burden of going it alone, and at such late notice, is weighing heavily.
Matches will be hosted in four cities; Bata and Malabo - as they were three years ago - and in Mongomo and Ebebiyin.
The new venues will be relatively basic because there has been insufficient time to build better facilities in those towns.
Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema has personally paid for some fans to attend matches
The stadium in Ebebiyin has a reported capacity of only 5,000.
Even so, there is a real chance of it not being filled - one of the 2012 Nations Cup matches hosted by the country was attended by a tiny crowd of 200 people.
It is that kind of statistic which has moved the country's president Teodoro Obiang Nguema to personally pay for 40,000 tickets for fans to attend matches.
"We have to buy tickets to fill stadiums," said Nguema. "Let those who have the means help the poor."
Additionally, the hotel capacity in the new host cities is minimal, making it a struggle for both media and fans to find accommodation and follow the tournament.
On the pitch, little is expected of the team, who were eliminated from the qualifiers when they were penalised for fielding an ineligible player - Cameroon-born Thierry Fidieu Tazemeta - in a match against Mauritania, only to be reinstated when they stepped in as hosts.
It would be the biggest shock in the history of the tournament if the "National Thunder" became the 12th hosts to lift the trophy.
Their chances of making any impact have not been helped by the fact their new coach, Argentine Esteban Becker, was appointed 11 days before the opening game of the finals.
EBOLA - a shadow over the tournament
The deadly virus, which broke out in West Africa in March 2014 and has claimed the lives of 8,386 people in six countries according to World Health Organisation figures up to 12 January, has cast a dark shadow over the tournament.
The Ebola virus causes a range of painful and debilitating symptoms.
However, there are no reported cases in Equatorial Guinea and the country's government has taken measures to prevent Ebola from reaching their soil, including hiring the expertise of a team of Cuban doctors.
All players and visitors entering Equatorial Guinea will be tested for Ebola.
Julia Nchama Abeso Avomo, the administrative attache at the country's embassy in London, said everyone entering Equatorial Guinea will go through a short medical check upon arrival as a precautionary measure.
Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia are the countries worst affected by Ebola.
Guinea are the only qualifiers for the finals - and their achievement is remarkable given the circumstances.
NOTABLE ABSENCES
There will be no successful defence of the trophy for Nigeria after the Super Eagles failed to book their place at the finals.
It was a big shock - and some would say a massive loss for the tournament.
Record seven-time champions Egypt also missed out - for the third time in a row.
And for the first time in over a decade, two of Africa's biggest names and greatest strikers will be missing from the tournament.
Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o and Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba retired from internationals after the 2014 World Cup.
Eto'o scored a record 18 goals at Nations Cup finals and hit 56 goals in total from 118 appearances for his country, while Drogba struck 65 in 104 matches for the Elephants.
SOUTH AFRICA'S INCENTIVE - win it for Senzo
South Africa captain Senzo Meyiwa was shot dead in October.
South Africa midfielder Dean Furman says the team will be trying to win the trophy to honour their goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa, who was killed in October.
Meyiwa, the team captain, was shot after burglars entered his girlfriend's house near Johannesburg.
Furman has now taken over the captaincy and will lead the team in Equatorial Guinea.
"Senzo was close to a lot of people, he was such a great character, always smiling, always lifting other people around him," Furman told BBC Sport.
"When the news filtered through about the murder it was really just complete and utter shock.
I remember talking to the boys, especially his team-mates at Orlando Pirates, and they were in utter devastation."
"The first South Africa game after Senzo's death was in his home town of Durban.
It gave us a chance to pay our respects.
We all went to the grave site and we visited Senzo's family."
"It is an incredible honour to be Bafana Bafana captain.
Obviously it was in the worst circumstances but I'm hoping to continue in the footsteps that Senzo set us off in during the qualification campaign.
"We want to win it for Senzo."
THE RECORDING BREAKING MANAGER
Frenchman Claude Le Roy is a veteran of seven previous Afcon finals
Frenchman Claude Le Roy will coach at the Africa Cup of Nations for a record eighth time.
This time the 66-year-old is in charge of Congo, the fifth country he has led at the finals.
He won the tournament with Cameroon in 1988, having finished runners-up with them two years previously.
He came third with Ghana in 2008 and was a semi-finalist with Senegal in 1990.
Only once - in the last edition of the tournament, as coach of DR Congo - has he failed to reach the quarter-finals.
His chances of success this time are limited, as Le Roy himself acknowledges.
"We are the only team who does not have a single player who has taken part in the Cup of Nations before," he said.
"They were all children the last time, But we are lucky to be able to take part in the opening game."
Congo face hosts Equatorial Guinea in the first match on Saturday, and will also face Burkina Faso and Gabon in Group A.
Equatorial Guinea