Ivorians kick off as favourites

Holders Ivory Coast will be tested to the maximum when they begin the defence of their Africa Cup of Nations crown in Gabon, pitted in a group with two strong contenders and a wily old coach.

The Ivorians, who have to do without retired Yaya Toure and injured Gervinho but have been boosted by the desertion of Wilfried Zaha, played through an indifferent 2016 but will be rightly considered a good bet to retain their title.

If they come through the first round their hopes will be strengthened because Morocco and the Democratic Republic of Congo are among the dangerous outsiders at the tournament.

Togo can be expected to seek to play a spoilers' role.

Togo coach Claude Le Roy continues to set a record for longevity at the event and is coaching at his ninth finals.

In his previous eight tournaments, only once did he not get a side through to the last eight. That was when he was with DR Congo in South Africa in 2013 and they were edged out of second place in their group by Cape Verde.

Togo can play that role in Group C, which is based at a new stadium in Oyem, with Emanuel Adebayor leading their attack.

He might be on the wrong side of 30 but is still one of the continent's top players and will be eager to prove a point.

DR Congo were nominated by the Confederation of African Football as one of the candidates for the national team of the year award for 2016 on the back of not only qualifying in top place in their cup qualifying group, and because they put together a 100% start to the group phase of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

Congolese coach Florent Ibenge has assembled a strong group and after bronze at the last finals they will have high hopes of reaching the knockout phase again.

But they will need to also get past the Moroccans, who again have a highly talented squad on paper, even if they surprisingly left out Hakim Ziyech of Ajax Amsterdam from their 23-man squad.

He is rated one of the best talents in Europe, but Morocco coach Herve Renard said he could not guarantee him a starting place in the lineup.

Since then there have been several injuries to key players, with Younes Belhanda and Sofiane Boufal likely to be missed.

Morocco invested heavily in enticing Renard to take over as their coach.

The Frenchman took Zambia to the 2012 title in Libreville and the Ivory Coast to success in the last edition of the competition in Equatorial Guinea.