After testing positive for COVID-19, Edouard Mendy will miss Senegal’s first AFCON encounter.
Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and captain Kalidou Koulibaly have both tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of Monday's match against Zimbabwe
Six players – Saliou Ciss, Bamba Dieng, Mame Baba Thiam, Pape Matar Sarr, Nampalys Mendy, and second-choice goalkeeper Alfred Gomis – remained in Dakar on Wednesday after testing positive for the tournament.
Senegal will also be without injured Watford winger Ismaila Sarr and Royal Antwerp defender Abdoulaye Seck.
On Sunday, Senegal’s head coach, Aliou Cisse, said: “It’s a challenging and perplexing position.
“But we’ll be competitive, and those who are here will fill in for those who are unable to play.
“We’re still confident going into the game versus Zimbabwe.”
AFCON: Teams must play matches if 11 players are available
Should teams be weakened by Covid-19 cases, AFCON organizers have announced that teams will be required to play matches if they have 11 players available.
Cameroon’s match against Burkina Faso, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports on Sunday, will kick off the tournament, which will contain 52 matches, and the rules of how teams would deal with absentees due to Covid-19 have been defined.
Countries will be forced to play a match if they have a minimum of 11 players who have tested negative, with an outfield player from the squad filling in for the goalkeeper if the goalkeeper is unavailable.
Any country that does not have a minimum of 11 players will be regarded to have lost the match by a score of 0-2.
Organisers have also outlined that each team will be permitted to use a maximum of five substitutes, with a maximum of three opportunities to make substitutions during the game.
Where extra time is played, teams will each be allowed one additional substitution, and will have one additional substitution opportunity.
Algeria are the reigning champions after a 1-0 final victory over Senegal when the competition was left held in Egypt in 2019.
Sky Sports to show all 52 AFCON tournament matches live
The tournament, which was initially set to take place in June and July 2021, will now take place in Cameroon from January 9 to February 6, 2022.
Twenty-four teams will compete, with the first match taking place on Sunday in Yaounde between hosts Cameroon and Burkina Faso, and the final taking place on February 6 in the capital.
