The Confederation of African Football said it has received over 5,000 media accreditation applications for the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations.

CAF said on its official website on Saturday that the applications are 90 per cent more than those received for Cameroon in 2021.

The media accreditation closed on November 24.

It said that more than 70 nationalities have applied to cover Africa’s biggest event.

“The high demand has necessitated that CAF implement quotas for all the countries due to space demands.

“CAF remains committed to ensure that fairness is applied across the board in allocation and implementation of quotas.

“CAF believes in creating access for media and promoting media freedom”, it said.

It said that it would introduce new guidelines for non-rights holders and enforce restrictions on filming and other activities to protect media (TV) rights holders.

It added that priority will be given to the host nation at 30 per cent, participating countries, at 35 per, regional (neighbouring) countries, at 10 and the rest of the world (countries) 25 per cent.

“CAF is currently working closely with all the participating member associations to ensure that there is a fair representation in allocating the quotas of each country,” it said.

It said that priority would also be given to agencies.

The 2023 AFCON will kick off from January 13, 2024, to February 11 in Cote d’Ivoire with 24 nations participating.