The Confederation of African Football has set January 11, 2012 as the deadline for the submission of squad lists for the African Nations Cup. According to Caf, all qualified teams have before the midnight of the deadline date to forward their 23-man squads, thus ten days ahead of the start of the competition in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea on January 21. Caf have announced that in conformity with its regulations, a qualified team that fails to meet the deadline will attract a fine of $3,000. The sport governing body also cautioned that if seven days before kick off, a side does not submit its complete list of players, that association will be allowed to register only 20 players for the tournament. On the replacement of injured players, Caf confirmed that in the event of a serious injury, a listed player may be replaced 24 hours before kick off of his team's first match. And this provision is subject to approval by the CAF Medical Committee after receiving a detailed medical assessment.