THE 2012 Nations Cup party gets underway in Equatorial Guinea tonight without its regular heavyweight guests, including the defending champions, but the battle for the throne vacated by the Pharaohs should produce a memorable football festival.

Record winners Egypt, who won the last three tournaments in 2006, 2008 and 2010, lead a cast of high-profile nations who will be missing after failing to negotiate a qualifying process that turned into a minefield for a number of Goliaths.

Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria and South Africa, all former winners of the tournament, also fell by the wayside.

But the presence of a powerful Cote d'Ivoire side, desperate to end its sickening tendency of choking at the tournament, and a Ghana team on the rise, after its remarkable show at the 2010 World Cup finals, provides this Nations Cup with the star quality it needs.

The Elephants and Burkina Faso are the only two nations without home-based players in their squads.

In sharp contrast, Sudan has all its players based at home and they include 10 from Edward Sadomba's Al-Hilal.

The return of Zambia, to a Nations Cup final being co-hosted by Gabon, almost 20 years to the year when a plane crash off the coast of the Central African country wiped out a generation of Chipolopolo's finest footballers, offers an emotional touch to this tournament.

And, as fate might have it, the Zambians will open their Nations Cup show against Senegal tonight, ironically the team the Class of '93 were going to play when their chartered military plane came down in Gabon.

Demba Ba leads the resurgence of the Lions of Teranga, exactly 10 years after El-Hadji Diouf and company heralded the arrival of Senegal on the big stage by beating France in the opening game of the 2002 World Cup, and the Senegalese will have as many supporters in Dakar as in Newcastle.

Botswana will be featuring in their debut Nations Cup finals, after somehow finding the quality to become the first team to book their place at the tournament during a fairy-tale run in which they beat Tunisia home and away, and won the Caf 2011 Team of the Year award.

Jerome Ramatlhakwane, who is clubless, scored five times in eight qualifiers and could be the main man for the Zebras.

Mali denied the Warriors a place at the 2012 Nations Cup finals but their prize is a tricky group that includes a Guinea side that downed the Super Eagles of Nigeria and a Ghana side out to prove their remarkable run at the 2010 World Cup, in which they came within a penalty conversion of reaching the semi-finals, was not a fluke.

Ghana's golden spell in the Nations Cup was linked to the emergence of a genius who was so good locals nicknamed him Pele and that legend will watch, with the satisfaction of a proud father, as his sons Jordan and Dede lead this Black Stars team in their search for glory.

While the Warriors will be missing from the party, for the third straight time since their last appearance at the 2006 Nations Cup finals in Egypt, Zimbabweans will join the world in following the drama that will unfold on the football pitches of Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

ZBC will show 27 matches, including the opening game between hosts Equatorial Guinea and Libya tonight, right up to the grand finale in Gabon on February 12.

Only four matches - Libya vs Senegal on January 29, Sudan vs Burkina Faso on January 30, Morocco vs Niger on January 31 and Botswana vs Mali on February 1 - will be screened as delayed games by the national broadcaster.

At 6am today, SuperSport 4 turned into a 24-hour channel dedicated to the 2012 Nations Cup finals and the satellite television network will broadcast all the 32 matches live, breaking new ground in the process as the matches will be also screened in the splendour of High Definition.

"All 32 matches will be live on SuperSport 4 with the overflow from matches played simultaneously (in the latter rounds of the group stages) carried live on SuperSport 6, Blitz and Maximo," said Multichoice.

"The home of African football, SuperSport 9, while not a 24-hour channel, will mirror SuperSport 4 closely, broadcasting all live events from the tournament which includes two magazine shows, Hello Africa and Master Plan.

"From the World of Champions' state-of-the-art High Definition Studio 6, the quintet of Robert Marawa, Carol Radul, Charles Anazodo, Carol Tshabalala and Thomas Mlambo will take the viewers on a magical 23-day journey across West Africa coast which will culminate with the crowning of the kings of African football."

Local night spots will also provide theatres for fans to watch the games live on television.

Jazz 105 director, Josh Hozheri, yesterday said they will create a stadium atmosphere for fans to watch the 2012 Nations Cup live at the city centre restaurant and pub.

"We are showing all matches live and we are bringing in some big screens to add to our usual television sets because we want to create a stadium atmosphere for our patrons as they watch the football," said Hozheri.

"We are also running specials on certain brand of the beers we sell, during the duration of the tournament and there will be some competitions for the patrons and prizes to be won.

"As Jazz 105 we are firmly behind Botswana and Zambia because we believe they are representing our region."

Millicent Mashungu, the manager of Boomerang (Harare), Boomerang (Ruwa) and The Base along Samora Machel Avenue in Central Harare, said there were some surprises in store for their patrons during the tournament.

"We are screening all matches live in all our three night spots and we will be running competitions, where fans can predict the outcome of the match and win prizes, in some of the games," said Mashungu.

Who will win the big one and who will be the stars of the 2012 Nations Cup finals?

Look no further than Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Gervinho, Dede, Jordan, Asamoah Gyan, Demba Ba, Papiss Dema Cisse, Adel Taraabt, Pascal Feindouno, Seydou Keita, Modibo Maig, Moumouni Dagano and Charles Kabore.