Ghana coach Goran Stevanovic says the ambitions of all qualified teams for the African Cup of Nations will not be affected by the absence of some big nations on the continent.

Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa are all missing this time round as the continent welcomes for the first time, Botswana and Niger.

Though the five countries boast 15 titles between them in a championship that has been staged 27 times since 1957, the expectation remains the same for the Black Stars coach.

"I don’t think so," Stevanovic responded in an interview with ESPN when asked about the effect the absence of the big nations would have on the tournament which starts on Saturday in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

"The other teams who qualified have a good team and have great players. Sometimes you have one good generation and there are other times maybe not so good.

"I think teams like Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mali and other teams would be very, very important opponents for us and will be very dangerous for us."

However, as he focuses on his opponents, Stevanovic is confident that his team would live up to expectation.

"I think we have a very compact team, excellent players and we doing very well," he added.

Ghana are four-time African champions with their last title success coming in 1982.