The African Cup of Nations (AFCON) is a prestigious continental competition contested by the member nations of the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF). The inaugural edition was played in 1957 between the three founding nations – Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia. Egypt is the most successful team in the AFCON winners list.
Football is more than simply a sport in Africa; it’s a way of life that allows one to fully appreciate the continent’s rich cultural diversity. It serves as a vehicle for expression and a unifying force for people. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is the governing and administrative authority for futsal, beach soccer, and association football in Africa. The national football associations of Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Sudan formed it on February 8, 1957, at the Grand Hotel in Khartoum, Sudan. This came about after formal discussions between the aforementioned associations at the FIFA Congress, which took place on June 7, 1956, at the Avenida Hotel in Lisbon, Portugal. As the FIFA representative for the African confederation, CAF manages the prize money and television rights for national team and club continental championships, which it organizes, operates, and oversees every year or every two years.
The Africa Cup of Nations
Africa’s premier men’s association football competition is called the Africa Cup of Nations (French: Coupe d’Afrique des Nations), commonly known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations due to sponsorship, or just AFCON or CAN. It was staged for the first time in 1957 and is approved by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). From a small competition that featured only three teams in the inaugural edition, AFCON has become the biggest football event in Africa and now has 24 countries in the main draw and 52 in the qualifiers. The Africa Cup of Nations has been held 33 times and 14 different countries have lifted the championship till now. Only Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan competed in the first edition in 1957, with Egypt becoming the first AFCON winners after beating Ethiopia 4-0 in the final. South Africa were also invited to the first Africa Cup of Nations tournament in 1957 but their invitation was later withdrawn as a result of the countries apartheid laws.
Moreover, the tournament was gradually expanded to eight teams in 1968, which increased the level of competition. Six countries won the continental title between 1970 and 1980, out of which five teams won it for the first time. With new nations joining CAF, the field for AFCON was increased to 12 in 1992 and 16 in 1996. The 2019 and 2021 editions saw 24 teams take part in the continental showpiece. In the early days, AFCON was held in random intervals but became a biennial competition from 1968. It has been conducted every two years since 1968, moving to odd-numbered years in 2013. The tournament has featured some of the best players ever in world football, including Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Sadio Mane (Senegal) and Mohamed Salah (Egypt).
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Historic Timeline
- Egypt defeated hosts Sudan in the first game played at the AFCON winning 2-1 on 10th January 1957. Raafat Attia scored the first goal at an AFCON. tournament when he opened the scoring for Egypt in their 2-1 Semi-final win over hosts Sudan in 1957. Egypt defeated Ethiopia 4-0 in the final to win the first AFCON Tournament in 1957. Egypt won the first two AFCON Tournaments in 1957 and 1959 while they were runners up in 1962, losing to hosts Ethiopia in the final.
- Egypt have won the most AFCON Titles (seven), followed by Cameroon (five), Ghana (four), Nigeria (three) and the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Ivory Coast (two each). Egypt and Ghana have both reached 9 AFCON Finals while Egypt have won seven, Ghana have four wins while Cameroon have played in seven finals winning five. Egypt goalkeeper Essam el Hadary became the oldest player at 44 years and 21 days to feature in the tournament when he faced Cameroon in the 2017 final in Libreville as Egypt lost. The last host nation to reach the AFCON Finals was Egypt who won the title on home soil in 2006. Egypt have reached the AFCON Final in five of the last six tournaments that they have participated in winning in 2006, 2008 and 2010 while they were runners up in 2017 and the 2021 edition. They only failed to do so in 2019 as hosts. Egypt have had five different players scoring six AFCON hat-trick no country has managed as many players to have scored a hat-trick at the tournament.
- Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o is the leading overall Cup of Nations scorer, notching 18 goals in six tournaments between 2000 and 2010.Four players Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o, Ghanaian duo Asamoah Gyan as well as Andre Ayew and Zambia’s Kalusha Bwalya have scored in 6 AFCON Tournaments no players have scored in more editions of the competition than them.
- Only once in 2013 when South Africa played out a 0-0 draw against Cape Verde has the opening game of the Africa Cup of Nations ended 0-0. South Africa finished 1st (1996), 2nd (1998) and 3rd (2000) in the first three AFCON tournaments that they participated in.
- 16 Players have scored 17 hat-tricks at the Africa Cup of Nations but none since Soufiane Alloudi scored three goals in Morocco’s 5-1 triumph over Namibia in the 2008 Group Stages.The first hat-trick at the Africa Cup of Nations was scored by Ad-Diba who scored all four of Egypt’s goals in their 4-0 triumph in the 1957 final victory over Ethiopia.
- Egypt’s Hassan El-Shazly is the only player to have scored multiple hattricks at the Africa Cup of Nations, doing so in 1963 and 1970. Egypt is the only team to have two players score a hattrick in the same game Hassan El-Shazly and Mohammed Morsi Hussein netted all their goals in a 6-3 win over Nigeria in a 1963 group stage encounter.Egypt’s Ahmed Hassan and Cameroon’s Rigobert Song hold the record for the greatest number of AFCON participations with each player having featured in 8 finals tournaments in 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010.
- Ghana’s Charles Gyamfi (1963–1965, 1982) and Egypt’s Hassan Shehata (Egypt 2006–2008-2010) are the only coaches to have won the title three times, Shehata is the only coach to have won the title in three successive tournaments.
- Two persons Egypt’s Mahmoud El-Gohary (1959 as player, 1998 as coach) and Stephen Keshi, of Nigeria (1994 as player, 2013 as coach) have won the AFCON as a player and coach. French man Herve Renard is the only coach to have won the AFCON with two different countries Zambia in 2012 and Cote D’Ivoire in 2015. Senegal coach Aliou Cisse holds the unwanted record of losing in the final as both a player (2002) and coach (2019). He also now has won the tournament as a coach lifting the title with Senegal at the 2021 edition.
- France have had five different coaches win six AFCON tournament the most of any country. In 2004 Frenchman Roger Lemmere became the first coach to win the AFCON and the UEFA European Championship when he led Tunisia to the title, in 2000 he led France to the European Championships.
- Egypt (1957), Ghana (1963), and South Africa (1996) are the only teams to have won the tournament in their debut appearance. Starting in 2008 Ghana have reached the AFCON Semi-finals in six of the last eight tournaments and have been beaten finalists twice in that time losing to Egypt in 2010 and Cote D’Ivoire in 2017.Tunisia have qualified for their 16th successive AFCON tournament a run started in 1994. No team has ever managed 16 successive qualifications.
- Egypt have played more games at the AFCON than any other team (107), they have won more matches than any other team (60), Ghana have played 102 games and won 54. Cote d’ Ivoire and Nigeria will join the centenary club they have current played 99 and 97 games respectively at the finals. Ndaye Mulamba scored 9 goals for DR Congo at the 1974 AFCON no player has managed more in a single tournament.
- Each winner of the last 25 editions of the tournament from 1974 has qualified for the current edition of the finals, the last winner to miss out are the 1972 champions Congo. The AFCON trophy has changed three times in history the first trophy the Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem Trophy the next trophy was the African Unity trophy, a new trophy which was commissioned in 2001 after Cameroon won the previous trophy for a third time in 2000.
- Cote d’ Ivoire are hosting the Africa Cup of Nations for a second time; they hosted the tournament for the first time in 1984. When the Cote d’Ivoire hosted the AFCON in 1984 eight nations participated five of those countries will be joining the hosts again, they are Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana and Nigeria. Missing out are Malawi and Togo. Cote d’Ivoire have appeared in four AFCON Finals in 1992, 2006, 2012 and 2015 and in 480 minutes of play in AFCON finals have failed to produce a single goal they won on penalties after extra time in 1992 and 2015 and lost on penalties after extra time in 2006, 2012 with all four games ending 0-0.
- Senegal won the AFCON 2021 (held in 2022) after beating Egypt on penalties in the final. It was Senegal’s first-ever triumph at the continental showpiece. They are the current holders of the AFCON.The 2023 AFCON will be the 34th edition of the tournament since its founding in 1957. The AFCON has been expanded from a 16 tournament which it has been since 1996 to a 24- team event in 2019. This is the third edition to have 24 teams participating.44 Different African Nations have participated at the AFCON Comoros and Gambia were debutants at the last edition in Cameroon, there are now new comers in the Cote d’ Ivoire.
Côte d’Ivoire 2023
The start date of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Côte d’Ivoire 2023 was January 13, 2024, and ends on February 11, 2024. The best football players in Africa are together for the competition, which is in its 34th year. Twelve former African Champions participates in the 2023 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations. The top 15 ranked African teams have all qualified for the 2023 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations. Five Southern African teams have qualified for the 2023 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the most the COSAFA region has had at a single final. Every finalist from the 1984 edition has reached the 2023 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the last team to reach the final who have not qualified are 1982 runners up Libya.
In an effort to win Africa’s largest football competition, 24 teams from various nations travelled to the Ivory Coast. Senegal was tipped to win the tournament out of all 24 participating countries, but a string of unexpected outcomes has thrown the defending finalists, who were widely predicted to advance all the way, have been eliminated. In all, 24 teams began the tournament and two countries remain. The 2023 African Cup of Nations final will kick off at 20:00 (GMT) on Sunday, February 11, at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan. This is the second time Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire will face in the 2023 CAF Africa Cup of Nations, following the 1-0 victory for the Super Eagles in the group stages. Côte d’Ivoire haven’t beaten them at AFCON since the 2008 group stages, a 1-0 win.
Ivory Coast came from behind to defeat Nigeria 2-1 in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations final. William Troost-Ekong handed Nigeria the lead in the 38th minute before former AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie netted the equalizer in the second half. Eventually, Sebastian Haller’s 82nd-minute strike helped Ivory Coast lift the prestigious trophy.
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