African Nations Cup: A Continental Soccer Rivalry Begins with Two Matches
The men’s continental football competition in Africa began in the mid-1950s, first held in Sudan, without qualifiers and with the participation of four countries, the founding members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
This competition is considered the main continental football tournament for men in Africa. The decision to organize it was made during the third FIFA Congress, held in June 1956 in Lisbon, Portugal, where the establishment of the African Football Confederation was proposed.
Immediately after, plans were made to hold a continental championship, and in February 1957, the first African Cup of Nations was held in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. There were no qualifiers for this tournament, as the finals were formed by the four founding countries of the African Football Confederation – Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, and South Africa.
Just Two Matches
In the end, only three countries participated in the tournament after South Africa was disqualified for insisting on selecting only white players for its team due to the apartheid policy in place at the time. As a result, Ethiopia was directly qualified for the final match without playing in the entire tournament, which consisted of only two matches. Egypt emerged as the first champion of Africa, defeating Sudan in the semi-final and Ethiopia in the final match.
Two years later, Egypt hosted the second edition in Cairo with the same three countries participating. It once again claimed the title after defeating Sudan in the final match. The 1962 edition took place in Addis Ababa and marked the first time qualification playoffs were held to determine the four teams participating in the tournament.
The host country, Ethiopia, and the title-holder, Egypt, automatically qualified without participating in the playoffs, joining Nigeria and Tunisia in the finals. The Ethiopian national team won the tournament, first defeating Tunisia and then clinching a victory against Egypt after extra time in the final match.
Increasing the Number of Teams
This system continued until 1968, as the tournament expanded to include 22 teams participating in the qualifying playoffs. The qualified teams were divided into two groups of four to play the first round matches, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semi-finals.
Since 1968, the tournament has been held every two years and has grown significantly, necessitating qualifying playoffs. It was decided that the title-holder and the host country would automatically qualify without participating in the playoffs. The number of teams qualifying for each tournament remained limited to 8 teams until 1998 when it was doubled to 16.
In 2013, the format of the tournament changed, and it began to be held annually to avoid conflicting with the FIFA World Cup. In 2017, the organization of the African Cup of Nations was moved from July to January, and the number of competitors was increased to 24 teams from the previous 16.
Egypt remains the most crowned team in the history of the tournament, having won it 7 times, two of which were when it was known as the United Arab Republic, in 1958 and 1961.
Medals, Trophy, and Prize Money
According to the regulations of the Confederation of African Football, the winning team receives 30 gold medals, the runner-up receives 30 silver medals, and the team finishing third place receives 30 bronze medals.
The original trophy is awarded to the football association of the champion team’s country and is then returned to the Confederation of African Football two months before the start of the next tournament. The team that wins it 3 times retains the trophy permanently.
A total of 3 different trophies have been awarded in the history of the tournament. Ghana and Cameroon each held the first and second trophies after winning the championship 3 times each. The third trophy was permanently awarded to Egypt in 2002 after winning their third consecutive title in 2010.
Ghana’s Shine
In the 1963 edition, Ghana made its first appearance when it hosted the event and clinched the title after defeating Sudan in the final match. The Ghanaians won again two years later in the 1965 edition held in Tunisia, with a team consisting of only players from the 1963 squad. In 1965, the African Football Confederation established a rule limiting the number of foreign players in each team to two, a rule that continued until the 1982 edition.
Starting from the 1968 tournament, the competition was held regularly every two years in even-numbered years, which ended with the 2013 edition, followed by a tournament in 2013, and subsequent editions in odd-numbered years.
Ivory Coast won their second championship in 1992, defeating Ghana in the final match, making it the first time that a country south of the Sahara qualified for the World Cup. Morocco secured its first title in 1976, with a significant incident occurring when a fire broke out on the plane carrying the Moroccan team from Deir Dawa, where the first-round matches were held, to Addis Ababa, where the second round matches were supposed to take place. Ghana emerged as the winner of their third title in 1978, becoming the first team to claim the title 3 times.
Cameroon’s Achievement
Between 1980 and 1990, Cameroon reached the final of the African Cup of Nations three times in a row, winning the tournament twice in 1984 and 1988, and losing in a penalty shoot-out against Egypt in 1986. The other dominating team during this period was Algeria, which also had strong showings in the 1982 and 1986 World Cups. Algeria lost to the host country Nigeria in the 1980 championship, allowing Nigeria to secure its first title.
After the 1980 edition, Algeria reached the semi-final in every edition except for 1986 until it finally won the championship in 1990. Ghana hosted the 12-team tournament in 1992, where the teams were divided into 4 groups of 3, with the top 2 teams from each group advancing to the quarter-finals. Ghana’s midfielder Abedi Pele was named the best player of the tournament after his contributions helped Ghana reach the final.
However, he was suspended for that match, and Ghana lost to Ivory Coast in a penalty shoot-out, which saw 11 penalties for each team, ending up with 2-2 for both. Ivory Coast established a competition record, as they did not concede a goal in the 6 final tournament matches.
The 12-team format was reintroduced two years later in the 1994 edition, witnessing the host nation Tunisia’s elimination in the group stage. Nigeria, which had qualified for the World Cup for the first time in its history, won the final against Zambia, which had suffered a tragedy a year before when most of its national team players were killed in a plane crash while traveling for a World Cup qualifier match in 1994. In this edition, Nigerian forward Rashidi Yekini scored 6 goals, and then 8 goals in the 1970 edition, totalling to 14 goals, a record that stood until 2008.
Multiple Champions
From 1970 to 1980, 6 different countries won the titles – Sudan, Congo, Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo), Morocco, Ghana, and Nigeria. Zaire’s second title came in the 1974 edition (the country won its first title under the name Democratic Republic of Congo) after facing Zambia in the final.
The final match had to be replayed, the only instance in the tournament’s history, as it ended in a 2-2 draw after extra time. The final match was rescheduled two days later, and Zaire won 2-0; striker Mulamba Ndayi scored all four goals for Zaire in these two matches, and he also became the top scorer of the tournament with 9 goals, setting a competition record.
Three months before that, Zaire became the first sub-Saharan African country to qualify for the World Cup, and Morocco won their first title in the 1976 edition, held in Ethiopia, marked by a tragic incident when a fire broke out in the engine of the plane carrying the Moroccan team from the city of Dire Dawa, where the first-round matches took place, to Addis Ababa, where the second-round matches were to be played.
Star-studded Cameroon reached the final of the African Cup of Nations three consecutive times between 1980 and 1990, winning the tournament twice in 1984 and 1988 and losing to Egypt in a penalty shoot-out in 1986.
South Africa hosted the 20th edition in 1996, marking its first appearance after the end of decades-long apartheid, following a failed attempt to qualify in 1994. The number of participants in the finals was increased to 16 teams in this edition, divided into 4 groups of 4 teams for the first round matches.
South Africa clinched its first title in history after a victory over Tunisia in the final. It reached the final again two years later in the 1998 edition hosted in Burkina Faso, where it failed to defend its title, losing against Egypt, which claimed its fourth championship.
Tunisia’s First Title and Egypt’s Treble
Morocco won the first title in its history in 2004, as the tournament was hosted in Tunisia. Libya won the right to host the 2013 tournament, but the war that broke out in Libya in 2011 led the country to relinquish the hosting rights in favor of South Africa for the 2013 edition and Libya eventually hosted the tournament in 2017. Ongoing fighting in Libya ultimately led the Confederation of African Football to move the 2017 tournament to Gabon.
In the 2012 edition, Zambia won the final match after a penalty shootout against Ivory Coast. This attracted increasing media attention, as the match was held in Gabon, just a few hundred meters from the site of the air disaster to the Zambian team in 1993.
Nigeria won the 2013 championship after defeating Burkina Faso in the final match, which made its first appearance in the final, and in 2014, the outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa disrupted the tournament. All football activities in Liberia were suspended, and the Antoinette Tubman Stadium in Monrovia was converted into a treatment center for the outbreak.
The African Cup of Nations 2015 was scheduled to be held in Morocco, but Rabat refused to host the tournament at the specified time due to concerns about the Ebola virus outbreak, leading to the tournament being moved to Equatorial Guinea. In July 2016, the French company TotalEnergies acquired the sponsorship rights for 8 years and backed 10 major competitions of the Confederation of African Football.
It began with the African Cup of Nations 2017 held in Gabon, renamed as the “TotalEnergies African Cup of Nations”. Cameroon won the tournament after reversing their one-goal deficit to beat Egypt 2-1 in the final match. In the 2019 edition, Algeria claimed their second title after defeating Senegal 1-0 in the final match.
The 2021 edition was postponed and held in 2022 due to unreadiness, concluding in Cameroon, with Senegal defeating Egypt after a goalless draw in regular and extra time, extending to a penalty shootout, which Senegal won 4-2 to secure their first championship in the tournament’s history, after losing to Nigeria in the 2002 and 2019 finals.
Winners of the African Cup of Nations Since Its Inception
Below is a list of the winners of the African Cup of Nations football championship since its inception:
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2019: Algeria (held in Egypt)
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2017: Cameroon (held in Gabon)
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2015: Ivory Coast (held in Equatorial Guinea)
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2013: Nigeria (held in South Africa)
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2012: Zambia (held in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea)
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2010: Egypt (held in Angola)
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2008: Egypt (held in Ghana)
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2006: Egypt (held in Egypt)
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2004: Tunisia (held in Tunisia)
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2002: Cameroon (held in Mali)
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2000: Cameroon (held in Ghana and Nigeria)
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1998: Egypt (held in Burkina Faso)
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1996: South Africa (held in South Africa)
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1994: Nigeria (held in Tunisia)
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1992: Ivory Coast (held in Senegal)
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1990: Algeria (held in Algeria)
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1988: Cameroon (held in Morocco)
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1986: Egypt (held in Egypt)
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1984: Cameroon (held in Ivory Coast)
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1982: Ghana (held in Libya)
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1980: Nigeria (held in Nigeria)
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1978: Ghana (held in Ghana)
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1976: Morocco (held in Ethiopia)
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1974: Zaire (held in Egypt)
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1972: Congo Brazzaville (held in Cameroon)
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1970: Sudan (held in Sudan)
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1968: Zaire (held in Ethiopia)
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1965: Ghana (held in Tunisia)
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1963: Ghana (held in Ghana)
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1962: Ethiopia (held in Ethiopia)
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1959: Egypt (held in Egypt as the United Arab Republic)
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1957: Egypt (held in Sudan)
Profiling the Championship Winning Countries
- Egypt: 7 titles
- Cameroon: 5 titles
- Ghana: 4 titles
- Nigeria: 3 titles
- Ivory Coast: 3 titles
- Algeria: 2 titles
- Congo Democratic Republic: 2 titles
- Ethiopia: 1 title
- Sudan: 1 title
- Congo Brazzaville: 1 title
- Morocco: 1 title
- South Africa: 1 title
- Tunisia: 1 title
- Zambia: 1 title
