The African Cup of Nations...a continental football competition that began with only two matches

Highlights: The first African Cup of Nations was held in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, in 1957. There were no qualifiers for this tournament, as the finals were made up of the four founding countries of the Confederation of African Football, namely Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and South Africa. In the 1962 edition, qualifying rounds were held to determine the four teams participating in the tournament. Since 1968, the tournament has been held every two years. Egypt remains the country that has won the most cups in the history of the tournament, having won it 7 times.

An African continental men's football competition, which began in the mid-1950s and was held for the first time in Sudan. It began without qualifiers and four countries, the founding countries of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), participated in it.

(Al Jazeera)

This competition is the main continental competition for men's football in Africa. The decision to organize it was taken during the third conference of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), which was held in June 1956 in Lisbon, Portugal, and it was proposed to establish the Confederation of African Football.

There were immediate plans 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 made up of the four founding countries of the Confederation of African Football, namely Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and South Africa.

Only two matches

In the end, only three countries participated in the tournament after South Africa was excluded because it insisted on selecting only white players in its team due to the apartheid policy that was applied in the country at the time.

As a result, Ethiopia was qualified directly to the final match, and only two matches were played in the entire tournament, and Egypt was crowned as the first African champion after defeating Sudan in the semi-finals and Ethiopia in the final match.

Two years later, Egypt hosted the second tournament in Cairo with the participation of the same three countries, and won it again after defeating Sudan in the final match. In the 1962 edition, the tournament was held in Addis Ababa, and for the first time, qualifying rounds were held to determine the four teams participating in the tournament.

The host country, Ethiopia, and the defending champion, Egypt, obtained two places automatically without participating in the qualifiers, and Nigeria and Tunisia joined the finals. The Ethiopian team won this tournament, first defeating Tunisia, then defeating Egypt after extra time in the final match.

Increase the difference

This system continued until 1968, to include 8 of the 22 teams participating in the qualifying rounds. The qualified teams were distributed into two groups of 4 teams to play the first round matches, and the first two teams from each group qualified for the semi-finals.

Since 1968, the tournament has been held every two years. It grew significantly, which necessitated holding qualifying qualifiers, and it was decided that the defending champion and the organizing country would qualify directly without participating in the qualifiers, and the number of qualifiers in each round to the final rounds remained limited to 8 teams until 1998, when it was decided to double the number to 16.

In 2013, the format of the tournament changed, and it was held in odd years so as not to coincide 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 increased to 24 teams instead of 16.

Egypt remains the country that has won the most cups in the history of the tournament, having won it 7 times, two of them when it was known as the United Arab Republic, in 1958 and 1961.

Medals and cup

According to Confederation of African Football regulations, the winning team is awarded 30 gold medals, the runner-up team is awarded 30 silver medals, and the third-placed team is awarded 30 bronze medals.

The original cup is also presented to the Football Association in the country of the champion team, then returned to the Confederation of African Football two months before the start of the next tournament, and the team that wins it 3 times keeps it forever.

Three different cups were awarded permanently in the history of the tournament, with Ghana and Cameroon retaining the first and second cups after each of them won the tournament 3 times, and in 2002 the third cup was awarded permanently to Egypt after it won its third title in a row in 2010.

Ghanaian brilliance

In the 1963 edition, Ghana made its first appearance when it hosted the event, winning the title after defeating Sudan in the final match. Then, two years later, the Ghanaians won the 1965 edition held in Tunisia with a squad that included only two players from the 1963 team. In 1965, the Confederation of African Football enacted a rule limiting the number of foreign players in each team to only two, a rule that continued until the 1982 edition.

Starting with the 1968 tournament, the competition was held regularly every two years in even years, and this ended with the 2012 edition, which was followed by a tournament in 2013, and subsequent editions in every odd year.

Ivory Coast striker Laurent Bocot achieved the top scorer title for two consecutive editions, scoring 6 goals in the 1968 edition and eight goals in the 1970 edition, and his total of 14 goals remained the all-time record until 2008.

Multiple heroes

6 different countries won the titles from 1970 to 1980: Sudan, Congo, Zaire (DR Congo), Morocco, Ghana and Nigeria. Zaire's second title came in the 1974 edition (it won its first title as the Democratic Republic of the Congo) after facing Zambia in the final.

For the only time so far in the history of the competition, the match had to be replayed, as it ended in a 2-2 draw between the two teams after extra time. The final match was reorganized two days later, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo won 2-0. Striker Mulamba Ndiaye scored all four of Congo's goals in these two matches, and was also the tournament's top scorer with 9 goals, setting a tournament record.

Three months before that, the Democratic Republic of the Congo became the first sub-Saharan African country to qualify for the World Cup, and Morocco won its first title in the 1976 edition, which was held in Ethiopia. With an accident recorded that almost led to a disaster, when a fire broke out in the engine of the plane that was transporting the Moroccan team from the city of Dirdawa, where the first round matches were held, to Addis Ababa, where the second round matches were to be held. Ghana won its third championship in 1978, becoming the first country to win the title 3 times.

Cameroonian achievement

Between 1980 and 1990, Cameroon managed to reach the final of the African Cup of Nations three times in a row, winning the competition twice in 1984 and 1988, and losing once on penalties to Egypt in the 1986 edition.

The other dominant team during this period was Algeria, along with strong appearances in the 1982 and 1986 World Cups. Algeria lost in the final against host country Nigeria in the 1980 tournament, allowing Nigeria to capture its first championship.

After the 1980 edition, Algeria reached the semi-finals of every edition except 1986, until it eventually won the tournament in 1990. Ghana's fourth title came in the 1982 edition, as it defeated the host country Libya in the final match, and the match ended in a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes. Minute and Ghana won on penalties.

In 1990, Algeria hosted the 17th edition; The eight teams were divided into two groups of 4 teams. Algeria won its first championship after defeating Nigeria in the final 1-0. Nigeria lost again as it made its third final appearance in 4 tournaments.

The 1992 Africa Cup of Nations increased the number of participants in the tournament to 12, and teams were divided into 4 groups of 3, with the top 2 teams from each group qualifying to the quarter-finals. Ghanaian midfielder Abedi Pele, who scored three goals, 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 on penalties that saw 11 shots for each team, and Ivory Coast set a competition record of not scoring a single goal in the six matches of the final tournament.

The 12-team group format was adopted again two years later in the 1994 edition, and host country Tunisia was eliminated in the first round. Nigeria - which had just qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in its history - beat Zambia in the final, which suffered a disaster a year ago when most of its national team died in a plane crash while traveling to play a match in the 1994 World Cup qualifiers. In this tournament, the Nigerian striker led Rashidi Yaqini won the tournament, and he also led it in the 1992 tournament with four goals, where he repeated the title of top scorer with 5 goals.

Back to South Africa

South Africa hosted the 20th edition of the competition in 1996, marking its first ever appearance after a decades-long ban was lifted with the end of apartheid in the country, which was followed by a failed attempt to qualify in 1994. The number of participants in the finals in this edition was increased to 16 teams, Divided into 4 groups.

However, the actual number of teams that participated in the final was only 15, as Nigeria withdrew from the tournament at the last minute for political reasons, and South Africa won its first title on home soil after defeating Tunisia in the final match. South Africa reached the final again two years later in the 1998 edition in Burkina Faso, but were unable to defend their title, losing to Egypt, who won the fourth cup.

The first Tunisian title and the Egyptian treble

The 2000 edition was co-hosted in Ghana and Nigeria, who replaced original host Zimbabwe. After a 2-2 draw after extra time in the final, Cameroon beat Nigeria on penalties. In the 2002 edition, the Cameroonian Lions won the second title in a row for the first time in the tournament since Ghana achieved it in the 1960s, and after Egypt had done so before in 1957 and 1959.

Two years later, in 2004, Tunisia won the first title in its history, as it hosted the tournament and advanced undefeated from the group stage, defeating Rwanda 2-1 in the opening match of the tournament before winning the second match against the Democratic Republic of the Congo 3-0.

It tied with Guinea 1-1, then beat Senegal 1-0 in the quarter-finals thanks to Johar El Manari’s goal. It beat Nigeria on penalty kicks 5-3 in the semi-finals after a 1-1 draw, and beat Morocco in the final by two goals to one from Feud. Francisco de Santos and Ziad Al-Jaziri.

Host Egypt also won the 2006 championship, and achieved a record by winning the title 5 times. Before the 2008 African Cup of Nations finals, several European clubs called for a rethink of the tournament schedule, because it takes place during the European season, and thus the participating players miss many matches with their clubs.

In January 2008, Swiss FIFA President Joseph Blatter announced that he wanted the tournament to be held in either June or July by 2016 to fit the international calendar, although this may prevent many countries in the central and western regions. Africa is unable to host the competition, because this period is characterized in these countries by the rainy season.

Ghana hosted the 2008 edition, which witnessed Egypt retain the title, and won the sixth tournament, achieving a record. It also set a new record in the 2010 edition (which Angola hosted) by winning its third consecutive title in an unprecedented achievement at the African level after defeating Ghana 1-0 in Final, kept the cup forever, and extended its record to 7 continental titles.

Egypt became the first African country to win three consecutive cups, joining Mexico, Argentina and Iran, which also won the Continent Cup 3 times in a row. On January 31, 2010, Egypt set a new record in Africa, going undefeated in 19 consecutive elimination matches, since a 2-1 loss to Algeria in Tunisia in the 2004 edition.

Switch to odd years

In May 2010, CAF announced that the tournament would be moved to odd-numbered years starting in 2013 in order to prevent it from coinciding with the World Cup, resulting in two tournaments being organized within 12 months in January 2012 (hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea) and January 2010. II 2013 (hosted by South Africa).

Changing the Confederations Cup from a tournament every two years to a tournament every four years, and shifting the Africa Cup of Nations from even years to odd years, meant that some former African Cup of Nations champions such as Egypt, Zambia and Ivory Coast (winners of the 2010, 2012 and 2015 tournaments respectively) would be deprived of Participation in the Confederations Cup.

In 2011, Morocco won the hosting of the 2015 edition, and Libya won the right to host the 2013 tournament, but the war that broke out in Libya in 2011 forced it to concede in order to host South Africa in the 2013 edition. Libya then hosted the tournament in 2017, and the ongoing fighting in Libya eventually prompted the African Union. Football to move the 2017 championship to Gabon.

In the 2012 edition, Zambia won the final after a penalty shootout against Ivory Coast. This has attracted increasing media attention since the match was played in Gabon, just a few hundred meters from the site of the 1993 Zambia national team air disaster.

Nigeria won the 2013 tournament after defeating Burkina Faso, which reached the final for the first time, and in 2014, the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa disrupted the tournament. All football activities in Liberia were suspended, and Antoinette Tubman Stadium in Monrovia was converted into an epidemic treatment unit.

The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations was scheduled to be held in Morocco, but Rabat refused to hold the tournament on its scheduled dates due to fears of an Ebola outbreak, so it was moved to Equatorial Guinea. In July 2016, the French company Total Energies obtained 8-year sponsorship rights and support for 10 of the main Confederation of African Football (CAF) competitions.

This began with the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon, which was renamed the “Total Africa Cup of Nations,” and Cameroon won it after coming from a 1-0 deficit to win 2-1 at the expense of Egypt. In the 2019 edition, Algeria won its second title, achieving a 1-0 victory over Senegal in the final.

As for the 2021 edition, it was postponed to 2022 due to lack of readiness. It was held in Cameroon and Senegal won it at the expense of Egypt after the original and extra time ended with a score of 0-0 and extended to penalty kicks, which Senegal won 4-2 to achieve its first title in the history of the tournament after I lost the 2002 and 2019 finals.

Cameroon national team wins the African Cup of Nations for the fifth time (Al Jazeera)

Cup, medals and financial prizes

the cup

The original cup was made of silver, and Abdulaziz Abdullah Salem was the one who designed it, and it was named after the first president of the Confederation of African Football, Abdulaziz Abdullah Salem Al-Masry. Salem was in charge of the Confederation of African Football for only one year (1957-1958), but he was an important figure in the history of African football.

The second cup (1980-2000) was called the “African Unity Cup”, and this name was given to it by the Supreme Council for Sports of the Confederation of African Football before the tournament in 1980. It was a cylindrical piece on which the Olympic rings were engraved on a map of the continent.

At the African Cup of Nations in 2001, the third trophy was unveiled, gold-plated, and designed and manufactured in Italy.

Medals

Financial prizes

On January 4, 2024, CAF revealed the financial prizes for the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations competition, which took place in Ivory Coast from January 13 to February 11, 2024. The champion gets a financial prize of $7 million, and the runner-up gets $4 million. The two losing teams in the semi-finals get $2.5 million each, and the quarter-final teams get $1.3 million each.

Winners of the African Cup of Nations since its founding

Below is the record of winners of the African Cup of Nations since its launch:

2019 Algeria (in Egypt).
2017 Cameroon (in Gabon).
2015 Ivory Coast (in Equatorial Guinea).
2013 Nigeria (in South Africa).
2012 Zambia (in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea).
2010 Egypt (in Angola).
2008 Egypt (in Ghana).
2006 Egypt (in Egypt).
2004 Tunisia (in Tunisia).
2002 Cameroon (in Mali).
2000 Cameroon (in Ghana and Nigeria).
1998 Egypt (in Burkina Faso).
1996 South Africa (in South Africa).
1994 Nigeria (in Tunisia).
1992 Ivory Coast (in Senegal).

1990 Algeria (in Algeria).
1988 Cameroon (in Morocco).
1986 Egypt (in Egypt).
1984 Cameroon (in Ivory Coast).
1982 Ghana (in Libya).
1980 Nigeria (in Nigeria).
1978 Ghana (in Ghana).
1976 Morocco (in Ethiopia).
1974 Democratic Republic of the Congo (in Egypt).
1972 Congo Brazzaville (in Cameroon).
1970 Sudan (in Sudan).
1968 Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (in Ethiopia).
1965 Ghana (in Tunisia).
1963 Ghana (in Ghana).
1962 Ethiopia (in Ethiopia).
1959 Egypt (in Egypt under the name of the United Arab Republic).
1957 Egypt (in Sudan).

Ranking of countries crowned with the title

Egypt – 7 times.
Cameroon – 5 times.
Ghana – 4 times.
Nigeria – 3 times.
Ivory Coast – 3 times.
Algeria - twice.
Democratic Republic of the Congo – twice.
Ethiopia – once.
Sudan - once.
Congo Brazzaville – once.
Morocco – once.
South Africa - once.
Tunisia - once.
Zambia – once.

Source: websites