The curse of Africa is chasing Algeria.. 13 champions were invited from the first round and "Egypt did not qualify"!
The African Nations Football Championship holds an exciting history under the title "Curse of the Champion", with the defending team leaving the competition early, and the scene appears to be present in the current version held in Cameroon, as the Algerian team is strongly threatened to exit the tournament despite being the title holder by being crowned in the last version "Egypt 2019".
The Algerian national team needs to beat Ivory Coast (today Thursday at 20:00 UAE time), to qualify for the second round.
The history of the African Nations testifies that 13 of the 32 championships witnessed the exit of the defending champion from the first round, while the champion failed to reach the finals of the competition twice, the first for Egypt in 2012, and the second for Nigeria in 2015.
The "Sky News Arabia" website reported on the curse of the title holder, in which it stated that the curse began in 1970 in the seventh edition of the tournament and the fourth time held in the group system, with the exit of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the holder of the 1968 competition, and the "curse" followed by the exit of Sudan, the holder of the 1970 championship, From the group stage to the 1972 edition, and again, the Democratic Republic of Congo returned to the 1976 championship from the group stage after winning the 1974 Cup.
After Morocco won the 1976 edition, it left the 1978 championship from the group stage. As for the champion of that edition, Ghana was eliminated from the group stage of the 1980 championship.
It was followed by Nigeria’s exit from the group stage of 1982, after winning the 1980 African Nations Cup, and the curse continued, and the 82nd champion of Ghana was bid farewell to the 1984 championship competitions. 1990 from the group stage.
It should be noted that all the aforementioned editions of the African Nations Cup were held in only two groups, with the leaders and runners-up qualifying for a direct semi-final round.
As for the Algerian team, it won the Nations Cup in 1990, and then was eliminated from the group stage in the 1992 championship, which is the first tournament to be held in a 4-group system, with 3 teams in each, and witnessed the presence of the Côte d’Ivoire team next to the desert warriors in one group.
In the new millennium, Zambia, the 2012 champions, were eliminated from the next edition of 2013 in the group stage, and then Cote d'Ivoire, who won the 2015 championship, was eliminated from the 2017 edition of the same round.
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