Africa Cup of Nations

african association football tournament for men ‘s national teams

Football tournament
The CAF Africa Cup of Nations, officially CAN ( french : Coupe d’Afrique des Nations ), besides referred to as AFCON, or Total Africa Cup of Nations after its headline patronize, is the independent international men ‘s affiliation football rival in Africa. It is sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football ( CAF ), and was first held in 1957. Since 1968, it has been held every two years, switching to odd-numbered years in 2013.

Reading: Africa Cup of Nations

In the first tournament in 1957, there were only three participating nations : Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia. South Africa was originally scheduled to compete, but was disqualified due to the apartheid policies of the politics then in power. [ 1 ] Since then, the tournament has expanded greatly, making it necessary to hold a modification tournament. The number of participants in the final tournament reached 16 in 1998 ( 16 teams were to compete in 1996, but Nigeria withdrew, reducing the playing field to 15, and the like happened with Togo ‘s withdrawal in 2010 ), and until 2017, the format had been unaltered, with the 16 teams being drawn into four groups of four teams each, with the top two teams of each group advancing to a “ knock-out ” stage. On 20 July 2017, the Africa Cup of Nations was moved from January to June and expanded from 16 to 24 teams. [ 2 ] Egypt is the most successful state in the cup ‘s history, winning the tournament seven times ( including in 1959, when Egypt was united with Syria as the United Arab Republic ). Three trophies have been awarded during the tournament ‘s history, with Ghana, and Cameroon winning the first two versions to keep after each of them won a tournament three times. The current trophy was beginning awarded in 2002. Egypt won an unprecedented three straight titles in 2006, 2008, and 2010. In 2013, the tournament format was switched to being held in odd-numbered years then as not to clash with the FIFA World Cup. [ 3 ]

history [edit ]

1950s–60s : origin and early years [edit ]

The origin of the African Nations Cup dates from June 1956, when the creation of the Confederation of African Football was proposed during the third FIFA sexual intercourse in Lisbon. There were immediate plans for a continental tournament to be held and, in February 1957, the first Africa Cup of Nations was held in Khartoum, Sudan. There was no reservation for this tournament, the field being made up of the four founding nations of CAF ( Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, and South Africa ). South Africa ‘s insistence on selecting only flannel players for its team due to its apartheid policy led to its disqualification, and as a consequence Ethiopia were handed a bye square to the final. [ 4 ] Hence lone two matches were played, with Egypt being crowned as the first continental champion after defeating hosts Sudan in the semi-final and Ethiopia in the final. Two years by and by Egypt hosted the second ANC in Cairo with the engagement of the lapp three teams. Host and defending champions Egypt again won, after defeating Sudan. The plain grew to include nine teams for the third ANC in 1961 in Addis Ababa, and for the first time there was a qualification cycle to determine which four teams would play for the entitle. Host Ethiopia and reigning champion Egypt received automatic berths, and were joined in the final four by Nigeria and Tunisia. Egypt made its third consecutive final appearance, but the Ethiopia team emerged as victors, beginning beating Tunisia and then downing Egypt in extra time .

1960s : ghanaian domination [edit ]

In 1963, Ghana made its first appearance as it hosted the event, and won the deed after beating Sudan in the concluding. They repeated that as they became champions two years later in Tunisia —equalling Egypt as two-time winners—with a team that included alone two returning members from the 1963 team. [ 5 ] In 1965, the CAF introduced a rule that limited the number of oversea players in each team to two. The rule persisted until 1982. [ 6 ] The 1968 competition ‘s final tournament format expanded to include eight of the 22 teams entered in the preliminary rounds. The qualifying teams were distributed in two groups of four to play individual round-robin tournaments, with the clear two teams of each group advancing to semi-finals, a organization that remained in use for the finals until 1992. The democratic Republic of Congo won its first title, beating Ghana in the concluding. Starting with the 1968 tournament, the competition was regularly held every two years in even-numbered years ; this ended with the 2012 tournament, which was followed by a tournament in 2013, and successor editions in each odd-numbered class. Ivory Coast forward Laurent Pokou led the 1968 and 1970 tournaments in scoring, with six and eight goals respectively, and his total of 14 goals remained the all-time phonograph record until 2008. Play was covered for television for the first fourth dimension during the 1970 tournament in Sudan, [ 5 ] as the hosts lifted the trophy after defeating Ghana—who were playing their fourthly consecutive concluding .

1970s : A ten of champions [edit ]

Six nations won titles from 1970 to 1980 : Sudan, Congo-Brazzaville, Zaire, Morocco, Ghana, and Nigeria. Zaire ‘s moment entitle in the 1974 version ( it won its beginning as the democratic Republic of Congo ) came after facing Zambia in the final. For the merely time to date in the history of the competition, the catch had to be replayed as the foremost contest between the two sides ended in a 2–2 draw after excess time. The final was re-staged two days late with Zaire winning 2–0. Forward Mulamba Ndaye scored all four of Zaire ‘s goals in these two matches : he was besides the top scorer of the tournament with nine goals, setting a single-tournament phonograph record that remains matchless. Three months earlier, Zaire had become the first sub-saharan african state to qualify to the FIFA World Cup. Morocco won their first championship in the 1976 ANC held in Ethiopia and Ghana took its third backing in 1978, becoming the first nation to win three titles .

1980s : cameroonian domination [edit ]

between 1980 and 1990, Cameroon managed to reach the final of the Africa Cup three times in a course, winning the rival twice in 1984 and 1988 and losing once on penalties against Egypt in the 1986 edition, the other dominant team during this time period was Algeria, along with their solid 1982 and decent 1986 World Cup appearances, the north african nation lost in the concluding against hosts Nigeria in the 1980 tournament allowing the extremely eagles to capture their first championship. After the 1980 edition, Algeria reached the semifinal finals of every edition except the 1986 cup until they finally won the contest in 1990. Ghana ‘s fourth continental entitle came in the 1982 cup tournament where they beat host Libya in the concluding. The equal ended in a 1–1 draw after 120 minutes and Ghana won the penalty gunfight to become champions .

1990s : The restitution of South Africa [edit ]

In 1990, the 1990 African Cup of Nations was the seventeenth version of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF ). It was hosted by Algeria. Just like in 1988, the field of eight teams was split into two groups of four. Algeria won its first championship, beating Nigeria in the final 1–0., Nigeria lost once again as they made their third final appearance in four tournaments, this meter falling to host Algeria. The 1992 Cup of Nations expanded the numeral of final tournament participants to 12 ; the teams were divided into four groups of three, with the top two teams of each group advancing to quarter-finals. ghanaian midfielder Abedi “ Pele ” Ayew, who scored three goals, was named the best player of the tournament after his contributions helped Ghana reach the final examination ; he was, however, suspended for that match and Ghana lost to Ivory Coast in a punishment gunfight that saw each side make 11 attempts to determine the winner. Ivory Coast set a record for the rival by holding each of their opponents scoreless in the six matches of the final tournament. The 12-team, three-group format was used again two years late, where hosts Tunisia were humiliated by their first-round elimination. Nigeria, who had just qualified to the World Cup for the foremost time in their history, won the tournament, beating Zambia, who a class before had been struck by disaster when most of their home team died in a plane crash while traveling to play a 1994 World Cup reservation match. nigerian forth Rashidi Yekini, who had led the 1992 tournament with four goals, repeated as the top scorer with five goals. South Africa hosted the twentieth ACN competition in 1996, marking its first always appearance after a decades-long prohibition was lifted with the end of apartheid in the nation, which had been followed by a fail try to qualify in 1994. The number of final-round participants in 1996 was expanded to 16, split into four groups. however, the actual count of teams playing in the final was only 15, for Nigeria withdrew from the tournament at the final moment for political reasons. [ 7 ] Bafana Bafana won their foremost style on home soil, defeating Tunisia in the final. [ 8 ] The South Africans would reach the final again two years subsequently in Burkina Faso, but were unable to defend their entitle, losing to Egypt who claimed their fourthly cup .

2000s : egypt ‘s unprecedented double [edit ]

The 2000 edition was hosted jointly by Ghana and Nigeria, who replaced the primitively designated host Zimbabwe. Following a 2–2 draw after extra meter in the final, Cameroon defeated Nigeria on penalty kicks. In 2002, Cameroon ‘s Indomitable Lions made the second consecutive titles since Ghana had done it in the 1960s and after Egypt had done it before in 1957 and 1959. Again via penalty kicks, the Cameroonians beat first-time finalists Senegal, who besides debuted in the World Cup former that class. Both finalists were eliminated in the quarter finals two years later in Tunisia, where the hosts won their first gear title, beating Morocco 2–1 in the final examination. The 2006 tournament was besides won by the hosts, Egypt, who reached a continental-record one-fifth style. Ahead of the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations several european clubs called for a rethink of the tournament ‘s schedule. Given that it takes invest during the European season, players who are involved miss respective matches for their clubs. [ 9 ] In January 2008, FIFA president of the united states Sepp Blatter announced that he wanted the tournament to be held in either June or July by 2016, to fit in the international calendar, although this would preclude many countries in cardinal and west Africa from hosting the competition ( for these months occur during their wet season ). [ 10 ] The 2008 tournament was hosted by Ghana, and saw Egypt retain the trophy, winning its record-extending sixth tournament by defeating Cameroon 1–0 in the final. [ 11 ]

2010s : switch to odd years [edit ]

Egypt set a new read in the 2010 tournament ( hosted by Angola ) by winning its third back-to-back championship in an unprecedented accomplishment on the African level after defeating Ghana 1–0 in the final examination, retaining the goldplate cup indefinitely and extending its commemorate to seven continental titles ( including when Egypt was known as UAR between 1958 and 1961 ). [ 12 ] Egypt became the first african state to win three consecutive cups and joined Mexico, Argentina, and Iran who besides won their continent cup three times in a row. On 31 January 2010, Egypt set a newly african record, not being defeated for 19 back-to-back Cup of Nations matches, since a 2–1 personnel casualty against Algeria in Tunisia in 2004, [ citation needed ] and a record 9 straight win mottle. [ citation needed ] In May 2010, it was announced that the tournament would be moved to odd-numbered years from 2013 in order to prevent the tournament from taking position in the same year as the World Cup. It besides meant there were two tournaments within twelve months in January 2012 [ 13 ] ( co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea ) and January 2013 ( hosted by South Africa ). [ 3 ] The change of FIFA Confederations Cup from a biennial to a quadrennial tournament, and the switch of the Africa Cup of Nations from even to odd-number years, meant that some previous Africa Cup of Nations champions such as Egypt, Zambia, and Ivory Coast ( winners of the 2010, 2012, and 2015 tournaments respectively ) were deprived from participating in the Confederations Cup tournament .
In 2011, Morocco won the invite to host the 2015 edition, and Libya won the right to host the 2013 tournament, but the 2011 Libyan civil war prompted Libya and South Africa to trade years, with South Africa hosting in 2013 and Libya host in 2017. [ 14 ] Ongoing fight in Libya ultimately prompted CAF to move the 2017 tournament to Gabon. [ 15 ] ) In 2012, Zambia won the final after a penalty gunfight against Ivory Coast. This draw increased media attention since the match took set in Gabon, lone a few hundred meters from the crash web site of the 1993 air calamity of their national team. The 2013 tournament was won by Nigeria, beating first fourth dimension finalists Burkina Faso. In 2014–15, the west african Ebola virus epidemic disrupted the tournament. [ 16 ] All football activities in Liberia were suspended, [ 17 ] and the Antoinette Tubman Stadium in Monrovia was converted into an Ebola treatment unit. [ 18 ] The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations was scheduled to be held in Morocco, but they refused to hold the tournament on the distribute dates due to concerns of the Ebola outbreak, so it was moved to Equatorial Guinea. [ 19 ] In July 2016, Total secured the rights to an eight-year sponsorship software to support 10 of CAF ‘s chief competitions. This began with the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon which was renamed the “ total Africa Cup of Nations ”. [ 20 ]

2020s : A bigger AFCON [edit ]

Algeria won the african Cup of Nations 2019, achieving a 1–0 victory against Senegal in the final. The title was Algeria ‘s second always and first since 1990. Nigeria came third base after beating Tunisia 1–0 in their third-place decider catch. [ 21 ]

2019: Expansion to 24 teams

Under Ahmad Ahmad ‘s presidency, there were discussions regarding further changes to the Africa Cup of Nations. In July 2017, two changes were proposed : [ 22 ] [ 23 ]

Switch the competition from January to the Northern Hemisphere summer
expansion from 16 to 24 teams (effective from the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations)

On 20 July 2017, the CAF Executive Commission approved the propositions at a meet in Rabat, Morocco. [ 2 ] The respect money awarded to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations winner amounted to $ 4.5 million. [ 24 ] Match days 3 and 4 of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, which was slated from 25 to 30 March 2020, were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [ 25 ]

trophy and medals [edit ]

trophy [edit ]

The current trophy Throughout the history of the Africa Cup of Nations, three trophies have been awarded to the winners of the contest. The original trophy, made of silver, was the Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem Trophy, named after the first CAF president of the united states, egyptian Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem. As the first winner of three Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, Ghana obtained the mighty to permanently hold the trophy in 1978. [ 26 ] The second trophy was awarded from 1980 to 2000, and was named “ Trophy of African Unity ” [ 27 ] or “ african Unity Cup ”. [ 26 ] It was given to CAF by the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa anterior to the 1980 tournament and it was a cylindrical slice with the Olympic rings over a map of the continent engraved on it. It sat on a squared base and had stylized trilateral handles. Cameroon won the Unity Cup indefinitely after they became three-time champions in 2000. In 2001, the third base trophy was revealed, a goldplate cup designed and made in Italy. [ 26 ] Cameroon, permanent holders of the previous trophy, were the inaugural nation to be awarded the new trophy after they won the 2002 version. Egypt won the goldplate cup indefinitely after they became three-time champions in 2010. Unlike previous winners who would have then taken the trophy home, Egypt were presented with a special full size replica that they were allowed to keep. The winner of each edition receives a replica whose dimensions are equal to that of the original trophy .

Medals [edit ]

CAF give 30 amber medals to the winner, 30 ash grey medals to the finalist, 30 bronze medals to the team ranked third base and 30 diploma to the team ranked one-fourth in the concluding tournament .

Results [edit ]

a.e.t.: after extra time
p: after penalty shoot-out
TBD: to be determined

Notes

summary [edit ]

Countries coloured according to their highest ever accomplishment at the Africa Cup of Nations. * hosts
1 as United Arab Republic
2 as Congo-Kinshasa
3 as congo

all-time record [edit ]

Tournaments

Matches

Goals Scored

Goals per match

1957

3.50

1959

2.67

1962

4.50

1963

4.13

1965

3.88

1968

3.25

1970

3.19

1972

3.31

1974

3.18

1976

3.00

1978

2.38

1980

2.06

1982

2.00

1984

2.44

1986

1.94

1988

1.44

1990

1.88

1992

1.70

1994

2.20

1996

2.69

1998

2.91

2000

2.28

2002

1.50

2004

2.75

2006

2.28

2008

3.09

2010

2.45

2012

2.38

2013

2.16

2015

2.13

2017