The Africa Cup of Nations, also referred to as the African Cup of
Nations or African Nations Cup, is the main international
association football competition 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. The title
holders at the time of a FIFA Confederations Cup qualify for that
competition.
In 1957 there were only three participating nations: Egypt, Sudan
and Ethiopia. South Africa were originally scheduled to compete,
but were disqualified due to the apartheid policies of the
government then in power. Since then, the tournament has grown
greatly, making it necessary to hold a qualifying 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 field to 15), and since then, the format has been unchanged,
with the sixteen teams being drawn into four groups of four teams
each, with the top two teams of each group advancing to a
"knock-out" stage.
Egypt is the most successful nation in the cup´s history, winning
the tournament a record seven times (including when Egypt was known
as the United Arab Republic between 1958 and 1971). Ghana and
Cameroon have won four titles each. Three different 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 first awarded
in 2002 and with Egypt winning it indefinitely after winning their
unprecedented third consecutive title in 2010.
As of 2013, the tournament will switch to being held in
odd-numbered years so that it does not clash with the FIFA World
Cup.
History
1950s-60s: Early growth of the ANC competition
The origins of the African Nations Cup date back to June 1956, when
the creation of the Confederation of African Football was proposed
during the third FIFA congress in Lisbon. There were immediate
plans for a continental nations tournament to be held, and in
February 1957, the first African Cup of Nations took place in
Khartoum, Sudan. There was no qualification for this tournament,
the field being made up of the four founding nations of CAF (Sudan,
Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Africa). South Africa´s insistence on
selecting only caucasian players for their squad due to that
nation´s apartheid policy led to its disqualification, and as a
consequence Ethiopia were handed a bye straight to the final.
Hence, only 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 later, Egypt hosted
the second ANC in Cairo with the participation of these same three
teams. Host and defending champions Egypt repeated as cup winners,
this time downing Sudan.
The field grew to include nine teams for the third ANC in 1962 in
Addis Ababa, and for the first time there was a qualification round
to determine which four teams would play for the title. 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 it was Ethiopia that
emerged as victors, after first beating Tunisia and then downing
Egypt in extra time.
1960s: Ghanaian domination
In 1963, Ghana made its first appearance as it hosted the event,
and won the title after beating Sudan in the final. They repeated
that as they became champions two years later in Tunisia –
equalling Egypt as two-time winners – with a squad that
included only two returning members from the 1963 team.
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
single round-robin tournaments, with the top two teams of each
group advancing to semi-finals, a system that remained in use for
the finals until 1992. The Democratic Republic of Congo won its
first title, beating Ghana in the final. Starting with the 1968
tournament, the competition has been regularly held every two years
in even numbered years. Cote d´Ivoire 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
record until 2008. Play was covered for television for the first
time during the 1970 tournament in Sudan, as the hosts lifted the
trophy after defeating Ghana – who were playing their fourth
consecutive final.
1970s: A decade of champions
Six different nations won titles from 1970 to 1980: Sudan,
Congo-Brazzaville, Zaire, Morocco, Ghana, and Nigeria. Zaire´s
second title in the 1974 edition (they won their first as the
Democratic Republic of Congo) came after facing Zambia in the
final. For the only time to date in the history of the competition,
the match had to be replayed as the first contest between the two
sides ended in a 2-2 draw after extra time. The final was re-staged
two days later with Zaire winning 2-0. Forward Mulamba Ndaye scored
all four of Zaire´s goals in these two matches: he was also the top
scorer of the tournament with nine goals, setting a
single-tournament record that remains unmatched. Three months
earlier, Zaire had become the first black African nation to qualify
to the FIFA World Cup. Morocco won their first title in the 1976
ANC held in Ethiopia and Ghana took its third championship in 1978,
becoming the first nation to win three titles. In 1980, Nigeria
hosted the event and beat Algeria to capture its first honours.
1980s: Cameroonian and Nigerian domination
Ghana´s fourth continental title came in the 1982 cup tournament;
they beat Algeria in the semi-finals in extra time, and faced host
Libya in the final. The match ended in a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes
and Ghana won the penalty shootout to become champions. Cameroon
won their first title two years later by beating Nigeria and in the
1986 cup they faced Egypt – absent from the final since 1962
– with Egypt winning the title on penalty kicks. Cameroon
reached its third consecutive final in the 1988 tournament and won
their second championship by repeating their 1984 victory over
Nigeria. In 1990, Nigeria lost once again as they made their third
final appearance in four tournaments, this time falling to
Algeria.
1990s: The return of South Africa
The 1992 Cup of Nations expanded the number 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 "Pelé" Ayew, who scored
three goals, was named the best player of the tournament after his
contributions helped Ghana reach the final; he was, however,
suspended for that match and Ghana lost to Cote d´Ivoire in a
penalty shootout that saw each side make 11 attempts to determine
the winner. Cote d´Ivoire set a record for the competition 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 later,
where hosts Tunisia were humiliated by their first round
elimination. Nigeria, who had just qualified to the World Cup for
the first time in their history, won the tournament, beating
Zambia, who a year before had been struck by disaster when most of
their national squad died in a plane crash while traveling to play
a 1994 World Cup qualification match. Nigerian forward Rashidi
Yekini, who had led the 1992 tournament with four goals, repeated
as the top scorer with five goals.
South Africa hosted the 20th ACN competition in 1996, marking their
first ever appearance after a decades long ban was lifted with the
end of apartheid in the country and a failed attempt to qualify in
1994. The number of final round participants in 1996 was expanded
to the current 16, split into four groups. However, the actual
number of teams playing in the final was only 15 as Nigeria
withdrew from the tournament at the final moment for political
reasons.Bafana Bafana won their first title on home soil, defeating
Tunisia in the final. BBC Sport (16 January 2004). "African Cup of
Nations: 1980-2002". BBC. Retrieved 11 March 2007.
The South Africans would reach the final again two years later in
Burkina Faso, but were unable to defend their title, losing to
Egypt who claimed their fourth cup.
2000s: Egypt´s unprecedented Treble
The 2000 edition was hosted jointly by Ghana and Nigeria, who
replaced the originally designated host Zimbabwe. Following a 2-2
draw after extra time 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 also
debuted in the World Cup later that year. Both finalists were
eliminated in quarter finals two years later in Tunisia, where the
hosts won their first title, beating Morocco 2-1 in the final. The
2006 tournament was also won by the hosts, Egypt, who reached a
continental-record fifth title. The 2008 tournament was hosted by
Ghana, and saw Egypt retain the trophy, winning their
record-extending sixth tournament by defeating Cameroon 1-0 in the
final. Egypt set a new record in the 2010 tournament that was
hosted by Angola by winning their third consecutive title in an
unprecedented achievement on the African level after defeating
Ghana 1-0 in the final, retaining the gold-plated cup indefinitely
and extending their record to 7 continental titles (including when
Egypt was known as the United Arab Republic between 1958 and
1971).
Egyptian records set in 2010
On 31 January 2010, Egypt set a new African record, not being
defeated for 19 consecutive Cup of Nations matches, since a 2-1
loss against Algeria in Tunisia in 2004, and a record 9 consecutive
win streak. Egypt also set another record on that day, where it
became the first African nation to win three consecutive cups
joining Mexico, Argentina, and Iran who won
Future
Ahead of the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations several European clubs
called for a rethink of the tournament´s schedule. As it takes
place during the European season, players who are involved miss
several matches for their clubs.
In January 2008, FIFA president 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 central and west Africa from hosting the
competition (as these months occur during their wet season).
In May 2010, it was announced that the tournament would be moved to
odd-numbered years from 2013. This will mean the tournament will
not take place in the same year as the World Cup. It also means
there will be two tournaments within twelve months in January 2012
(co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea) and January 2013 (hosted
by Libya).
On the 29th January 2011 Morocco won the bid to host the 2015
edition and South Africa won the right to host the 2017 tournament.
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