AFCON
The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is the most prestigious football (soccer) competition in Africa. It is contested by national teams and is organised by the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF). The competition’s format has changed over time, with the number of teams increasing from 3 in 1957 to, after several expansions, 24 in 2019. Growing participation also led to the introduction of qualifying rounds in 1968, the same year that CAF decided to hold the tournament biennially.
AFCON was first held in February 1957 in Khartoum, Sudan, where Egypt defeated the host nation in the final to win the Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem Trophy, named after its donor, an Egyptian who was the first CAF president. That trophy was permanently awarded to Ghana in 1978 when it became the first country to win the tournament three times. The next trophy, known as the African Unity Cup, was awarded permanently to Cameroon in 2000 when that team claimed its third championship since 1978. In 2002, a new trophy called the Cup of Nations was introduced.
AFCON stars
The competition has served as a showcase for the talents of African players. In the 1950s and ’60s, the tournament’s attacking, entertaining style of play seized the imagination of African fans and attracted European talent scouts, agents, and journalists. Under the leadership of Ethiopian Ydnekachew Tessema, CAF president from 1972 until he died in 1987, the cup earned greater international prestige. Professionalism was allowed in 1980, and corporate sponsorships were accepted in 1984. Among the Cup’s greatest performers are Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon, who holds the record for most career goals scored in the Cup of Nations (18), and Ivorian striker Laurent Pokou, who tallied five goals in a 6–1 victory over Ethiopia in 1970.
Africa Cup of Nations Winners
- 1957 – Egypt (hosted in Sudan)
- 1959 – Egypt (hosted in Egypt)
- 1962 – Ethiopia (hosted in Ethiopia)
- 1963 – Ghana (hosted in Ghana)
- 1965 – Ghana (hosted in Tunisia)
- 1968 – Congo (Kinshasa, now DR Congo) (hosted in Ethiopia)
- 1970 – Sudan (hosted in Sudan)
- 1972 – Congo (Brazzaville) (hosted in Cameroon)
- 1974 – Zaire (now DR Congo) (hosted in Egypt)
- 1976 – Morocco (hosted in Ethiopia)
- 1978 – Ghana (hosted in Ghana)
- 1980 – Nigeria (hosted in Nigeria)
- 1982 – Ghana (hosted in Libya)
- 1984 – Cameroon (hosted in Ivory Coast)
- 1986 – Egypt (hosted in Egypt)
- 1988 – Cameroon (hosted in Morocco)
- 1990 – Algeria (hosted in Algeria)
- 1992 – Ivory Coast (hosted in Senegal)
- 1994 – Nigeria (hosted in Tunisia)
- 1996 – South Africa (hosted in South Africa)
- 1998 – Egypt (hosted in Burkina Faso)
- 2000 – Cameroon (co-hosted in Ghana and Nigeria)
- 2002 – Cameroon (hosted in Mali)
- 2004 – Tunisia (hosted in Tunisia)
- 2006 – Egypt (hosted in Egypt)
- 2008 – Egypt (hosted in Ghana)
- 2010 – Egypt (hosted in Angola)
- 2012 – Zambia (co-hosted in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon)
- 2013 – Nigeria (hosted in South Africa)
- 2015 – Ivory Coast (hosted in Equatorial Guinea)
- 2017 – Cameroon (hosted in Gabon)
- 2019 – Algeria (hosted in Egypt)
- 2021 – Senegal (hosted in Cameroon)
- 2023 – Ivory Coast (hosted in Ivory Coast)
