Africa Cup of Nations
This article describes the men's Africa Cup in football. For the women's football competition, see Women's Africa Cup. For other sports competitions in Africa, see African Championship.
The Africa Cup (officially Africa Cup of Nations and French Coupe d'Afrique des Nations; FIFA designation German Afrikanischer Nationen-Pokal, in the German-speaking area more rarely also (Fußball-)Afrikameisterschaft) is a football tournament organised by the African football association CAF, in which the African national football associations determine their continental champions.
The Africa Cup of Nations is to be distinguished from the African Nations Championship, a tournament in which only players who play in the national championships of their home countries are eligible to play.
The Africa Cup was launched in 1957. Since 1968, the finals have been held every two years. In 2010, with effect from 2013, CAF decided to hold the Africa Cup in odd-numbered years so that it does not coincide with the World and European Championships.
When it was first held in 1957, there were only three participants: Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia; South Africa wanted to take part but was excluded due to apartheid policies. Since then, the tournament has grown steadily, necessitating a qualifying round. In 2019, 24 teams participated in the Africa Cup for the first time. Since then, the mode has been as follows: teams play a preliminary round in six groups of four teams each. The top two teams in each group and the four best third-placed teams in each group reach the final round, which is played in a knockout system starting with the round of 16.
The most successful nation in previous editions of the Africa Cup has been Egypt, who have won the title a total of seven times, winning three tournaments in a row in 2006, 2008 and 2010. Cameroon with five and Ghana with four titles follow in second and third place respectively.
First-time subscribers
Up to and including the 1974 Africa Cup, there was always at least one national football team that took part in an Africa Cup finals for the first time. Below is a list of the 45 first-time participants, each with the flags and names in force at the time. In addition, four countries are listed in brackets that participated for the first time in an Africa Cup under a new name only. In total, 56 national football associations are represented in the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF).
- Teams in bold were African champions in their first appearance.
- Teams in italics were hosts for their first participation.
- Teams in brackets participated for the first time under a different name.
| Year | First-time participants | |||
| 1957 | Egypt 1952 | Athiopia 1941 | Sudan 1956 | |
| 1959 | (United Arab Republic | |||
| 1962 | Uganda 1914 | Tunisia | ||
| 1963 | Ghana | Nigeria | ||
| 1965 | Congo-Kinshasa 1963 | Ivory Coast Ivory Coast | Senegal | |
| 1968 | Algeria | Congo Republic 1959 | Uganda | |
| 1970 | Guinea-a | Cameroon 1961 | ||
| 1972 | Kenya | Mali | Morocco | Togo |
| (Congo People's Republic of | (Zaire | |||
| 1974 | Mauritius | Zambia 1964 | ||
| 1976 | no first-time entrants | |||
| 1978 | Upper Volta | |||
| 1980 | Tanzania | |||
| 1982 | Political system of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Libya | |||
| 1984 | Malawi 1964 | |||
| 1986 | Mozambique | |||
| 1988–1992 | no first-time entrants | |||
| 1994 | Gabon | Sierra Leone | ||
| 1996 | Angola | (Burkina Faso | Liberia | Sud Africa |
| 1998 | Namibia | |||
| 2000–2002 | no first-time entrants | |||
| 2004 | Benin | Rwanda | Zimbabwe | |
| 2006–2010 | no first-time entrants | |||
| 2012 | Equatorial Guinea | Botswana | Niger | |
| 2013 | Cape Verde | |||
| 2015 | no first-time entrants | |||
| 2017 | Guinea-Bissau | |||
| 2019 | Burundi | Madagascar | Mauritania | |
| 2022 | Gambia | Comoros | ||
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The tournaments at a glance
| Year | Host | Finale | Match for 3rd place | ||||
| Winner | Result | 2nd place | 3rd place | Result | 4th place | ||
| 1957 | Sudan | Egypt 1952 | 4:0 | Athiopia 1941 | Sudan 1956 | (only three participants) | |
| 1959 | VA Republic | United Arab Republic of | (league system) | Sudan 1956 | Athiopia 1941 | (only three participants) | |
| 1962 | Ethiopia | Athiopia 1941 | 4:2 n. V. | United Arab Republic of | Tunisia | 3:0 | Uganda 1914 |
| 1963 | Ghana | Ghana | 3:0 | Sudan 1956 | United Arab Republic of | 3:0 | Athiopia 1941 |
| 1965 | Tunisia | Ghana 1964 | 3:2 n. V. | Tunisia | Ivory Coast Ivory Coast | 1:0 | Senegal |
| 1968 | Ethiopia | Congo Democratic Republic 1966 | 1:0 | Ghana | Ivory Coast Ivory Coast | 1:0 | Athiopia 1941 |
| 1970 | Sudan | Sudan 1956 | 1:0 | Ghana | United Arab Republic of | 3:1 | Ivory Coast Ivory Coast |
| 1972 | Cameroon | Congo People's Republic of | 3:2 | Mali | Cameroon 1961 | 5:2 | Zaire |
| 1974 | Egypt | Zaire | 2:2 | Zambia | Egypt | 4:0 | Congo People's Republic of |
| 1976 | Ethiopia | Morocco | (league system) | Guinea-a | Nigeria | (league system) | Egypt |
| 1978 | Ghana | Ghana | 2:0 | Uganda | Nigeria | 2:0 1 | Tunisia |
| 1980 | Nigeria | Nigeria | 3:0 | Algeria | Morocco | 2:0 | Egypt |
| 1982 | Libya | Ghana | 1:1 n. V. | Political system of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Libya | Zambia | 2:0 | Algeria |
| 1984 | Ivory Coast | Cameroon | 3:1 | Nigeria | Algeria | 3:1 | Egypt |
| 1986 | Egypt | Egypt | 0:0 n. V. | Cameroon | Ivory Coast Ivory Coast | 3:2 | Morocco |
| 1988 | Morocco | Cameroon | 1:0 | Nigeria | Algeria | 1:1 n. V. | Morocco |
| 1990 | Algeria | Algeria | 1:0 | Nigeria | Zambia | 1:0 | Senegal |
| 1992 | Senegal | Ivory Coast Ivory Coast | 0:0 n. V. | Ghana | Nigeria | 2:1 | Cameroon |
| 1994 | Tunisia | Nigeria | 2:1 | Zambia | Ivory Coast Ivory Coast | 3:1 | Mali |
| 1996 | South Africa | Sud Africa | 2:0 | Tunisia | Zambia | 1:0 | Ghana |
| 1998 | Burkina Faso | Egypt | 2:0 | Sud Africa | Congo Democratic Republic 1997 | 4:4 | Burkina Faso |
| 2000 | Ghana and | Cameroon | 2:2 n. V. | Nigeria | Sud Africa | 2:2 | Tunisia |
| 2002 | Mali | Cameroon | 0:0 n. V. | Senegal | Nigeria | 1:0 | Mali |
| 2004 | Tunisia | Tunisia | 2:1 | Morocco | Nigeria | 2:1 | Mali |
| 2006 | Egypt | Egypt | 0:0 n. V. | Ivory Coast Ivory Coast | Nigeria | 1:0 | Senegal |
| 2008 | Ghana | Egypt | 1:0 | Cameroon | Ghana | 4:2 | Ivory Coast Ivory Coast |
| 2010 | Angola | Egypt | 1:0 | Ghana | Nigeria | 1:0 | Algeria |
| 2012 | Gabon and | Zambia | 0:0 n. V. | Ivory Coast Ivory Coast | Mali | 2:0 | Ghana |
| 2013 | South Africa | Nigeria | 1:0 | Burkina Faso | Mali | 3:1 | Ghana |
| 2015 | Equatorial Guinea3 | Ivory Coast Ivory Coast | 0:0 n. V. | Ghana | Congo Democratic Republic | 0:0 | Equatorial Guinea |
| 2017 | Gabon4 | Cameroon | 2:1 | Egypt | Burkina Faso | 1:0 | Ghana |
| 2019 | Egypt | Algeria | 1:0 | Senegal | Nigeria | 1:0 | Tunisia |
| 2022 | Cameroon5 | ||||||
| 2023 | Ivory Coast5 | ||||||
| 2025Details | Guinea5, 6 | ||||||
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1 The Tunisian national team withdrew from the match after 42 minutes (with the score at 1-1) - the match was then scored 2-0 to Nigeria.
2 The 2014 tournament was brought forward to 2013. In future, the Africa Cup will be held in odd-numbered years so as not to coincide with the World Cup.
3 Morocco was suspended as host in November 2014. A new host was announced on 14 November 2014.
4 Libya was originally scheduled to host the tournament, but following its withdrawal due to the effects of civil war, Gabon was appointed as the replacement host.
5 Following Cameroon's withdrawal as 2019 hosts, the country was assured of hosting in 2021. This shifts the hosts from 2021 and 2023 to 2023 and 2025.
6 Before the venues were each moved back two years, Ethiopia, Uganda and Zambia had expressed interest in hosting in 2025.
