10 interesting AFCON facts you may not know

The Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, is in its 67th year and 34th edition. Since the ball was kicked at the first AFCON also known as CAN, the competition has evolved in numbers, format, prizes and many more. Today’s article chronicles 10 of the most interesting and important facts you need to know.

1. First AFCON

The first Africa Cup of Nations was held in 1957 in Sudan. Four teams were expected to take part in the maiden edition. These four teams comprised the founding members of CAF; Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan and South Africa. However, South Africa was disqualified from taking part in the tournament after it decided that only white players would be selected due to its apartheid regime. As a result, only two matches were played at the maiden tournament. Ethiopia got a bye to the finals and faced Egypt which defeated Sudan in the other semi-final match. Egypt eventually emerged as the winner after defeating Ethiopia in the final.

2. Egyptian dominance

You might have noticed that Egypt has the highest number of AFCOn titles, two more than the next most successful side, Cameroon. But did you also know that Egypt won the first two editions of the competition? After winning the first edition in Sudan in 1957, Egypt then known as the United Arab Republic won the second edition which it hosted. Only the founding members of CAF excluding South Africa participated and all the matches were played in Cairo. The format of the tournament was changed to a round-robin because there were only three teams. Egypt beat Ethiopia 4-0 and Sudan 2-1 to place first while Sudan placed second after beating Ethiopia 1-0. Mahmoud El-Gohary of Egypt was the top scorer with three goals.

3. Qualification was introduced for AFCON 1962

Due to the very limited number of teams participating, there was no need for qualification rounds. However, the 1962 edition saw the introduction of qualification rounds with 9 teams. Ethiopia and Egypt qualified automatically as hosts and holders respectively. The remaining seven teams included Morocco, Sudan, Uganda, Tunisia, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana. However, Sudan withdrew before the draw while Morocco which was paired against Tunisia withdrew before the play could begin. Tunisia got a bye to the second round of qualification where it met Nigeria. Nigeria on the other hand beat Ghana via lots after the two-legged encounter ended in a 2-2 tie.

Tunisia advanced to the finals via a 2-3 aggregate win over Nigeria. After the first round ended 2-1 for Nigeria, the second leg was called off in the 65th minute after Nigeria walked off to protest bad officiating following Tunisia’s equalizer. The match was tied 2-2 and 4-3 on aggregate by then. Tunisia was awarded a 2-0 victory. Kenya and Sudan played out a 1-1 tie in the first round. Though the rules stipulated that the tie be decided by lots, the two nations wanted the tie to be decided on the pitch. CAF agreed to their demand and organized a play-off. Uganda won 1-0.

4. Ghana won the first trophies to keep

Despite Ghana not making an appearance until the 4th edition in 1963, Ghana emerged as a force, hosting and winning the 1993 edition by beating Sudan in the finals. It followed that up two years later by beating Tunisia in the finals. The Ghana squad had only two members from the previous team. Ghana won its third title, earning the right to keep the trophy after beating Uganda in the 1978 finals in Accra.

5. Ivory Coast won AFCON 1992 without conceding a goal in open play

When Ghana and Ivory Coast met in the finals in 1992 in Senegal, the Ivorians were yet to win their first title while Ghana was a four-time champion. The Ivorians engaged Ghana in a marathon penalty shootout that saw all 11 players from each side take a kick. They made history by not conceding a goal in all the six matches they played. A 3-0 win over Algeria started their campaign in Group C, followed by a goalless draw with Congo. Then a 1-0 win over Zambia in the quarter-finals was followed by a 1-3 penalty win over Cameroon in the semi-finals. The final against Ghana also ended 0-0 after 120 minutes.

6. 1962 produced the highest goals per match in AFCON history

While AFCON 1962 had just one more team than the previous two editions, it produced the highest goals per game in AFCON history to date. The 4.5 goals per game have remained a record that may never be broken. Ethiopia hosted and won the competition after scoring 8 goals in 2 matches. Tunisia which made its debut and placed third in the competition scored 5 goals; a 4-2 defeat to Ethiopia in the semi-final and a 3-0 win over Uganda in the third place play-off. Egypt reached the final by beating Uganda 2-1 but lost 4-2 to Ethiopia in the final. In all 18 goals were scored in four matches. Badawi Abdel Fattah of Egypt and Ethiopia’s Mengistu Worku were the top scorers with three goals each while Worku won the best player prize.

7. Ghana lost more AFCON finals and third placed play-offs than any other country

While Ghana is the third most country in AFCON history behind Cameroon and Egypt, the West African country has had more failed attempts at winning than any other country. Since its debut in 1963, the country played in four consecutive finals starting from 1963 to 1970. It lost two of those while winning two. Ghana played five more finals after 1970, the last being in 2015. In that period, only on two occasions did it win (1978 and 1982) but the rest (1992, 2010 and 2015) all ended in defeats. The country also reached five semi-finals, placing third only once in 2008 but losing four in 1996, 2012, 2013 and 2017. Apart from losing the 1996 play-off against Zambia, all the other four were against the same opposition, Mali. The only success in 2008 came against Ivory Coast.

8. Defending champions failed to qualify

Since 1957, only on two occasions did the reigning champion fail to qualify for the next edition. Egypt was the first to fail to qualify for the tournament after winning the previous edition. The North African country won its third consecutive title in 2012 but failed to qualify for the 2013 edition. Nigeria joined the ugly history after winning the 2013 edition but failed to qualify for the 2015 edition. Also, Nigeria withdrew from the tournament in 1996 despite winning the previous edition in Ivory Coast in 1994.

9. Highest goal scorer in a single tournament

Ndaye Mulamba of the Democratic Republic of Congo is the player with the most goals in a single AFCON tournament, He scored 9 goals in Egypt 1974, won by Zaire now, DR Congo. He also emerged as the best player of the tournament Prior to that, Laurent Poku was the highest goal scorer in a single AFCON tournament with 8 goals from Sudan 1970.

10. AFCON hosts

Since its inception in 1957, only 18 countries have hosted the tournament. Egypt (5) is the country that hosted the AFCON the most, the last being the 2019 edition. Ghana hosted the tournament on four occasions with the 2000 edition being shared with Nigeria as co-hosts. Of all the countries that hosted the tournament, only 8 teams won it as hosts. Egypt again leads with three titles from five hosting while Ghana follows with two from four. Nigeria, Algeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia and Ethiopia each won once as hosts.

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