The African Cup of Nation is the biggest continental football competition in Africa. Every country on the continent of Africa is eligible to participate in the competition, however, their eligibility will be proven by their performance at the qualifier. The competition was established in 1957 and it was first held at Khartoum, Sudan, Egypt defeated the host country to become the first winner of the cup. At that time, the cup was named after the President of CAF, Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem, an Egyptian. Needless to say, competition is always organized by the Confederation of African Football.
Reasonably, Egypt has won the competition more than any other African country, they won the Cup for the seventh time in 2010 when they defeated Ghana at the final stage of the competition. Nigeria who regarded as the giant of the African continent has only won the cup three times only since it started.
The 2019 AFCON competition hosted in Egypt was taken by Algeria. The Algerian team became a formidable force in the competition with the likes of Manchester City attacker, Riyad Mahrez. The Manchester City attacker shattered the hope of the Nigerian team at the semi-final stage of the competition after he scored a free-kick at the injury minute that preceded the extra time. There was doubt that the game might have ended in favor of the Super Eagles of Nigeria if the match is dragged to the extra time.
Nigeria was forced to fight for the third place against Tunisia while Algeria took on Senegal at the final of the competition. Liverpool star player Sadio Mane did all he could to salvage the situation for his national team, however, the likes of Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City and Slimani of Sporting CP were too smart for the Senegalese team to handle. The match ended a lone goal from the Algerian which gave them their second African Cup of Nations trophy after a long while. The last time the Algerians won the Cup was back in 1990.
Find below a list of winners and runner up of the AFCON since 1957
year | winner | runner-up |
---|---|---|
1957 | Egypt | Ethiopia |
1959 | Egypt | Sudan |
1962 | Ethiopia | Egypt |
1963 | Ghana | Sudan |
1965 | Ghana | Tunisia |
1968 | Congo (Kinshasa) | Ghana |
1970 | Sudan | Ghana |
1972 | Congo (Brazzaville) | Mali |
1974 | Zaire | Zambia |
1976 | Morocco | Guinea |
1978 | Ghana | Uganda |
1980 | Nigeria | Algeria |
1982 | Ghana | Libya |
1984 | Cameroon | Nigeria |
1986 | Egypt | Cameroon |
1988 | Cameroon | Nigeria |
1990 | Algeria | Nigeria |
1992 | Côte d’Ivoire | Ghana |
1994 | Nigeria | Zambia |
1996 | South Africa | Tunisia |
1998 | Egypt | South Africa |
2000 | Cameroon | Nigeria |
2002 | Cameroon | Senegal |
2004 | Tunisia | Morocco |
2006 | Egypt | Côte d’Ivoire |
2008 | Egypt | Cameroon |
2010 | Egypt | Ghana |
2012 | Zambia | Côte d’Ivoire |
2013* | Nigeria | Burkina Faso |
2015 | Côte d’Ivoire | Ghana |
2017 | Cameroon | Egypt |
2019 | Algeria | Senegal |