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Africa’s biggest and best teams go head-to-head every other year for the ultimate prize.
The African Cup of Nations attracts millions and millions of eyes every time and there is so much at stake. Ivory Coast will host the upcoming tournament that takes place in the January and February of 2024.
With this just a matter of months away now, the excitement is building and so we at Football FanCast have delved into the history books to look at the previous AFCONs.
1
2021 – Senegal
The most recent AFCON to take place was two years ago and it was heavily influenced by Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
Sadio Mane’s Senegal took on Mohamed Salah’s Egypt in the final at Olembe Stadium in the Cameroonian capital Yaoundé.
It was 0-0 after 120 minutes and then Mane, now of Bayern Munich, spearheaded his team to success, striking the winning penalty beyond the reaches of Egyptian goalkeeper Mohamed Abou Gabal. The stop-stopper was actually named Man of the Match for the final but it was all in vain.
This was Senegal’s first every AFCON victory and they also scooped up a couple of individual awards with Mane being named as Player of the Tournament and former Chelsea man Edouard Mendy winning the best Goalkeeper award.
The hosts Cameroon came third after losing to Egypt in the semi-finals and their striker Vincent Aboubakar won the Golden Boot with eight goals.
2
2019 – Algeria
2021 winners Senegal came up just short in their pursuit of a first-ever AFCON victory two years prior when the competition took place in Egypt.
Al Sadd’s Baghdad Bounedjah scored the only goal of the final for Algeria in Cairo, this being the North African nation’s second success in this tournament.
Ahead of Bounedjah’s two in the scoring charts were his fellow countrymen Riyad Mahrez and Adam Ounas on three (amongst others) whilst former Manchester United and Watford Odion Ighalo led the way with five.
Midfielder Ismael Bennacer of Algeria was given the Player of the Tournament award and after returning to Italian side Empoli, secured a major move to another Serie A team in the form of AC Milan, where he still plays now.
3
2017 – Cameroon
We are discussing a third different team to have prevailed over the continent of Africa with Cameroon coming out on top in 2017.
Unlike the two previous nations, Cameroon are no strangers to AFCON glory having won it four times prior to this triumph.
It was originally supposed to be hosted by Libya but due to the civil war unfolding there, it was then handed over to Gabon.
The aforementioned Aboubakar scored the winner in the final against Egypt with Arsenal’s Mohamed Elneny having given the runners-up the lead before centre-back Nicolas Nkoulou levelled things up.
Congolese international Junior Kabananga won the golden boot with three, finishing one ahead of a large group that continued names such as Salah, Mane, Mahrez, Andre Ayew and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
4
2015 – Ivory Coast
Three-time Player of the Year for Ivory Coast Didier Drogba retired from international football in 2014 and then the following year, his country prevailed in Equatorial Guinea in his absence.
The host nation encountered some issues throughout the tournament including accusations of fraudulent refereeing and crowd trouble but their achievement of getting to the semi-finals is quite something either way.
At the final four stage, they were defeated by Ghana, who then went on to lose to Ivory Coast, or Côte d’Ivoire, in a hugely dramatic penalty shootout.
When Wilfried Bony and Junior Tallo missed the first two spot-kicks, their fans would have been fearing the worst. However, they managed to battle their way back into it and after Ivorian goalkeeper Boubacar Barry converted, Ghanian shot-stopper Brimah Razak was unable to match his opposite number.
Bony, Gervinho and Max Gradel all led the winning team’s scoring charts with 2 apiece.
5
2013 – Nigeria
The trend of a different team reining victorious every time around isn’t changing just yet as a Nigerian side spearheaded by Emmanuel Emenike and Ahmed Musa went all the way in 2013.
Some big names featured in the Team of the Tournament for Nigeria including Victor Moses, John Obi Mikel and goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama.
Burkina Faso were the opponents in the final in Johannesburg, South Africa and once again, it was very, very tight. There was a goal this time around and only one, the scorer being Sunday Mba who played a lot of football in his home country before frequenting Scotland (with Rangers), France and Turkey.
6
2012 – Zambia
Zambia’s 2012 win is perhaps one of the most historic in AFCON history with the backdrop being dominated by political turmoil.
Countries such as Libya and Tunisia qualified in spite of their issues back home whilst Egypt were one of those dealing with political chaos that were unable to book a spot in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
This was the last AFCON to take place in a year bearing an even number so as to avoid the clashes that preceded it with the World Cup.
Zambia won their first-ever title in 2012 and it was very much against the odds. Ivory Coast were the team who they overcame in the final thanks to yet another penalty shootout and it is made all the more fascinating by the fact that the second-placed team, the favourites in fact, didn’t concede a goal all tournament.
After 7 straight, successful penalties from the likes of Drogba, Sol Bamba and the sadly deceased Cheick Tiote, Arsenal duo Kolo Toure and Gervinho missed and so handed Zambia their history-making moment.
Herve Renard was the man in charge of the Zambian side who exceeded expectations with Morocco and Saudi Arabia more recently too. He is currently at the helm of the French women’s national team.
7
2010 – Egypt
Egypt were pretty dominant in 2010 as is reflected by the winners of the big individual awards.
Gedo was the top scorer with 5, Ahmed Hassan was named as the Player of the Tournament and Essam El Hadary got his hands on the Goalkeeper award. All three of these men were on the winning side as well as collecting these honours.
Hassan Shehata’s side conceded just two goals throughout the whole tournament; one coming against Nigeria in the group stage and then the other being scored in their 3-1 quarter-final victory over Cameroon.
For context, the Egyptians themselves scored 15 goals across the six games, averaging 2.5 per game.
8
2008 – Egypt
Our first repeat winner on this list is Egypt who managed to come out on top in AFCON back-to-back.
Samuel Eto’o may have won the Golden Boot this time around but El-Hadary had the last laugh as he was named Goalkeeper of the Tournament again, won the whole competition again and kept another clean sheet in the final. That being said, the legendary Eto’o did score twice in the group stages as his side lost 4-2 to Egypt.
As previously alluded to, it was Cameroon who came up short against the Egyptians in the final in Accra, Ghana.
Mohamed Aboutrika struck home the only goal of the final in the 76th minute in the February of 2008, a man considered by many to be the greatest player in the history of his country.
9
2006 – Egypt
Back-to-back for Egypt? No, more like back-to-back-to-back as they are the only every country to win three titles on the spin in this tournament. In fact, only one team had ever retained the trophy once and that was Cameroon who after beating Nigeria on penalties in the final in 2000, inflicted the same fate upon Senegal two years later.
Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o also won the Golden Boot in this tournament whilst another Egyptian legend in the form of Ahmed Hassan was named as the Player of the Tournament.
Another penalty shootout was on the cards in the final here and Ivory Coast had the more household names in their arsenal. Drogba, Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue were amongst those to try their luck from 12 yards out with the Chelsea legend being the one to fail.
Egypt meanwhile converted 4 of their 5 spot-kicks, Aboutrika sweeping home the decisive one, in the process kicking off a historic run of 4 years that may never be matched.
10
2004 – Tunisia
We remain in the Northern region of Africa as we discuss the last team on this list, who came out on top almost 20 years ago now, Tunisia.
Tunisia had been in the final in two previous tournaments, these coming in 1965 when they themselves hosted it and then more recently, in 1996, when they lost to South Africa in Johannesburg of all places.
After three tournaments away from the spotlight of the final showcase, they made their way there boldly on home soil and got ready to take on the 1976 winners Morocco.
One of very few finals on this list to have a few goals took place in 2004 as the host country won 2-1. Francileudo Silva dos Santos Lima and Ziad Jaziri found the back of the net as they sent their population of over 10 million people into raptures.