Africa Cup of Nations
The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is an esteemed international soccer tournament organized biennially by the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF), the African football federation. First held in 1957, the competition has evolved from a modest event with just three participating teams to a major international showcase featuring twenty-four teams as of the latest editions. The tournament follows a structured format, beginning with a round-robin group stage followed by knockout rounds, culminating in a final match to determine the champion. Egypt holds the record for the most titles, boasting seven championships, while Cameroon and Ghana follow with five and four titles, respectively.
In 2022, Cameroon hosted the tournament, which was initially slated for 2021 but postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Teams qualified through a rigorous process that included a preliminary stage and subsequent group rounds. The competition not only highlights the athletic prowess of African nations but also fosters national pride and unites diverse cultures across the continent. AFCON's rich history and significant impact on soccer in Africa make it a vital event in the global sports calendar.
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Africa Cup of Nations
Africa Cup of Nations is a international soccer competition held every two years under the authority of the Confédération Africaine de Football (Confederation of African Football, or CAF). CAF is the African continental soccer confederation of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football, FIFA). The Africa Cup of Nations, abbreviated as CAN or AFCON, is considered the continent’s most prestigious soccer competition.
Since its debut in 1957, the Africa Cup of Nations has grown from a small regional tournament with three participating teams to a major international competition with a field of twenty-four. Like the FIFA World Cup and other FIFA-sanctioned continental tournaments, the Africa Cup of Nations includes a round-robin group stage and a single-elimination knockout stage. As of 2021, Egypt is the most successful country in the history of the tournament with a total of seven championships.
Brief History
In 1956, a delegation of seven national representatives convened in Lisbon, Portugal, to officially form the Confédération Africaine de Football. The organization agreed to host a tournament the following year in which four nations—Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Sudan—were originally scheduled to participate. South Africa withdrew from the tournament as its start date neared, as the country’s government maintained its apartheid policy by refusing to field a multiracial team. The inaugural tournament proceeded with only three participating nations, with Egypt winning.
The second edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, held in 1959, also included only three teams. Reigning champion Egypt participated with Syria as the United Arab Republic, with Ethiopia and Sudan also returning. The United Arab Republic claimed the title, which official statistics now track as a victory for Egypt. In 1962, the field expanded to nine teams, with a qualification round determining the four participating countries for the tournament’s final stage. All games were played at Haile Selassie I Stadium in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, with the host nation going on to win the title.
In 1963 and 1965, Ghana posted consecutive victories in the Africa Cup of Nations. The tournament adopted a standardized schedule of being held every two years in 1968, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then known as Zaire) winning the title that year. A different country won each of the Africa Cup of Nations tournaments held during the 1970s, while Cameroon became the only participating nation to win the tournament twice during the 1980s.
The tournament expanded to include a field of sixteen teams in 1996, with South Africa returning to the competition after ending its apartheid era. Competing as the host country, South Africa claimed the 1996 title but failed to defend it in 1998 when Egypt defeated South Africa in the final match to win its fourth championship. Egypt went on to post an unprecedented three straight tournament wins in the 2000s and 2010s, capturing its fifth, sixth, and seventh titles in 2006, 2008, and 2010. Following Zambia’s win in the 2012 tournament, the Africa Cup of nations moved to odd-numbered years to avoid scheduling conflicts with the FIFA World Cup. Egypt’s seven championships as of the 2021 tournament leads all countries; Cameroon is second with five titles, followed by Ghana with four and Nigeria with three.
Africa Cup of Nations Today
The 2021 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations was pushed to January 2022 due to scheduling complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Algeria will enter the tournament as the defending champions after defeating Senegal by a score of 1–0 in the final match of the 2019 competition in Egypt. Cameroon will host the 2021 event, which will feature the same twenty-four-team structure that debuted in 2019.
The twenty-four participating teams are divided into six groups, each with four teams. During the round-robin group stage, each team plays the other teams in its group once. The top two teams in each group move on to the single-elimination knockout stage, while the top four of the six third-place teams also advance. Each successive round of the knockout stage eliminates half of the remaining field, and continues until only two teams remain. Those two teams meet in the final, while the two countries that lose in the semifinal round meet in a third-place game.
Participating teams were determined via a fifty-two-country qualifying tournament, which began with a preliminary stage held among the eight lowest-ranked nations attempting to qualify. During this stage, the eight teams were drawn into four pairs called “ties.” The countries in each tie met twice, with each team hosting one game and the team scoring more goals over the course of the two games advancing to the final tournament on “aggregate.” Chad, South Sudan, Sao Tome and Principe, and Gambia emerged from the preliminary round to join forty-four other countries in the qualifying tournament, creating a field of forty-eight nations. These nations were divided into twelve groups each with four teams, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations via round-robin play.
With the twenty-four-team field set after the qualifying tournament’s conclusion, a draw was held in August 2021 to determine the six groups for the upcoming competition. Group A includes Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, and Ethiopia; Group B includes Guinea, Malawi, Senegal, and Zimbabwe; Group C includes Comoros, Gabon, Ghana, and Morocco; Group D includes Egypt, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, and Sudan; Group E includes Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, and Sierra Leone; Group F includes Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, and Tunisia. The third-place match and the championship final will both be played in the Cameroonian capital of Yaoundé on February 6, 2022.
Bibliography
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