Africa Cup of Nations' Rich history with Egypt extensively dominant

Africa Cup of Nations’ Rich history with Egypt extensively dominant

Only Egypt and Ethiopia competed in the inaugural AFCON, which was hosted by Sudan and featured a field of three teams.

They were the founding members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in that year, along with South Africa, though South Africa was unable to take part because of their apartheid laws.

With 24 countries in the main draw and 52 in the qualifiers, AFCON has grown from a small competition with only three teams in its first edition to the biggest football event in Africa.

The Africa Cup of Nations, which is organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the continent’s governing body of football, has taken place 33 times with 14 different nations having won the title thus far.

AFCON was first conducted at random intervals before switching to a biennial format in 1968.

In 1968, the tournament was progressively expanded to include eight teams, which raised the bar for competition.

Between 1970 and 1980, six nations won the continental championship; five of those teams did so for the first time.

The field for AFCON was expanded to 12 in 1992 and 16 in 1996 due to new countries joining CAF. In the continental showpiece, 24 teams competed in the 2019 and 2021 editions.

In order to avoid conflicts with the FIFA World Cup in even years, the African Cup of Nations was moved to odd years in 2013.

Egypt has won seven times, including a hat-trick from 2006 to 2010, making them the most successful team in the AFCON winners list.

They have placed third three times (1963, 1970, and 1974) and runners-up three times (1962, 2017 and 2021).

With three more podium finishes and five titles under their belt, Cameroon is the next most successful AFCON team.

Senegal defeated Egypt on penalties in the championship match to win the AFCON 2021 (held in 2022). It was Senegal’s maiden victory at the continental championship.

AFCON Winners since its inaugural

Year Winners Runners-up

1957 Egypt Ethiopia

1959 Egypt Sudan

1962 Ethiopia Egypt

1963 Ghana Sudan

1965 Ghana Tunisia

1968 DR Congo Ghana

1970 Sudan Ghana

1972 Congo Mali

1974 DR Congo Zambia

1976 Morocco Guinea