Africa Top Sports team propose you in this article, a few informations about Africa Cup of Nations. The tournament will start on 19th of january with our special envoys in South Africa. Everything you should know about Afcon is listed below :
Founded: 1957
Region: Africa (CAF)
Number of teams: 16
Current Champions: Zambia (1st title)
Most Successful team (S): Egypt (7 titles)
The Africa Cup of Nations, also referred to as the African Cup of Nations or African Nations Cup, officially CAN (French for Coupe d’Afrique des Nations), is the main international association football competition in Africa. It is sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and was first held in 1957. Since 1968, it has been held every two years. The title holders at the time of a FIFA Confederation Cup qualify for that competition.
In 1957, there were only three participating nations: Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, South Africa was originally scheduled to compete, but were disqualified due to the apartheid policies of the government then in power. Since then, the tournament has grown greatly, making it necessary to hold a qualifying tournament. The number of participants in the final tournament reached 16 in 1998 (16 teams were to compete in 1996 but Nigeria withdrew, reducing the field to 15), and since then, the format has been unchanged, with the sixteen teams being drawn into four groups of four teams each, with the top two teams of each group advancing to a “knock-out” stage.
Egypt is the most successful nation in the cup’s history, winning the tournament a record seven times (including when Egypt was known as the United Arab Emirates between 1958 and 1971). Ghana and Cameroon have won four titles each. Three different trophies have been awarded during the tournament’s history, with Ghana and Cameroon winning the first two versions to keep after each of them won a tournament three times. The current trophy was first awarded in 2002 and with Egypt winning it indefinitely after winning their unprecedented third consecutive title in 2010.
As of 2013, the tournament will switch to being held in odd-numbered years so that it does not clash with the FIFA World Cup.
1950’s – 60’s:Early growth of the ANC competition
1970’s: Ghanaian domination
1980’s: Cameroonian and Nigerian domination
1990’s: The return of South Africa
2000’s: Egypt’s unprecedented tremble
Champions by region
Federation (Region) Champion(s) Number
UBAF (North Africa) Egypt (7), Algeria (1), Morocco (1), Tunisia (1) 10 titles
UNIFFAC (Central Africa) Cameroon (4), Congo DR (2), Congo (1) 7 titles
WAFU (West Africa) Ghana (4), Nigeria (2), Cote d’Ivoire (1) 7 titles
CECAFA (East Africa) Ethiopia (1), Sudan (1) 2 titles
COSAFA (Southern Africa) South Africa (1), Zambia (1) 2 titles