The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) known in French as Coupe d’Afrique des Nations and sometimes referred to as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons is the main international men’s association football competition in Africa.
Organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) – the governing body of football in the continent. It was first held in 1957 were only three nations: Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia participated although South Africa was originally scheduled to join, but was disqualified due to the apartheid policies of the government in power at the time.
Since its inception, AFCON has become the biggest football event in Africa and now has 24 countries in the main draw and 52 in the qualifiers.
The African Cup of Nations, which was held in random intervals but became a biennial competition in 1968, has been held 33 times and 14 different countries have lifted the championship till now, with Egypt becoming the first AFCON winners after beating Ethiopia 4-0 in the finals of the very first.
The tournament gradually expanded to eight teams in 1968, which increased the level of competition with six countries winning the title between 1970 and 1980, out of which five teams won it for the first time.
With new nations joining CAF, the field for AFCON was increased to 12 in 1992 and 16 in 1996. The 2019 and 2021 editions saw 24 teams take part in the continental showpiece and were switched to odd years in 2013 to prevent clashes with the FIFA World Cup in even years.
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The tournament, which has featured some of the best players ever in world football, including Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Sadio Mane (Senegal), and Mohamed Salah (Egypt) including Olympic gold medallist and Cameroon legend Samuel Eto’o, the highest goalscorer in AFCON with 18 goals, followed by Laurent Pokou of Ivory Coast with 14.
The most successful team in the AFCON is Egypt, claiming the title seven times, including a hat-trick between 2006 and 2010. The country has also finished runners-up on three occasions; 1962, 2017, 2021, and third three times in 1963, 1970, and 1974).
The next most successful country in AFCON after Egypt is Cameroon, with five titles to their name. At the same time, Senegal – the reigning champions – clinched the AFCON 2021 (held in 2022) cup after beating Egypt on penalties in the final as their first-ever triumph. Nigeria has also lifted the cup three times in 1980, 1994, and 2013.
Below is the list of the African Cup of Nations winners and runners-up including the years the matches were held.
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
1978 Ghana Uganda
1980 Nigeria Algeria
1982 Ghana Libya
1984 Cameroon Nigeria
1986 Egypt Cameroon
1988 Cameroon Nigeria
1990 Algeria Nigeria
1992 Ivory Coast Ghana
1994 Nigeria Zambia
1996 South Africa Tunisia
1998 Egypt South Africa
2000 Cameroon Nigeria
2002 Cameroon Senegal
2004 Tunisia Morocco
2006 Egypt Ivory Coast
2008 Egypt Cameroon
2010 Egypt Ghana
2012 Zambia Ivory Coast
2013 Nigeria Burkina Faso
2015 Ivory Coast Ghana
2017 Cameroon Egypt
2019 Algeria Senegal
2021 Senegal Egypt