Africa Cup of Nations history
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Ahmed Hassan of Egypt lifts the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations trophy |
The Africa Cup of Nations was first played in 1957 and is actually older than its counterpart in Europe, the European Champions, which only began three years later.
The first Nations Cup tournament saw only three teams compete - hosts Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia - after South Africa, originally scheduled to play, were expelled from the newly-formed Confederation of African Football and the competition due to Apartheid and would not return for another almost 40 years.
Egypt were the inaugural champions that year, the first of their record seven titles, which puts them comfortably ahead of Ghana and Cameroon, who have four titles to their name.
The Pharaohs have won the last three instalments of the competition, but will not be in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to defend their title in 2012 after a disastrous qualification campaign.
The Egyptians were champions in 1959, before hosts Ethiopia won their one and only title in 1962 as the tournament switched to being played in 'even' years, something which CAF would reverse some 50 years later for the 2013 tournament to be held in South Africa. By 1962 the field had grown to eight teams.
Ghana then embarked on a period of dominance as they won four of the next 10 tournaments, but their last win came in 1982, meaning they have had a 30-year wait for their next title. They will be among the favourites in 2012.
Sudan claimed their one and only title in 1970, while Congo-Brazzaville did likewise in 1972. DR Congo, who have also gone under the name of Zaire, had success in 1968 and 1974.
Nigeria won their first of two titles in 1980, before repeating the triumph in 1994. It has been a long wait for the Super Eagles since then though.
Cameroon's rise to power came in the 1980s, when they won the Nations Cup in 1984 and 1988, before another two successes in 2000 and 2002.
Cote d'Ivoire's only success came in 1992, when they beat the Black Stars of Ghana 11-10 in an extraordinary penalty shoot-out in the final that had finished 0-0 in Senegal.
Other winners of the title are Morocco (1976), Algeria (1990), South Africa (1996) and Tunisia (2004), making it a fairly exclusive group of just 13 countries to have won the title in the previous 27 instalments of the competition.
