A brief history of the Africa Cup of Nations

By Nick Krige
9th January 2024

With 2023 Africa Cup of Nations fever running high, SABC Sport takes a look at some of the most important events in the evolution of Africa's premier football tournament.

The early years

The very first Africa Cup of Nations took place in 1957 and featured just three nations in Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.

South Africa were also originally supposed to take part but were disqualified after the country was banned from participating in international sports events due to the political policy of apartheid.

It was hosted by Sudan and won by Egypt after the Pharaohs beat Ethiopia 4-0 in the final.

The tournament was held periodically every few years and didn't keep a regular schedule of every two years until after the 1968 tournament in Ethiopia. The only change to this pattern was after the 2010 event when it was announced the next Afcon would be held in 2013 so it would be held in odd-numbered years.

The rise of champions

After the early dominance of Egypt and Ghana, the 1970s gave rise to what became known as the decade of champions after six different teams won titles between 1970 and 1980.

Sudan, Congo-Brazzaville, Zaire (now DR Congo), Morocco, Ghana and Nigeria all won Afcon in that decade.

The 1974 final between Zaire and Zambia remains unique to this day as the only match in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations that had to be replayed. The first match ended 2-2 after extra time with Zaire winning the replay 2-0 two days later.

South Africa's return

The first Afcon Bafana Bafana took part in was the 1996 tournament, which was also hosted in South Africa, and the home side even went on to win the event against all odds, similar to the Springboks in the Rugby World Cup a year earlier as a wave of optimism was spreading across the country.

South Africa hosted the event again in 2013 but were unfortunately far less successful and were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Mali.

Egyptian domination

Egypt is by far the most successful nation in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations. Including tournaments they played when called the United Arab Republic, Egypt has won the event seven times and finished runner-up on a further three occasions.

The country's most thorough spell of dominance came in the 2000s when they won three tournaments in a row in 2006, 2008 and 2010 under the leadership of Hassan Shehata, who became the first coach to ever win Afcon three times consecutively.

However, the good times did not last forever and the Pharaohs then went on to fail to qualify for the next three editions of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Thankfully, they are right back in the mix for the 2023 tournament, led by the likes of Liverpool's Mohammed Salah and Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny.