The 2024 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) is almost underway. Beginning on Saturday, January 13, 2024, 24 teams will battle it out for the ultimate prize in African football. This year’s AFCON will be hosted by the Ivory Coast in West Africa which is the second time the country will host the competition. From the star-studded national teams; the amazing goals; the shockers; and the twists, the competiton has it all. As we anticipate the ever competitive AFCON, let’s refresh our memory on a bit of AFCON trivia.
- Host Nation: the Ivory Coast will have the honours to host this prestigious tournament. This is actually their second time of hosting the tournament with the first time being 40 years ago in 1984.
- Egypt have the most AFCON finals appearances (9) tied with the Black Stars of Ghana. However, they have the most wins. However, they have won seven (7) whiles the Black Stars have managed to win four (4).
egypt afcon - Egypt won the first two AFCON tournaments in 1957 and 1959 while they were runners-up in 1962, losing to hosts Ethiopia in the final.
- The name of the continental trophy has been changed three times in history. The first name for the trophy was the Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem Trophy, followed by the African Unity trophy and then rebranded to what its currently known for as the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
- Tunisia has had the most consecutive qualifications (16), a run which began in the 1994 edition of the tournament.
- Egypt has played more games at the AFCON than any other team (107), they have won more matches than any other team (60) whiles Ghana are second with 102 games and 54 wins. Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria are set to join the centenary club as they have currently played 99 and 97 games respectively at the tournament.
- Ghana has reached the AFCON semi-finals in six of the last eight tournaments and has been beaten finalists twice in that time, losing to Egypt in 2010 and Cote d’Ivoire in 2017.
- Former Cameroonian striker, Samuel Eto’o, is the leading overall Cup of Nations scorer, notching 18 goals in six tournaments between 2000 and 2010.
- Egypt goalkeeper, Essam El Hadary, became the oldest player at 44 years and 21 days to feature in the tournament when he faced Cameroon in the 2017 final in Libreville as Egypt lost.
- PA SULAYMAN BADJIE (THE GAMBIA) is the youngest player to ever feature in the tournament at – 15 YEARS, THREE MONTHS and 13 DAYS OLD. The player made his debut and only appearance for Gambia in the tournament in 2006 during a 1-0 loss to Algeria.
