Evaluating the AFCON League right from history.

1. Africa Cup of Nations| History, Winners, Trophy & Facts.
The Africa Cup of Nations, the most prestigious football (soccer) competition in
Africa welcomes every nation to the competition to battle their rivals, bring in
unity and provide some amazing audience for each countries supporters
home and international.
In this article, we will talk about the history of AFCON, the facts, the trophies
won by countries and where the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations will be held.
HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS
The origin of the African Nations Cup dates from June 1956, when the creation of the Confederation
of African Football was proposed during the third FIFA congress in Lisbon. There were immediate
plans for a continental tournament to be held and, in February 1957, the first Africa Cup of Nations
was held in Khartoum, Sudan. There was no qualification for this tournament, the field being made
up of the four founding nations of CAF (Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, and South Africa). South Africa's
insistence on selecting only white players for its squad due to its apartheid policy led to its
disqualification, and as a consequence Ethiopia were handed a bye straight to the final. Hence only
two matches were played, with Egypt being crowned as the first continental champion after defeating
hosts Sudan in the semi-final and Ethiopia in the final. Two years later Egypt hosted the second
ANC in Cairo with the participation of the same three teams. Host and defending champions Egypt
again won, after defeating Sudan.
In 1963, Ghana made its first appearance as it hosted the event, and won the title after beating
Sudan in the final. They repeated that as they became champions two years later in Tunisia
equalizing Egypt as two-time winners—with a squad that included only two returning members from
the 1963 team. In 1965, the CAF introduced a rule that limited the number of overseas players in
each team to two. The rule persisted until 1982.
Each championship year was filled with different winnings, losses, violence and everything you can
imagine but we are Africans and we unite through football championships.
TROPHY AND MEDALS
Throughout the history of the Africa Cup of Nations, three trophies have been awarded to the
winners of the competition. The original trophy, made of silver, was the Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem
Trophy, named after the first CAF president, Egyptian Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem.
The second trophy was awarded from 1980 to 2000, and was named Trophy of African Unity or
African Unity Cup. It was given to CAF by the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa prior to the 1980

2. tournament and it was a cylindrical piece with the Olympic rings over a map of the continent
engraved on it. It sat on a squared base and had stylized triangular handles.
In 2001,the third trophy was revealed, a gold-plated cup designed in Italy. Cameroon, permanent
holders of the previous trophy, were the first nation to be awarded the new trophy after they won the
2002 edition. Egypt won the gold-plated cup indefinitely after they became three-time champions in
2010. Unlike previous winners who would have then taken the trophy home, Egypt were presented
with a special full size replica that they were allowed to keep. The winner of each edition receives a
replica whose dimensions are equal to that of the original trophy.
QUALIFICATION PROCESS
The qualification phase has evolved over time according to the increasing number of nations
affiliated to the Confederation of African Football (CAF). It was set up from 1962, during the first two
editions of the Africa Cup of Nations, the founding nations of the CAF participated in the final
tournament, namely Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan (South Africa was excluded just after its foundation
due to the Apartheid).
In 1962, new nations were affiliated and forced CAF to set up a qualifying phase for the final
tournament in the form of knockout matches. This system was used until the 1992 edition, when the
organization of the qualifying phase became closer to that of the UEFA European Championship,
with qualifying groups of four to seven teams depending on the editions where each selection plays
a round-trip opposition against each of its opponents, the qualified country being decided according
to its classification within its group.
Only the hosts received an automatic qualification spot, with the other 23 teams qualifying through
a qualification tournament. At the finals, the 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four teams
each. The teams in each group played a single round robin.
After the group stage, the top two teams and the four best third-placed teams advanced to the round
of 16. The winners advanced to the quarter-finals. The winners of the quarter-finals advanced to the
semi-finals. The losers of the semi-finals played in a third place play-off, while winners of the semi-
finals played in the final.
AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS WINNERS SINCE THE FIRST EDITION
YEAR/EDITION CHAMPIONS
1957 EGYPT
1959 UNITED
ARAB
REPUBLIC
1962 ETHIOPIA
1963 GHANA
1965 GHANA
1968 REPUBLIC
OF
CONGO
1970 SUDAN
1972 PR CONGO
1974 ZAIRE
1976 MOROCCO
1978 GHANA

3. 1980 NIGERIA
1986 EGYPT
1988 CAMEROON
1990 ALGERIA
1992 IVORY
COAST
1994 NIGERIA
1996 SOUT
H
AFRIC
A
1998 EGYPT
2000 CAMEROON
2002 CAMEROON
2004 TUNISIA
2006 EGYPT
2008 EGYPT
2010 EGYPT
2012 ZAMBIA
2013 NIGERIA
2015 IVORY
COAST
2017 CAMEROON
2019 ALGERIA
2021 SENEGAL
CONCLUSION
As the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations is approaching the corner ,this is a perfect overview of
her history and its applicable overview throughout her years of amazing football played by African
nations from different countries.
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