17 Facts About AFCON

As the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations, Cote d’Ivoire 2023 approaches, CAFOnline.com highlights some notable records and stats of the event.

1. The inaugural AFCON was in Sudan in 1957, with only Sudan, Egypt, and Ethiopia participating. South Africa was initially invited but was later excluded due to apartheid policies.
2. In the first AFCON match, Egypt beat Sudan 2-1 on January 10, 1957, with Raafat Attia scoring AFCON’s first goal. Egypt won the first tournament, defeating Ethiopia 4-0 in the final.
3. Egypt has won the most AFCON titles (seven), followed by Cameroon (five) and Ghana (four). Egypt and Ghana have reached the finals nine times.
4. Cote d’Ivoire is hosting the event for the second time, the first being in 1984. Five countries from the 1984 tournament – Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria – return, excluding Malawi and Togo.
5. Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o is the top scorer in AFCON history with 18 goals. Egypt’s Essam El Hadary became the oldest player at 44 to play in the tournament in 2017.
6. The opening game of AFCON has only ended 0-0 once, in 2013. Egypt, the last host to win AFCON, did so in 2006.
7. Egypt reached the final in five of the last six tournaments they participated in. Four players have scored in six different AFCON tournaments.
8. The 2023 AFCON is the 34th edition and the third with 24 teams. The tournament expanded from 16 teams in 1996 to 24 in 2019.
9. Sixteen players have scored 17 hat-tricks in AFCON, with Egypt having five different hat-trick scorers. Egypt’s Hassan El-Shazly is the only player with multiple hat-tricks.
10. Egypt and Cameroon’s Rigobert Song have the most appearances (8). Ghana’s Charles Gyamfi and Egypt’s Hassan Shehata are the only coaches to win three times, with Shehata winning consecutively.
11. Two individuals have won AFCON as both player and coach: Mahmoud El-Gohary of Egypt and Nigeria’s Stephen Keshi. Herve Renard is the only coach to win with two different countries.
12. Senegal’s Aliou Cisse lost the final as a player and coach but won as a coach in 2021. France has had five coaches win six tournaments.
13. Roger Lemerre is the first coach to win both AFCON and UEFA European Championship. 44 African nations have participated in AFCON, with Egypt, Ghana, and South Africa winning on their debut.
14. Ghana reached the semi-finals in six of the last eight tournaments. Tunisia has qualified for 16 consecutive tournaments, a record.
15. Egypt has played the most AFCON games (107) and won the most (60). Ndaye Mulamba holds the record for most goals in a single tournament (9).
16. The AFCON trophy has changed three times. Twelve former champions will compete in the 2023 edition, with the top 15 ranked African teams qualifying.
17. Five Southern African teams will participate, the most from the COSAFA region in a single finals. Every winner since 1974 has qualified for the 2023 edition, except the 1972 champions Congo. Every finalist since 1984 has qualified, except the 1982 runners-up Libya.