Its just two days to the kick off of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.
The 34th edition of the continent’s most prized nations’ tournament will see hosts take on Equatorial Guinea in the opening match on January 13 and the finals will be played on February 11.
We take a look at the 12 interesting facts, figures and records – with some set to be equaled or broken.
- The first edition of the Afcon was played in 1957 and contested by three countries – Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt with the latter winning it after humiliating the Ethiopians 4-0 in the final.
- The first ever Afcon match was played between Sudan and Egypt with the Pharaohs winning it 2-1 with Egyptian Raafat Attia the scorer of the first goal.
- Only two countries; Egypt (107) and Ghana (102) have played over a century of matches at the Afcon finals. Cote d’ Ivoire and Nigeria will join the centenary club in this year’s edition as they have so far played 99 and 97 games respectively at the finals.
- Egypt (1957), Ghana (1963), and South Africa (1996) are the only teams to have won the tournament in their debut appearance.
- No team has qualified for most consecutive finals than Tunisia (16) with the Carthage Eagles not missing out since 1994.
- Egypt’s Ahmed Hassan and Cameroon’s Rigobert Song hold the record for the- most number of AFCON participations with each player having featured in 8 finals tournaments in 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010. A record which could be tied by Ghana’s Andre Ayew at the next edition.
- Herve Renard is the only coach to have won the Afcon title with two different national teams – Zambia (2012) and Ivory Coast (2015).
- There have been 17 hat-tricks scored at the Africa Cup of Nations scored by 16 players with the last one being Soufiane Alloudi who scored for Morocco in their 5-1 triumph over Namibia in the 2008 Group Stages. The first one was scored by Ad-Diba in 1957 for Egypt in the 4-0 win over Ethiopia in the final.
- Ghana’s Andre Ayew could break the record for scoring in the most Afcon final tournaments if he scores in Ivory Coast. At the moment, Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o, Ghanaian duo Asamoah Gyan as well as Ayew and Zambia’s Kalusha Bwalya have scored in 6 AFCON Tournaments.
- Cote d’Ivoire have appeared in four AFCON Finals in 1992, 2006, 2012 and 2015 and in 480 minutes of play in AFCON finals have failed to produce a single goal they won on penalties after extra time in 1992 and 2015 and lost on penalties after extra time in 2006, 2012 with all four games ending 0-0.
- Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o is the leading overall Cup of Nations scorer, notching 18 goals in six tournaments between 2000 and 2010.
- However, Ndaye Mulamba scored 9 goals for DR Congo at the 1974 AFCON and no player has managed more in a single tournament.
