Great Football Tournaments-The Africa Cup of Nations
Africa Cup of Nations
CAF,The Confederation of African Football was founded in 1957 by its original members, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and South Africa and the African Nations Cup was born
It is now known as the Africa Cup Of Nations,and the first tournament was held in Sudan in1957 where Egypt beat Ethiopia 4-0.Only three teams competed as South Africa refused to Field a multi racial team, and withdrew.They were exiled until 1996.
The Cup Winners
Year Winner
1957 Egypt
1959 Egypt
1962 Ethiopia
1963 Ghana
1965 Ghana
1968 Congo (Kinshasa)
1970 Sudan
1972 Congo (Brazzaville)
1974 Zaire
1976 Morocco
1978 Ghana
1980 Nigeria
1982 Ghana
1984 Cameroon
1986 Egypt
1988 Cameroon
1990 Algeria
1992 Ivory Coast
1994 Nigeria
1996 South Africa
1998 Egypt
2000 Cameroon
2002 Cameroon
2004 Tunisia
2006 Egypt
2008 Egypt
2010 Egypt
The Finals history
The cup is held every two years and in the 1960's Ghana were the best team in Africa and used European coaches.The 1968 final was the first to be televised.
In the 1970's six different Nations won the trophy and Ghana became the first to win it three times.
Nigeria hosted the tournament in 1980 and 80,000 fans at the Surulere in Lagos watched the hosts beat Algeria 3-0.In Lybia in 1982 all the games were payed on artificial pitches, in a low scoring tournament the final was decided on penalties' which Ghana won 7-6.
When the hosts Ivory Coast were knocked out in the group stages in 1984 the nation lost interest and the organisers gave away free tickets for the final to ensure a capacity crowd.
Thanks to Cameroons success in the 1986 World Cup,and their 1984 and 1986 Cup of Nations wins many European clubs started to sign the top African players and it resulted in them refusing to release players for the 1990 finals.
In 1992 the number of finalists increased to 12, and the final was decided on spot-kicks. the shoot out lasted 20 minutes, with the ivory coast beating Ghana 11-10.One of best finals seen was played in 1994. Zambia faced Nigeria a year after an air crash had wiped out the Zambian team. Zambia scored after two minutes,but it was two goals from Emmanuel Amunike amazingly making his first appearance of the tournament that won it for the Ivorians.
Top ten goals African Nations Cup
South Africa made their first appearance in the finals n 1996 as hosts and won beating Tunisia in the Soccer City Stadium.
When Cameroon won the trophy in 2002 the became the first team to retain the title in 37 years.The 2006 tournament was won by Egypt and when they beat Cameroon in the 2008 cup held in Ghana it was to be a record breaking sixth African Cup of Nations success.
The next Africa Cup of Nations 2012 will be held in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, after this the finals will be held every two years from 2013 so their is no clash with the world cup.
- World football stadiums.Soccer City Stadium
Soccer City Stadium Johannesburg's Soccer CIty Stadium(also known as the First National Bank stadium) will hold the opening ceremony for the 2010 world cup, and host the 2010 world cup final. The extensive...