As the times for the kick-off match for the 2023 TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations draw nearer, there are fairly a couple of fascinating details to know concerning the continent's extremely revered soccer event.
The event, which begins on January 13, 2024, with the opening match between host nation Ivory Coast and Group A opponents Guinea-Bissau, will finish on February 11, 2024.
On this piece, PUNCH On-line highlights some details concerning the AFCON as shared by CAFOnline.com:
* The primary AFCON event passed off in Sudan in 1957. Solely three nations, hosts Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia, participated in that first event. There was no qualifying match.
* South Africa had been additionally invited to the primary Africa Cup of Nations event in 1957, however their invitation was later withdrawn as a result of nation's apartheid legal guidelines.
* Egypt defeated host nation Sudan within the first match performed on the AFCON, profitable 2-1 on January 10, 1957.
* Raafat Attia scored the primary aim at an AFCON event when he opened the scoring for Egypt of their 2-1 semi-final victory over hosts Sudan in 1957.
* Egypt defeated Ethiopia 4-0 within the last to win the primary AFCON event in 1957.
* Egypt received the primary two AFCON tournaments in 1957 and 1959, whereas in 1962 it got here second, shedding to hosts Ethiopia within the last.
* Ivory Coast hosts the Africa Cup of Nations for the second time; the primary time passed off in 1984.
* When Ivory Coast hosted the AFCON in 1984, eight nations participated. 5 of these nations – Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana and Nigeria will rejoin the host nations. Lacking are Malawi and Togo.
* Egypt has received essentially the most AFCON titles (seven), adopted by Cameroon (5), Ghana (4), Nigeria (three) and the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ivory Coast (two every).
* Egypt and Ghana have each reached 9 AFCON finals, whereas Egypt has received seven, Ghana has 4 wins and Cameroon has performed in seven finals and received 5.
* Ivory Coast have appeared in 4 AFCON finals in 1992, 2006, 2012 and 2015, and in 480 minutes of play within the AFCON finals they’ve failed to provide a single aim. They received on penalties after additional time in 1992 and 2015 and misplaced on penalties after additional time in 2006 and 2012, with all 4 matches ending 0–0.
* Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto'o is the Cup of Nations' main goalscorer, scoring 18 objectives in six tournaments between 2000 and 2010.
* Egypt goalkeeper Essam el Hadary turned the oldest participant to play within the event at 44 years and 21 days when he confronted Cameroon within the 2017 last in Libreville as Egypt misplaced.
* The one time the AFCON opening match ended 0-0 was when South Africa drew 0-0 with Cape Verde in 2013.
* The final host nation to achieve the AFCON finals was Egypt, who received the title on house soil in 2006.
* Egypt has reached the AFCON finals in 5 of the final six tournaments the nation has participated in, profitable in 2006, 2008 and 2010, whereas coming second in 2017 and the 2021 version. Solely in 2019 did they fail as hosts.
* 4 gamers – Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o, Ghanaian duo Asamoah Gyan, in addition to Andre Ayew, and Zambia's Kalusha Bwalya, have scored in six AFCON tournaments. No participant has scored in additional editions of the competitors than herself.
*The AFCON 2023 is the thirty fourth version of the event for the reason that first in 1957.
*The AFCON has expanded from the 16-team event it has been since 1996 to a 24-team occasion in 2019.
*That is the third version through which 24 groups are collaborating.
* 16 gamers have scored 17 hat-tricks on the Africa Cup of Nations, however none since Soufiane Alloudi scored three objectives in Morocco's 5-1 win over Namibia within the 2008 group stage.
* Egypt has had 5 totally different gamers rating six AFCON hat-tricks. No nation has managed to have so many gamers rating a hat-trick on the event.
* The primary hat-trick on the AFCON was scored by Advert-Diba, who scored all 4 of Egypt's objectives of their 4–0 last victory over Ethiopia in 1957.
*Egyptian Hassan El-Shazly is the one participant to attain a number of hat-tricks on the Africa Cup of Nations, in 1963 and 1970.
* Egypt is the one staff to have two gamers rating a hat-trick in the identical match. Hassan El-Shazly and Mohammed Hussein scored all their objectives in a 6–3 win over Nigeria in a bunch stage encounter in 1963.
* Egypt's Ahmed Hassan and Cameroon's Rigobert Tune maintain the document for essentially the most variety of AFCON appearances, with every participant having competed in eight last tournaments in 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010 – a document that may could possibly be tied with Ghana's Andre Ayew on the subsequent version.
* South Africa completed first (1996), second (1998) and third (2000) within the first three AFCON tournaments they entered.
* Ghanaian Charles Gyamfi (1963–1965, 1982) and Egyptian Hassan Shehata (Egypt 2006–2008–2010) are the one coaches to have received the title thrice. Shehata is the one coach to have received the title in three consecutive tournaments.
* Two folks – Egypt's Mahmoud El-Gohary (1959 as a participant, 1998 as a coach) and Stephen Keshi of Nigeria (1994 as a participant, 2013 as a coach) have received the AFCON as a participant and coach.
* Frenchman Herve Renard is the one coach to have received the AFCON with two totally different nations; Zambia in 2012 and Ivory Coast in 2015.
* Senegal coach Aliou Cisse has the undesirable document of shedding within the finals as a participant (2002) and coach (2019). He has now additionally received the event as a coach and took the title with Senegal within the 2021 version.
* In 2004, Frenchman Roger Lemmere turned the primary coach to win the AFCON and UEFA European Championship when he led Tunisia to the title. In 2000 he led France to the European Championships.
* 44 totally different African nations participated within the AFCON, with Comoros and Gambia being the debutants on the final version in Cameroon.
* Egypt (1957), Ghana (1963) and South Africa (1996) are the one groups to win the event of their debut look.
* As of 2008, Ghana has reached the AFCON semi-finals in six of the final eight tournaments and has been defeated by the finalists twice in that point, shedding to Egypt in 2010 and Ivory Coast in 2017.
* Tunisia has certified for its sixteenth consecutive AFCON event, a streak that began in 1994. No staff has ever achieved 16 consecutive {qualifications}.
* Egypt has performed extra matches within the AFCON than another staff (107), they’ve received extra matches than another staff (60). Ghana has performed 102 matches and received 54. Ivory Coast and Nigeria will be part of the centenary membership as they’ve at the moment performed 99 and 97 matches respectively within the finals.
* Ndaye Mulamba scored 9 objectives for DR Congo on the 1974 AFCON. No participant has achieved extra in a single event.
*The identify of the continental trophy has modified thrice in historical past. The primary trophy was the Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem Trophy, adopted by the African Unity Trophy after which the Africa Cup of Nations.
* Twelve former African champions will journey to Ivory Coast for the 2023 version of the Africa Cup of Nations.
*The highest 15 ranked African groups have all certified for the 2023 version of the Africa Cup of Nations.
* 5 South African groups have certified for the 2023 version of the Africa Cup of Nations, essentially the most the COSAFA area has achieved in a single last.
*Each winner of the final 25 editions of the event courting again to 1974 has certified for the present version of the finals. The final winner not included is the 1972 champion Congo.
*Each finalist from the 1984 version has reached the 2023 version of the Africa Cup of Nations. The final staff to achieve the ultimate and never qualify is 1982 runners-up Libya.
