The African Cup of Nations (Africa Cup) is the main competition of national teams, held under the auspices of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The very first tournament was held in 1957, that is, the competition is as old as CAF itself.
Tournament regulations
The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations will feature 24 countries divided into six groups. The top two teams from each group, along with the top four third-place teams, advance to the round of 16.
The group stage starts on January 13 and will last until January 24. The 1/8 finals will take place from January 27 to 30, the quarter finals will take place on February 2 and 3, the semi-finals will take place on February 7, the third place match will take place on February 10, and the final will take place on February 11.
Teams in a group are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and in the event of a tie, the following tiebreaker criteria apply to determine the ranking (Article 74 of the Regulations):
Points in matches between equal teams; Goal difference in head-to-head matches between equal teams; Goals in matches between equal teams; If more than two teams are tied on points and there is still a tie after applying all of the above criteria, all of the above criteria apply exclusively to that subset of teams; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals in all group matches; Draw.
Schedule
Group stage
Group A:
13th of January. Ivory Coast 2-0 Guinea-Bissau 14 January. Nigeria – Equatorial Guinea 1:1 on January 18. Equatorial Guinea – Guinea-Bissau 4:2 on January 18. Ivory Coast – Nigeria 0:1 January 22. Equatorial Guinea – Cote d'Ivoire 4:0 January 22. Guinea-Bissau – Nigeria 0:1
Group B:
January 14. Egypt – Mozambique 2:2 January 14. Ghana – Cape Verde 1:2 January 18. Egypt – Ghana 2:2 January 19. Cape Verde – Mozambique 3:0 January 22. Mozambique – Ghana 2:2 January 22. Cape Verde 2-2 Egypt
Group C:
January 15. Senegal – Gambia 3:0 January 15. Cameroon 1-1 Guinea 19 January. Senegal – Cameroon 3:1 January 19. Guinea – Gambia 1:0 January 23. Guinea – Senegal January 23. Gambia – Cameroon
Group D:
January 15. Algeria 1-1 Angola 16 January. Burkina Faso – Mauritania 1:0 January 20. Algeria – Burkina Faso 2:2 on January 20. Mauritania – Angola 2:3 January 23. Angola – Burkina Faso January 23. Mauritania – Algeria
Group E:
January 16. Tunisia – Namibia 0:1 January 16. Mali 2-0 South Africa 20 January. Tunisia – Mali 1:1 January 21. South Africa – Namibia 4:0 January 24. South Africa – Tunisia January 24. Namibia – Mali
Group F:
January 17. Morocco – Tanzania 3:0 January 17. DR Congo – Zambia 1:1 January 21. Morocco – DR Congo 1:1 January 21. Zambia – Tanzania 1:1 January 24. Tanzania – DR Congo January 24. Zambia – Morocco
Tournament history
Initially, the number of participants was small, but gradually the tournament covered the entire African continent. Since 1968, the tournament has been held regularly every two years.. The winner received the right to participate in the Confederations Cup. Starting in 2013, the tournament began to be held in odd-numbered years and thus no longer took place during World Championship years.
First draw of the tournament
The first tournament was held in 1957 in the capital of Sudan, Khartoum, with the participation of only three teams: Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.. The tournament was won by the Egyptians. In the final match they defeated Ethiopia with a score of 4:0, with all four goals scored by one player – El Diba.
The South African national team also planned to participate in the tournament.. She was due to play Ethiopia in the semi-finals, but the South Africans agreed to send a team of all-white or all-black players.
CAF demanded to send a mixed team. As a result, South Africa refused to participate in the tournament and left CAF. Until its re-entry into the Confederation in 1992, South Africa did not take part in international competitions on the African continent.
The current winner of the CAN is the Senegal team, which defeated the Egyptian team in the 2022 final (0:0, 4:2 in a penalty shootout).
The most titled team of the Cup is the Egyptian team – the Egyptians took part in the tournament 25 times (also a record), and on seven occasions they celebrated victory. In second place in terms of victories is the Cameroon team (20 participations, 5 victories), and Ghana in third (23 participations, 4 victories).
The best scorer in CAS history is the legendary Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto'o – he has 18 goals.. Next come Ivorian Laurent Poku (14 goals), and Nigerian Rashidi Yekini (13 goals).
African Cup of Nations 2023
This draw will be the 34th in the history of CAS, and it will take place in Côte d'Ivoire. Initially, three countries competed to host the tournament: Algeria, Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea.. As a result, the application of Côte d'Ivoire won, and Guinea received the right to host the 2023 African Cup of Nations.
But due to the uprisings that broke out in Cameroon, Egypt decided to host the 2019 African Cup of Nations. Thus, all subsequent tournaments were shifted by two years: Cameroon will host in 2021, Cote d'Ivoire in 2023, and Guinea will host the tournament in 2025.
But on July 3, 2022, the tournament was postponed to 2024 due to weather conditions.