AFCON RECORDS AND STATISTICS
Cameroon is hosting the Nations Cup for the second time.
The Central African state staged the biennial football showpiece in 1972 and finished in third place.
She also hosted the 2016 African Women’s Cup of Nations and the African Nations Championship in 2018.
The Indomitable Lions are gunning for their sixth trophy after triumphs in 1984, 1988, 2000, 2002 and 2017.
Reefat Ateya Helmy is the first player to score in the Nations Cup.
He netted in Egypt’s 2-1 win over Sudan on February 10,1957.
Ghana Egypt and South Africa are the only nations to win Africa’s premier football competition on their debut.
Egypt’s Ahmed Hassan Kamel and Essam Kamal Tawfik El Hadary are the only players with four winners medals in 1998, 2006, 2008 and 2010.
Six players have triumphed thrice in the competition, they are Hossam Hassan Hussein 1986, 1998 and 2006 Jacques Celestin Songo’o 1984, 1988 and 2002, Abdelzaher Ahmed Hassan Mohamed El Saqqa 1998, 2006 and 2010 Ahmed Fathi Abdelmoniem Ibrahim 2006, 2008 and 2010 Wael Kamel Gomaa El Hooty 2006, 2008 and 2010 Emad Mohamed Abdelnabi Ibrahim alias Motaeb 2006, 2008 and 2010.
Ghana is the only nation to appear in the Final four times consecutively 1963, 1965, 1968 and 1970.
The tournament’s record goalscorer is Samuel Eto’o Fils with eighteen.
The highest number of goals netted in a single competition is nine by Pierre Ndaye Mulamba of D.R Congo at the 1974 edition staged in Egypt.
Charles Kumi Gyamfi and Hassan Ali Shehata Hamad are the only managers to win the tournament on three separate occasions.
Mahmoud Nasir Yusuf El Gohary and Stephen Okechukwu Chinedu Keshi are the two individuals to win the competition both as a player and coach.
Ransford Yaw Asamoah Gyan, Samuel Eto’o Fils and Kalusha Bwalya are the only players to score in six successive tournaments.
Ahmed Hassan Kamel and Rigobert Song Banahag are the only players with eight appearances in the competition.
Claude Francois Marie Le Roy and Clemens Westerhof are the only trainers to finish in first, second and third place.
Herve Jean-Marie Roger Renard is the only manager to win the competition with two teams Zambia in 2012 and La Cote D’Ivoire in 2015.
Four brothers have won the competition with their respective teams, they are Luciano and Italo Vassalo with Ethiopia in 1962, Francois Omam-Biyik and Andre Kana Biyik with Cameroon in 1988 Christopher and Felix Katongo with Zambia in 2012 Gnegneri Yahya and Kolo Abib Toure with the Ivory Coast in 2015.
The Ivory Coast and Cameroon are the only countries to triumph in the competition without conceding a goal.
The Ivorians attained the feat in 1992 and Cameroon followed suit in 2002.
Nigeria’s Mudashiru Babatunde Lawal is the only player to score in two separate Finals in 1980 and 1984.
Tesfaye Gebreyesus Difue, Ali Bennaceur and Mourad Daami are the only Referees to handle two different Finals.
Egypt remains the only country to win the tournament thrice in succession from 2006 through to 2010.
Charles Addo Odametey captained Ghana to the crown in 1965, his nephew Michael Hesse Odamtten clinched it with the Black Stars in 1982.
Saint-Joseph Gadji-Celi skippered the Ivory Coast to her first title in 1992, his nephew Tallo Gadji-Celi Carmel annexed it with the Elephants in 2015.
Stephen Okechukwu Chinedu Keshi, Augustine Owen Eguavoen, Alloysius Uzoma Agu, Rashidi Yekini, Augustine Azuka Okocha, George Finidi, Mutiu Abiodun Adepoju, Mark Anthony Fish, Lucas Valeriu Ntuba Radebe, John Rantsi Tlale, Helman Nkosiyethu Mkhalele, John Lesiba Moshoeu, Victor Nosa Ikpeba and Sunday Ogorchukwu Oliseh are the only players to finish in first, second and third place.
The only player to captain three winning teams is Ahmed Hassan Kamel of Egypt in 2006, 2008 and 2010.
Egypt and Cameroon have contested the Final thrice in 1986, 2008 and 2017.
Cameroon have also contested the Final thrice with Nigeria in 1984, 1988 and 2002.
Claude Le Roy is the only manager to coach six different teams in the tournament.
Ghana and Egypt have both appeared in the Final on nine occasions.
The Black Stars in 1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1978, 1982, 1992, 2010 and 2015.
The Pharaohs in 1957, 1959, 1962, 1986, 2006, 1998, 2008, 2010 and 2017.
Otto Martin Pfister has lost the Final with two teams Ghana in 1992 and Cameroon in 2008.
AFCON winning managers
1957-Mourad Fahmy
1959-Pal Titkos
1962-Ydnekatchew Tessema Eshete
1963 and 1965- Charles Kumi Gyamfi
1968-Ferenc Csanadi
1970- Abdul Fattah Hamad Abouzeid
1972-Adolphe Bibanzoulou
1974-Blajoge Vidinic
1976-Virgil Vintala Mardarescu
1978-Frederick Osam-Duodu
1980-Otavio Martins Gloria
1982-Charles Kumi Gyamfi
1984-Radivoje Ognjanovic
1986-Micheal John Smith
1988-Claude Marie Francois Le Roy
1990-Abdelhamid Kermali
1992-Paul Yeo Martial
1994-Clemens Westerhof
1996-Clive William Barker
1998-Mahmoud Nasir Yusuf El Gohary
2000-Pierre Lechantre
2002-Winfried Anton Schaefer
2004-Roger Leon-Maurice Lemerre Desprez
2006, 2008 and 2010-Hassan Ali Shehata Hamad
2012 and 2015-Herve Jean-Marie Roger Renard
2013-Stephen Okechukwu Chinedu Keshi
2017-Hugo Henri Broos
2019-Djamel Belmadi
AFCON winning captains
1957-Hanafi Bastan
1959-Mohamed Saleh Selim
1962-Italo Vassalo
1963-Edward Jonah Aggrey-Fynn
1965-Charles Addo Odametey
1968-Joseph Mafu Kibonge
1970-Mohamed Amin Zaki
1972-Jacques Yvon Ndolou
1974-Raoul Albert Kidumu Mantantu
1976-Ahmed Abdullah Faras
1978-Emmanuel Awuley Quaye
1980-Christian Chukwu Okoro
1982-Emmanuel Kwesi Quarshie
1984-Theophile Abega Mbida
1986-Mahmoud Ibrahim El Khatib
1988-Albert Roger Milla
1990-Mustapha Radjer
1992-Saint-Joseph Cadji-Celi
1994-Augustine Owen Eguavoen
1996-Neil Robert Tovey
1998-Hossam Hassan Hussein
2000 and 2002 Rigobert Song Bahanag
2004-Riadh Ben Khemais Bouazizi
2006, 2008 and 2010-Ahmed Hassan Kamel
2012-Christopher Katongo
2013-Joseph Philip Yobo
2015-Gnegneri Yahya Toure
2017-Benjamin Moukandjo Bile
2019-Riyad Karim Mahrez
AFCON Final Referees
1957-Youssef Ibrahim Mohammed
1959-Zivko Bajic
1962-John George Brooks
1963-Hedi Ben Abdelkader
1965-Abdelaziz Chekaimi
1968-Mohamed Diab El Attar
1970-Tesfaye Gebreyesus Difue
1972-Abdelkader Aouissi
1974-Saad Eddin Mohamed Gaar
1976-Lawrence Nyirenda Chayu
1978-Youssef Muhammad El Ghoul
1980-Tesfaye Gebreyesus Difue
1982-Sohan Ramlochum
1984 and 1986-Ali Bennaceur
1988-Idrissa Sarr
1990-Jean-Fidele Diramba
1992-Badara Mamaya Sene
1994-An Yan Lim Kee Chong
1996-Charles Masembe
1998-Said Belqola
2000 and 2006-Mourad Daami
2002-Gamal Mahmoud Ahmed El Ghandour
2004-Falla N’Doye
2008-Bonaventure Coffi Codja
2010-Koman Coulibaly
2012-Badara Diatta
2013-Djamel Haimoudi
2015-Bakary Papa Gassama
2017-Janny Sikazwe
2019-Sidi Alioum
Ghana will face Morocco in a Group C fixture at Yaounde’s Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium today January 10, 2022.
The Black Stars have played North African opposition in her AFCON opener on five occasions in 1963, 1980, 1982, 1998 and 2002.
The four-time African Champions hasn’t lost in those clashes.
1963
Ghana 1 Tunisia 1
Wilberforce Kwadwo Mfum
Mohamed Salah Jedidi
1980
Ghana 0 Algeria 0
1982
Ghana 2 Libya 2
George Mustapha Alhassan
Samuel Opoku Nti
Fawzi Ahmed Omar El Essawi
Abdulrazak Jaranah
1998
Ghana 2 Tunisia 0
Alexander Nyarko
Mohammed Fargo
2002
Ghana 0 Morocco 0
Ghana is facing Morocco for the fourth time after previous outings in 1980, 2002 and 2008.
1980
Ghana 0 Morocco 1
Khaled Abyad Labied
2002
Ghana 0 Morocco 0
2008
Ghana 2 Morocco 0
Sulley Ali Muntari
Michael Kwabena Amponsah Essien