AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS HISTORY AND ITS INTERESTING STORYLINE ?
1. 1950’s – 1960’s (Original of the Tournament)
– There was no qualification of the first Afcon edition. The field was made up of the Four Founding Nations of CAF (Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and South Africa)
– But South Africa’s insistence on selecting only white players for it’s squad due to its Apartheid policy let to it’s disqualification. And as a consequence Ethiopia were handed a bye straight to the Final.
– Egypt won the first Afcon Tournament defeating hosts Sudan in the Final.
2. 1960’s (Ghanian Domination ??)
– In 1963 Ghana made it’s first Afcon appearance as host’s and won the title after beating Sudan in the final.
– Two years later the black stars defended the title in Tunisia
3. 1970’s (A Decade of Champions ????????????)
– Six Different Nations won titles from 1970 to 1980
– Sudan, Congo Brazzaville, Congo DR, Morocco, Ghana and Nigeria.
4. 1980’s (Cameroonian Domination ??)
– Between 1980 and 1990 Cameroon managed to reach the final of the Tournament three times in a row.
– Winning the Afcon Cup twice in 1984 and 1988 and losing once on Penalty Shootouts to Egypt in 1986.
5. 1990’s (The Return of South Africa ??)
– South Africa returned, Hosted the 1996 Afcon and won it on Debut. Reached the finals of the next edition in 1998 and came out third in the 2000 edition.
6. 2000’s (Egypt’s Unprecedented Treble ??)
– Egypt Dominated African Football in this Decade.
– Winning the Title (Treble) on three occasions in 2006, 2008 and 2010.
7. 2012’s (Zambia’s Dream Afcon Title ??)
– Zambia finally won the Afcon in Gabon the home soil to the countries fallen Heroes! where the nation lost one of it’s powerful squads of all time.
– After failing to win the Afcon on two occasions in 1974 losing to Congo DR in the final and in 1994 losing to Nigeria
– Zambia finally made it to the final and won it’s first title historically defeating the fancied Ivory Coast squad in 2012.
8. 2024? (History to be Written)