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Football · Level 4: Intermediate · Sub-level 4.45

Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON)

10 tests · 100 facts · updated 12 October 2026 · markdown

CAF Africa Cup of Nations history from 1957: Egypt's record 7 titles, iconic teams (Cameroon 5, Ghana 4, Nigeria 3, Ivory Coast 3), 2023 tournament in Ivory Coast (Emerse Fae comeback), 2025 controversy (Morocco vs Senegal). Key African football stars and moments.

Each test below is ten questions on Insporta. The list under a test is what the questions check: one fact per question, with the source it was written from. Read it before the test, or come back from a wrong answer.

Test 1Origins and historyTake a test

  1. The first AFCON was played in 1957 in Sudan — with only 3 teams (Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia). Egypt won by beating Ethiopia 4-0.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  2. Egypt won the first AFCON, beating Ethiopia 4-0 in the final in Khartoum. Egypt has since won 7 total titles.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  3. AFCON has been held every two years for most of its history. In December 2025 CAF announced a switch to a four-year cycle: after the 2027 and 2028 editions the next tournament is 2032.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  4. CAF was founded in 1957 by Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Sudan. They founded AFCON in the same year.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  5. Apartheid law meant they offered an all-white or an all-black squad, and CAF disqualified them. They did not return until 1996, when they won it.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  6. South Africa returned to AFCON in 1996 and won the tournament as hosts, beating Tunisia 2-0 in the final, Bafana Bafana's only AFCON title.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  7. AFCON expanded to 24 teams from the 2019 edition. Before that, the format was 16 teams, from 1996 to 2017.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  8. AFCON expanded from 16 to 24 teams for AFCON 2019 in Egypt. Groups of 4 and knockout rounds from R16.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  9. Egypt beat Ethiopia 4-0 in Khartoum. Sudan, the hosts, were the third and last entrant after South Africa were disqualified.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  10. Nigeria won the first two, in 1991 and 1995. CAF counts the Women's Africa Cup of Nations from 1998, and Nigeria have won ten of those.

    Source: CAF Women's Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

Test 2Most successful nationsTake a test

  1. Egypt: 7 AFCON titles (1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2006, 2008, 2010) — the record.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations records · recall

  2. Cameroon: 5 AFCON titles (1984, 1988, 2000, 2002, 2017). Second-most successful nation.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations records · recall

  3. Ghana: 4 AFCON titles (1963, 1965, 1978, 1982). Long-time dominant force but no title since 1982.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations records · recall

  4. Nigeria: 3 AFCON titles (1980, 1994, 2013). Notable Nigerian legends: Osimhen, Kanu, Okocha.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations records · recall

  5. Ivory Coast: 3 AFCON titles (1992, 2015, 2023). Equal with Nigeria.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations records · recall

  6. Ivory Coast won 2023 AFCON on home soil, beating Nigeria 2-1 in Abidjan (11 Feb 2024). Their 3rd title.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  7. Senegal beat Egypt 4-2 on penalties in Yaoundé, Cameroon (Feb 2022). Sadio Mané scored the winning penalty. First AFCON for Senegal.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  8. Algeria beat Senegal 1-0 in Cairo (July 2019). Baghdad Bounedjah scored an early goal. Riyad Mahrez led the team.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  9. Thirteen times in all, since Egypt and Ghana have done it more than once. Senegal's appeal against the 2025 ruling was still before CAS in September 2026.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations records · recall

  10. Nigeria have dominated the Women's AFCON with more than ten titles. South Africa broke through in 2022 with their first.

    Source: CAF Women's Africa Cup of Nations records · recall

Test 3AFCON 2023 detailTake a test

  1. AFCON 2023 was hosted by Ivory Coast (delayed from 2023 for weather; played Jan-Feb 2024). Also called Côte d'Ivoire.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  2. Gasset was dismissed after a 4-0 group defeat to Equatorial Guinea. Fae, his assistant and a former Ivory Coast player, won the tournament.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  3. Ivory Coast lost to Nigeria (0-1) and Equatorial Guinea (0-4) in the group. Qualified only as one of the 4 best 3rd-placed teams after the last round.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  4. Sébastien Haller scored the 81st-minute winner. Remarkable — he had recovered from testicular cancer diagnosed in July 2022.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  5. Franck Kessié scored a header (62') from Simon Adingra's assist to equalise 1-1. Haller then scored the winner (81').

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  6. Troost-Ekong (Nigeria captain) headed in a corner in the 38th minute. Nigeria led 1-0 until Kessié equalized.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  7. Emilio Nsue (Equatorial Guinea) was the top scorer with 5 goals, including in Equatorial Guinea's 4-0 win over Ivory Coast.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations awards · recall

  8. Two assists in the final for Ivory Coast. The player of the tournament was Nigeria's captain, William Troost-Ekong.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations awards · recall

  9. Ivory Coast beat DR Congo 1-0 in the SF (Sébastien Haller). Nigeria beat South Africa 4-2 on penalties in the other SF.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  10. Senegal went to penalties, Mali to extra time, DR Congo was won 1-0, and the final against Nigeria was won 2-1.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

Test 4Iconic legendsTake a test

  1. Salah lost to Cameroon in the 2017 final and to Senegal on penalties in the 2021 final.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  2. Samuel Eto'o won it with Barcelona in 2006 and 2009, then with Inter in 2010, the last two as part of trebles.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  3. Mane scored the winning penalty in Senegal's first AFCON title. He left Liverpool for Bayern in 2022 and has played in Saudi Arabia since 2023.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  4. Didier Drogba captained Ivory Coast's 2000s-2010s golden generation but never won an AFCON as a player. Was among fans at the 2023 win.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  5. Five goals in Tunisia. He also scored Nigeria's first World Cup goal a few months later, and his celebration in the net became the image of it.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  6. Roger Milla was Cameroon's iconic figure. Also scored 4 goals at Italia 90 aged 38 — including the famous corner-flag dance celebrations.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  7. Riyad Mahrez led Algeria to AFCON 2019. Scored the semifinal winning free-kick vs Nigeria.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  8. Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon) has 18 AFCON goals — a record. He appeared at 6 AFCONs.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations records · recall

  9. In Lyon in June 2003, against Colombia. He was twenty-eight, and Cameroon went on to play the final three days later.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  10. He had been part of Leverkusen's unbeaten Bundesliga season but missed the tournament entirely.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

Test 5Legendary matchesTake a test

  1. Senegal beat Egypt 4-2 on penalties after a goalless final in Yaoundé. Sadio Mané scored the decisive penalty.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  2. Algeria beat Senegal 1-0 in Cairo. Baghdad Bounedjah scored after just 79 seconds.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  3. Neither side scored in Yaounde across 120 minutes. Egypt then lost the final to Senegal on penalties as well.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  4. At the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, on the way to the title in South Africa's first tournament after readmission. The 4-2 was Tunisia against Zambia in the other semi, played in Durban.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  5. Six goals after extra time in Addis Ababa in 1962, Ethiopia's only title and the highest-scoring final the tournament has had.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations records · recall

  6. Zambia won the 2012 AFCON with an incredible 8-7 penalty shootout victory over Ivory Coast in Libreville — near where Zambia's 1993 plane crash tragedy occurred.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  7. A military aircraft carrying the national team crashed off Libreville in April 1993, killing eighteen players and the staff with them.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · applied

  8. A military aircraft went down off Libreville on the way to a World Cup qualifier, killing eighteen players and the staff with them.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  9. Zaire beat Zambia in a replayed final, then became the first sub-Saharan side at a World Cup, where Yugoslavia beat them 9-0.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  10. A 1-0 quarter-final win through Patrick Mboma. Cameroon went on to retain the trophy, beating Senegal on penalties in the final.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

Test 6AFCON 2025 controversyTake a test

  1. From 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026, across six cities. It was Morocco's first time hosting since 1988.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  2. A 1-0 win in Rabat through Pape Gueye in extra time. CAF later awarded the match to Morocco by forfeit.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  3. The Appeal Board ruled in March 2026 that Senegal's walk-off was a forfeit. Senegal took the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  4. Senegal beat Egypt 1-0 through Sadio Mane, and Morocco beat Nigeria on penalties after a goalless match.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  5. The final was played on 18 January 2026 in Rabat. The tournament dates were 21 Dec 2025 – 18 Jan 2026.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  6. Pape Gueye scored for Senegal in extra time (before the walkoff controversy).

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  7. The players left the field for about fifteen minutes when Morocco were awarded a penalty, then returned to finish the match.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  8. The court in Lausanne hears appeals against decisions by sports federations, and such cases usually take about a year.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  9. Walid Regragui led the hosts Morocco, the same coach who took them to the 2022 World Cup semi-final.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  10. Pape Thiaw was Senegal's coach at AFCON 2025 (having replaced Aliou Cissé earlier). Under him, Senegal contested the final.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

Test 7Individual awards and recordsTake a test

  1. From 2000 to 2010, winning two of them and finishing as the competition's leading scorer of all time.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations records · recall

  2. After a season in which he took Napoli to their first Serie A title in thirty-three years. Lookman won the award the following year.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations awards · recall

  3. The Algeria midfielder, in a side that went unbeaten. Mahrez scored the semi-final free kick that beat Nigeria but did not take the award.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations awards · recall

  4. The Ghana winger also took goal of the tournament, though Ivory Coast beat Ghana on penalties in the final. Bassogog won the award in 2017.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations awards · recall

  5. Ahmed Hassan captained Egypt to 3 consecutive AFCONs (2006, 2008, 2010). He also holds the record for most Egypt caps (184).

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  6. Hassan Shehata won 3 consecutive AFCONs with Egypt — a record for a manager. He's the greatest AFCON coach ever.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations records · recall

  7. Seven titles, three of them in a row from 2006 to 2010. Cameroon have five.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  8. Eleven: six from France Football's award, from Roger Milla to Theophile Abega, and five from CAF, four of them Samuel Eto'o's. Since 1992 alone Nigeria lead with seven.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations awards · recall

  9. 2011 to 2014, a run nobody else has managed. Eto'o also has four awards, but spread across 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2010.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations awards · recall

  10. A deflected shot gave Algeria the only goal against Senegal in Cairo, one of the fastest in any AFCON final.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations records · recall

Test 8African football legacyTake a test

  1. George Weah (Liberia) won the 1995 Ballon d'Or — the only African player to win it. He later became President of Liberia (2018-2024).

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  2. They had gone out in the group stage at the two previous World Cups, and their run in Qatar came months after a disappointing AFCON.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  3. Twenty-four against forty-eight, both in groups of four followed by knockout rounds.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  4. Cisse had captained Senegal at the 2002 final and missed the decisive penalty; twenty years later he coached the side that won it.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  5. Ethiopia won in 1962 and have not come close since. Sudan's only title came in 1970, while Egypt have seven.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  6. Abedi Pele won the 1982 Africa Cup of Nations with Ghana at seventeen, and reached two European Cup finals with Marseille, losing in 1991 and winning in 1993.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  7. The African Cup of Champions Clubs, renamed the CAF Champions League in 1997. Al Ahly of Egypt have won it more often than anyone.

    Source: CAF Champions League history · recall

  8. Twelve, the most by far. TP Mazembe have five.

    Source: CAF Champions League records · recall

  9. Hakimi has been PSG's right-back since 2021 and captains Morocco's defence.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  10. Egypt went to Italy in 1934. Morocco were the next African side, in 1970; Zaire the first from south of the Sahara; Tunisia the first to win a match.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

Test 9Recent tournamentsTake a test

  1. Ivory Coast sacked Jean-Louis Gasset after a disastrous group stage, Emerse Fae took over, and the hosts recovered to win the trophy, a remarkable comeback.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  2. Tunisia lost 1-0 to Senegal after extra time, through a Dylan Bronn own goal. Madagascar reached the quarter-finals on debut; Benin got there for the first time at their fourth finals.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  3. Édouard Mendy was outstanding in Senegal's 2021 AFCON win — Chelsea's shot-stopper at the time.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  4. Walid Regragui took over two months before the tournament and Morocco beat Belgium, Spain and Portugal on the way.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  5. Moved out of the West African rainy season, which is why it carries the previous year's name.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  6. They lost to the eventual winners, Ivory Coast, on penalties in the round of sixteen.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  7. Cheekbone and eye-socket fractures from a clash with Milan Skriniar, Napoli against Inter, in November 2021.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  8. Cameroon hosted AFCON 2021 (Jan-Feb 2022). Coach Antonio Conceição led home team to 3rd place after losing SF to Egypt on pens.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  9. Thirty-seven years earlier. Morocco were also stripped of the 2015 edition after asking to postpone it during the Ebola outbreak.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

  10. AFCON 2023 final was played on 11 February 2024 at Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan.

    Source: CAF Africa Cup of Nations history · recall

Test 10AFCON and the European calendarTake a test

  1. A January tournament takes a club's African players away for up to six weeks in the part of the season that decides most competitions.

    Source: Football history and competition records · recall

  2. The tournament sits on the international match calendar, so a club that refuses to release a player faces sanction.

    Source: Football history and competition records · recall

  3. Much of West and Central Africa has its rainy season in June and July, which is why AFCON 2023 was played in January 2024.

    Source: Football history and competition records · recall

  4. Both the 2021 and 2023 editions were played in the January and February after their name year, because June and July are the wet months across much of the continent.

    Source: Football history and competition records · recall

  5. A run to the final covers the turn of the year, the domestic cups and several league rounds, which is why squads are built with the January gap in mind.

    Source: Football history and competition records · recall

  6. AFCON ran on a two-year cycle, so an African player could face the calendar problem twice in the span of one European Championship. In December 2025 CAF announced a four-year cycle after the 2028 edition.

    Source: Football history and competition records · recall

  7. Every other South American nation has qualified at least once. Venezuela came closest in the 2026 cycle, missing the play-off place on the final day.

    Source: Football history and competition records · recall

  8. FIFA's expanded Club World Cup filled June and July 2025 in the United States, so CAF moved the tournament to 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026.

    Source: Football history and competition records · recall

  9. AFCON 2021 ran in Cameroon in January 2022, so African players faced two tournaments inside eleven months of a single club season.

    Source: Football history and competition records · recall

  10. A dozen titles from seventeen finals, more of each than any other club on the continent.

    Source: Football history and competition records · recall

Sources

FIFA / UEFA / CONMEBOL / CAF / national FA official records

  • CAF Africa Cup of Nations history68
  • CAF Africa Cup of Nations records11
  • Football history and competition records10
  • CAF Africa Cup of Nations awards7
  • CAF Women's Africa Cup of Nations history1
  • CAF Women's Africa Cup of Nations records1
  • CAF Champions League history1
  • CAF Champions League records1