Africa Cup of Nations winners

The Africa Cup of Nations (also called the African Cup of Nations) is a biennial inter-country football (soccer) tournament that is widely considered the most prestigious competition on the continent. It is contested by national teams and organized by the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF, the governing body of international football in Africa). It has been awarded more than 30 times since its inception in 1957. The 2025 edition of the competition, hosted by Morocco, recorded more than 1.1 million spectators by the end of the quarterfinals, the largest attendance numbers ever for any single AFCON tournament.

AFCON 2025 highlights

• Senegal beat Morocco 1–0 after extra time (additional playing period after the regular 90 minutes) in the final on January 18, 2026, to win its second title. The match was highly controversial, with the referee disallowing a goal scored by Senegal and later awarding Morocco a controversial penalty during the closing minutes of regular time. Senegal coach Pape Thiaw led the team off the pitch in protest and the match was delayed by more than 15 minutes before the Senegal players returned to the field. Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy saved the penalty taken by Morocco striker Brahim Diaz and the match went to extra time, during which Senegal scored the winning goal. However, in March 2026 the CAF Appeal Board ruled that Senegal had forfeited the match, and Morocco was declared the winner.
• In the match for 3rd place on January 17, 2026, between the losing semifinalists, Nigeria beat Egypt, 4–2, in a penalty shootout after neither side scored in regular time.
• In the quarterfinals, Egypt knocked out defending champions Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal beat Mali, Nigeria defeated Algeria, and Morocco knocked out Cameroon. With the exception of Mali, all the quarterfinalists are former AFCON title winners.
• Moroccan footballer Brahim Diaz (five), Nigerian player Vicor Osimhen (four), and Egyptian star Mohamed Salah (four) are the top three leading goalscorers of the tournament ahead of the semifinals.
• The 2025 edition broke the record for most goals scored in a single AFCON tournament, with a tally of 120 goals scored as of the semifinals. The earlier record was 119 goals scored during the 2023 edition.
• The competition recorded the largest attendance numbers for any single edition.
• Moroccan striker Brahim Diaz became the first player in AFCON history to score in each of the first five matches of any edition of the tournament. He also broke the record for most goals scored by a Moroccan player in a single tournament.
• Egypt’s Mohamed Salah became the first player to score goals against 11 different countries at AFCON tournaments, achieving this feat during his country’s quarterfinal win against Cote d’Ivoire.
• Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou equaled the record for keeping the second-most clean sheets (not allowing the other team to score a goal in a match) in AFCON history. He is tied with Cote d’Ivoire’s Boubacar Copa at 11 clean sheets each. Egyptian shotstopper Essam El Hadary holds the record, with 14 clean sheets across AFCON tournaments.
• At 34 years and 306 days old, Algeria captain Riyad Mahrez became the oldest player to score a brace (two goals in a single match) in the history of AFCON. He broke the earlier record set by Tunisia’s Ziad Tlemcani, who was 34 years and 282 days old when he scored during the 1998 tournament.
• Senegal striker Sadio Mané surpassed Cote d’Ivoire player Kolo Toure’s record for most appearances as a starting player at AFCON (28). Mané’s 29th appearance came in the AFCON 2025 final.

History

The competition’s format has changed over time, with the number of teams increasing from 3 in 1957 to, after several expansions, 24 in 2019. Growing participation also led to the introduction of qualifying rounds in 1968, the same year that CAF decided to hold the tournament biennially. Fifteen countries have won the AFCON since its inception. Egypt has won the final match seven times—chalking wins in consecutive tournaments in 1957 and 1959 and then again in 2006, 2008, and 2010. Cameroon has won five championships. Ghana has won the cup four times.

The highest scoring final games in the tournament’s history took place in 1957 (the inaugural competition in which Egypt defeated Sudan 4–0) and 1962 (the tournament’s third outing, in which Ethiopia outscored Egypt [which was known as the United Arab Republic at the time] 4–2).

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The 2025 edition was the second time Morocco hosted the AFCON. The mascot for the tournament is Assad, a Barbary lion inspired by the host country’s national animal. The official match ball for the tournament, named ITRI (star), was developed by the CAF and sports brand PUMA. The competition’s official anthem, Africallez, was jointly performed by Moroccan performers Jaylann and L’Artiste and Beninese diva Angélique Kidjo during the AFCON opening ceremony.

Future

The next edition of the AFCON will be jointly hosted by Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda, and is scheduled to be held in June–July 2027. In December 2025 the CAF announced that the competition would be held once every four years and be played in even-numbered years from 2028 onwards.

The full list of AFCON winners can be found in the table.