Africa Cup of Nations Betting Tips

About Africa Cup of Nations

The Africa Cup of Nations is the premier international men's association football competition in Africa. It is sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and was first held in 1957. It has been held every two years since 1968 and in odd-numbered years since 2013.

There were only three nations participating in the 1957 tournament: Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia. South Africa was originally supposed to take part as well, but was disqualified due to the apartheid policies of the government at the time. Since then, the tournament has grown considerably, making a qualifying tournament necessary.

The number of participants in the finals reached 16 in 1998. The format remained unchanged until 2017, with the 16 teams drawn into four groups of four teams each and the top two teams in each group progressing to a 'knockout' stage. The Africa Cup of Nations was moved from January to June on 20 July 2017 and expanded from 16 to 24 teams.

Egypt is the most successful nation in the Cup's history with seven victories. Three trophies have been awarded throughout the tournament's history, with Ghana and Cameroon winning the first two versions after winning a tournament three times each. The current trophy was first awarded in 2002. Egypt won three titles in a row in 2006, 2008 and 2010. To avoid interfering with the FIFA World Cup, the tournament format was switched to odd-numbered years in 2013. Senegal won the tournament in 2021, beating Egypt on penalties.

Qualifying

The qualifying phase has evolved over time in line with the increasing number of nations affiliated to the Confederation of African Football (CAF). It was established from 1962 onwards. In the first two editions of the Africa Cup of Nations, the founding nations of the CAF took part in the finals, namely Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan. in 1962, new nations were admitted, forcing CAF to set up a qualifying phase for the final tournament in the form of knockout matches. This system was used until the 1992 edition, when the organisation of the qualifying phase became similar to that of the UEFA European Championship.

Final phase

Only the hosts received an automatic qualification place, the other 23 teams qualified through a qualifying tournament. In the final round, the 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four teams each. The teams in each group played a single round-robin tournament. After the group stage, the top two teams and the top four third-placed teams advanced to the round of 16. The winners moved on to the quarter-finals. The winners of the quarter-finals progressed to the semi-finals. The losers of the semi-finals played in a deciding match for third place, while the winners of the semi-finals played in the final.