10 Shocking Facts About The African Cup Of Nations You Would Never Believe

Wonders they say will never end and mysteries will ever abound, the African Cup of Nations may have ended with the Indomitable Lions dominating Africa once again but before your very eyes will you be reading some shocking facts that you would find hard to believe but believe me when I say they are all true

1 Ivory Coast became champions of Africa for the first time in 1992 and second time in 2015 beating the same country the same way, penalty shootout and the country is Ghana

2 Ghana lost three third place matches in three years, two to Mali in 2012 and 2013 respectively and one to Boukina Faso in 2017

3 Cameroun has won the African Nations Cup for a record five times, 1984, 1988, 2000, 2002 and 2017. Three of those titles they won were against one country, Nigeria.

4 Nigeria a three time winner of the African Cup of Nations has won it in three parts of Africa, West Africa as the host in 1980, North Africa in Tunisia in 1994 and in the South in South Africa in 2013

5 In the African Cup of Nations in 2012, it was an emotional moment for the Zambian national team who were crowned champions and the reason was simple, the Zambians believed that the spirit of their departed football heroes played a part as the site of the crash was just 5oo metres away from one of the co-hosts of the Nations Cup, Libreville, Gabon

6 Nigeria missed three editions of the African Cup Of Nations, 2012, 2015 and 2017 in which Gabon and Equatorial Guinea were co-hosts and hosts respectively

7 Nigeria’s Sunday Mba made history by scoring the winning goals on two Sundays, the 3rd of February which saw the favourites Ivory Coast edged out at the quarter-final stage and on the 10th February on the final against Boukina Faso which saw Nigeria emerge as Champions of Africa for the third time

8 Sunday Mba scored the goal that crowned the Super Eagles as the Champions of Africa 19 years after their victory in Tunisia and guess what people? Sunday Mba wore the jersey number 19

9 Rashidi Yekini emerged highest goal scorer in three consecutive Nations Cup tournaments, Algiers 1990 (4 goals), Senegal 1992 (4 goals) and Tunisia 1994 (5 goals)

10 Steven Keshi lifted the Nations Cup as a player in 1994 in Tunisia and in 2013 in South Africa as a coach being his first time.