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History of Soccer in Africa

Soccer in Morocco

Sibusiso Zuma

Abedi Ayew

African Cup of Nations

  The African Cup of Nations is the largest soccer competition in Africa. The Cup of Nations was first held in 1957. The competition was established by the Confederation of African Football in 1956. The tournament is held every two years (wikipedia).
  The first two tournaments were held on odd years with only four teams (napit.co.uk). However, that changed after the second championship, the competition was moved to every two even years. The competition also has increased the number of teams allowed to compete over the years. The competition started with only four teams and has increased to 16 teams over the last few decades (wikipedia).
  The first African Cup of Nations was hosted by Sudan (napit.co.uk). The competition consisted of only three teams, Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia. South Africa was going to compete but was forced out due to trouble with their government (wikipedia). Egypt defeated Ethiopia 4-0 to win the first African Cup of Nations (napit.co.uk).
  The African Cup of Nations has a specific qualification system. Teams would play qualification matches to determine who would advance to the finals. The competition used this system until 1994. Beginning in the 1994 competition, the teams were split up into groups and played using a round-robin tournament style. The round-robin style is still used in the African Cup of Nations today (wikipedia).

Works Cited

"Africa Cup of Nations." Wikipedia. 2 Mar. 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Cup_of_Nations>.

"African Cup of Nation." Napit.co.uk. 22 Mar. 2009 <http://www.napit.co.uk/viewus/infobank/football/africiannationscup.php>.