One year to AFCON 2025: Unforgettable tournament finales
Saturday marks exactly a year to the start of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025, which will be the 35th installment of the continent’s showpiece event.
It will be played from 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026, and feature 24 of Africa’s finest teams.
To mark the occasion, we look back at some of the most memorable finals in the history of the competition.
1962 – Ethiopia 4 Egypt 2
Worku Mengistu earned the notoriety that has made him a modern-day African footballing legend with two goals as Ethiopia scored twice in extra time to beat Egypt 4-2 in the final at the Haile-Selassie Stadium in Addis Ababa.
1965 – Ghana 3 Tunisia 2
Huge disappointment for the Tunisians as the home team are beaten 3-2 in extra time by CK Gyamfi’s all-conquering Ghana side with Frank Odoi scoring the winner after the two sides were level at 2-2 after 90 minutes.
1974 – Zaire 2 Zambia 2; Zaire 2 Zambia 0
Zaire and Zambia draw 2-2 after extra time in the final in Cairo but Mulamba Ndiaye scored both goals in the replay two days later to establish a tournament goal scoring record of nine for Zaire’s Leopards.
1982 – Ghana 1 Libya 1 (Ghana won 7-6 on pens)
Teenager Abedi Pele is the star of the show as Ghana won for a then record fourth time, beating hosts Libya on an artificial turf in Tripoli in the first final decided on post-match penalties.
1992 – Cote d’Ivoire 0 Ghana 0 (Cote d’Ivoire win 11-10 on pens)
A penalty shootout again decides the Nations Cup and it drags on for a nail-biting 20 minutes (a total of 24 kicks) before Tony Baffoe misses for Ghana and the Ivory Coast won 11-10 after a goalless draw littered with missed opportunities.
1994 – Nigeria 2 Zambia 1
A Zambian side rebuilt after the air tragedy that claimed the lives of almost the entire national team a year earlier took a first minute lead through defender Elijah Litana but Emmanuel Amunike, playing his first game of the tournament, equalised soon after and then scored the winner as Nigeria win an emotive game in Tunis.
1996 – South Africa 2 Tunisia 0
President Nelson Mandela danced a jig of joy on the winner’s podium as South Africa celebrated in front of 70,000 fans after Mark Williams’ two goals give Bafana Bafana a first-ever trophy with a win over Tunisia at Soccer City in Johannesburg.
2010 – Egypt 1 Ghana 0
Egypt win for an unprecedented third tournament in a row as Gedo scored the only goal of the game in Luanda with five minutes remaining. It followed The Pharaohs’ victories in 2006 and 2008.
2012 – Zambia 0 Cote d’Ivoire 0 (Zambia won 8-7 on pens)
One of the great TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations final upsets as Zambia beat a star-studded Cote d’Ivoire side in Libreville, just kilometres away from the scene of that devastating air crash 19 years prior. Gervinho missed the decisive kick for The Elephants.
2017 – Cameroon 2 Egypt 1
A youthful Cameroon stunned more fancied Egypt with victory in the final in Libreville. Mohamed Elneny put The Pharaohs ahead, but Nicolas Nkoulou equalised for Cameroon and Vincent Aboubakar netted a winner two minutes from the end.
2023 – Cote d’Ivoire 2 Nigeria 1
Hosts Cote d’Ivoire scraped into the knockout phase of the competition but then made it all the way to the final. They fell behind to Nigeria, who scored via William Troost-Ekong, but second half goals from Franck Kessie and Sébastien Haller turned the game around for the home side in front of over 57,000 fans in Abidjan.