2008 Africa Cup of Nations

2008 Africa Cup of Nations
Africa Cup of Nations Ghana 2008
Tournament details
Host country	Ghana
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Egypt (6th title)
Runners-up	Cameroon
Third place	Ghana
Fourth place	Côte d'Ivoire
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	99  (3.09 per match)
Attendance	714,000  (22,313 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Samuel Eto'o (5 goals)
Best player	Hosny Abd Rabo

The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated to the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament was staged at four venues around Ghana between 20 January and 10 February 2008. Egypt won the tournament, beating Cameroon 1–0 in the final. As the de facto champions of Africa for the next two years, Egypt will represent CAF at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. With 99 goals, it was the highest-scoring Africa Cup of Nations ever.

Contents 1 Background 2 Host venues 3 Squads 4 Qualification 5 Teams 6 Match officials 7 Seeding and grouping procedure 8 Group stage 8.1 Tie-breaking criteria 8.2 Group A 8.3 Group B 8.4 Group C 8.5 Group D 9 Knockout stage 9.1 Quarter-finals 9.2 Semi-finals 9.3 3rd Place 9.4 Final 10 Awards 10.1 Player of the Tournament 10.2 Top scorer 10.3 Best XI 11 Scorers 12 References 13 External links

Background

Ghana won the right to host the tournament after defeating Libya 9–3 in a vote among Confederation of African Football (CAF) executive committee members in Cairo. South Africa withdrew their bid after winning the right to host the 2010 World Cup.

Host venues

Cities	Venues	Capacity
Kumasi	Baba Yara Stadium	40,000
Accra	Ohene Djan Stadium	40,000
Tamale	Tamale Stadium	20,000
Sekondi-Takoradi	Sekondi-Takoradi Stadium	20,000

Squads

Main article: 2008 Africa Cup of Nations squads

Qualification

Main article: 2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

The entrants were divided into 12 groups. All group winners and the best three runners-up from groups with four teams (groups 2-11) qualified for the finals. Host Ghana qualified automatically. Qualifying took place between 2 September 2006 and 13 October 2007.

Teams

•  Ghana – Host, 16th appearance (4 titles)
•  Côte d'Ivoire – Group 1 winner, 17th appearance (1 title)
•  Egypt – Group 2 winner, 21st appearance (5 titles)
•  Nigeria – Group 3 winner, 15th appearance (2 titles)
•  Sudan – Group 4 winner, 7th appearance (1 title)
•  Cameroon – Group 5 winner, 15th appearance (4 titles)
•  Angola – Group 6 winner, 4th appearance
•  Senegal – Group 7 winner, 11th appearance
•  Guinea – Group 8 winner, 9th appearance
•  Mali – Group 9 winner, 5th appearance
•  Namibia – Group 10 winner, 2nd appearance
•  Zambia – Group 11 winner, 13th appearance
•  Morocco – Group 12 winner, 13th appearance (1 title)
•  Tunisia – Group 4 runner-up, 13th appearance (1 title)
•  Benin – Group 9 runner-up, 2nd appearance
•  South Africa – Group 11 runner-up, 7th appearance (1 title)

Match officials

16 referees and 16 assistant referees were selected for the tournament, including two from Japan and one from North Korea.^[1]

Referees	Assistant Referees
Mohamed Benouza	Brahim Djezzar
Divine Evehe	Evarist Menkouande
Yuichi Nishimura	Toru Sagara
Abderrahim El Arjoun	Redouane Achik
Jerome Damon	Enock Molefe
Kokou Djaoupe	Komi Konyoh
Kacem Bennaceur	Bechir Hassani
Djamel Haimoudi	Hae Sang Jeong
Coffi Codjia	Celestin Ntagungira
Modou Sowe	Angesom Ogbamariam
Alex Kotey	Desire Gahungu
Koman Coulibaly	Lassina Paré
Badara Diatta	Peter Edibe
Eddy Maillet	Inacio Manuel Candido
Muhmed Ssegonga	Nasser Sadek Abdel Nabi
Kenias Marange	Kenneth Chichenga

Seeding and grouping procedure

The draw for the tournament took place on 19 October 2007. The sixteen teams were divided into four pots according to their performances in past Cup of Nations tournaments. Ghana, as host, were automatically seeded as the top team in Group A. Egypt, the defending champions, were seeded as the top team in Group C.^[2] Each group consists of four teams, one drawn from each of the pots.

• Pot 1: Ghana (Group A), Egypt (Group C), Nigeria, Tunisia
• Pot 2: Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Morocco, Senegal
• Pot 3: Guinea, Mali, South Africa, Zambia
• Pot 4: Angola, Benin, Namibia, Sudan

Group stage

Key to colors in group tables
Top two placed teams advanced to the quarter-finals
Third and fourth placed teams were eliminated

Tie-breaking criteria

Where two or more teams end the group stage with the same number of points, their ranking is determined by the following criteria:^[3]

1. points earned in the matches between the teams concerned;
2. goal difference in the matches between the teams concerned;
3. number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
4. number of away goals scored in the matches between the teams concerned;
5. goal difference in all group matches;
6. number of goals scored in all group matches;
7. drawing of lots by the organizing committee.

All times given as local time (UTC+0)

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Ghana	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	9
Guinea	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4
Morocco	3	1	0	2	7	6	+1	3
Namibia	3	0	1	2	2	7	-5	1

2008-01-20 17:00	Ghana	2 – 1	Guinea	Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Eddy Maillet
	A. Gyan  55' (pen.) Muntari  90'	(Report)	Kalabane  65'

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2008-01-21 15:00	Namibia	1 – 5	Morocco	Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Divine Evehe
	Brendell  24'	(Report)	Alloudi  1'  5'  28' Sektioui  40' (pen.) Zerka  74'

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2008-01-24 17:00	Guinea	3 – 2	Morocco	Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Jerome Damon
	Feindouno  11'  63' (pen.) Bangoura  59'	(Report)	Aboucherouane  60' Ouaddou  90'

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2008-01-24 19:30	Ghana	1 – 0	Namibia	Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra Attendance: 45,000 Referee: Kacem Bennaceur
	Agogo  41'	(Report)

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2008-01-28 17:00	Ghana	2 – 0	Morocco	Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Modou Sowe
	Essien  26' Muntari  45'	(Report)

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2008-01-28 17:00	Guinea	1 – 1	Namibia	Sekondi-Takoradi Stadium, Sekondi-Takoradi Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Muhmed Ssegonga
	Youla  62'	(Report)	Brendell  80'

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Côte d'Ivoire	3	3	0	0	8	1	+7	9
Nigeria	3	1	1	1	2	1	+1	4
Mali	3	1	1	1	1	3	-2	4
Benin	3	0	0	3	1	7	-6	0

2008-01-21 17:00	Nigeria	0 – 1	Côte d'Ivoire	Sekondi Stadium, Sekondi-Takoradi Attendance: 16,000 Referee: Mohamed Benouza
		(Report)	Kalou  66'

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2008-01-21 19:45[4]	Mali	1 – 0	Benin	Sekondi Stadium, Sekondi-Takoradi Attendance: 11,000 Referee: Jerome Damon
	Kanouté  49' (pen.)	(Report)

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2008-01-25 17:00	Côte d'Ivoire	4 – 1	Benin	Sekondi Stadium, Sekondi-Takoradi Attendance: 13,000 Referee: Kenias Marange
	Drogba  40' Y. Touré  44' Keïta  53' Dindane  63'	(Report)	Omotoyossi  90'

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2008-01-25 19:30	Nigeria	0 – 0	Mali	Sekondi Stadium, Sekondi-Takoradi Attendance: 16,000 Referee: Abderrahim El Arjoun
		(Report)

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2008-01-29 17:00	Nigeria	2 – 0	Benin	Sekondi Stadium, Sekondi-Takoradi Attendance: 4,000 Referee: Kacem Bennaceur
	Mikel  53' Yakubu  86'	(Report)

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2008-01-29 17:00	Côte d'Ivoire	3 – 0	Mali	Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Eddy Maillet
	Drogba  9' Zoro  54' Sanogo  86'	(Report)

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Egypt	3	2	1	0	8	3	+5	7
Cameroon	3	2	0	1	10	5	+5	6
Zambia	3	1	1	1	5	6	-1	4
Sudan	3	0	0	3	0	9	-9	0

2008-01-22 17:00	Egypt	4 – 2	Cameroon	Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi Attendance: 42,000 Referee: Modou Sowe
	Hosny  14' (pen.)  82' Zidan  17'  45'	(Report)	Eto'o  51'  90' (pen.)

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2008-01-22 19:30	Sudan	0 – 3	Zambia	Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Badara Diatta
		(Report)	Chamanga  2' J. Mulenga  50' F. Katongo 59'

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2008-01-26 17:00	Cameroon	5 – 1	Zambia	Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Yuichi Nishimura
	Geremi  28' Job  32'  82' Emana  44' Eto'o  66' (pen.)	(Report)	C. Katongo  90'

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2008-01-26 19:30	Egypt	3 – 0	Sudan	Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Coffi Codjia
	Hosny  29' (pen.) Aboutreika  78'  83'	(Report)

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2008-01-30 17:00	Cameroon	3 – 0	Sudan	Tamale Stadium, Tamale Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Kokou Djaoupe
	Eto'o  27' (pen.)  90' El Khider  33' (o.g.)	(Report)

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2008-01-30 17:00	Egypt	1 – 1	Zambia	Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Koman Coulibaly
	Zaki  15'	(Report)	C. Katongo  88'

Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Tunisia	3	1	2	0	5	3	+2	5
Angola	3	1	2	0	4	2	+2	5
Senegal	3	0	2	1	4	6	-2	2
South Africa	3	0	2	1	3	5	-2	2

2008-01-23 17:00	Tunisia	2 – 2	Senegal	Tamale Stadium, Tamale Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Yuichi Nishimura
	Jemâa  9' Traoui  82'	(Report)	Bayal Sall  45' Kamara  66'

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2008-01-23 19:30	South Africa	1 – 1	Angola	Tamale Stadium, Tamale Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Koman Coulibaly
	van Heerden  87'	(Report)	Manucho  29'

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2008-01-27 17:00	Senegal	1 – 3	Angola	Tamale Stadium, Tamale Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Modou Sowe
	Diagne-Faye  20'	(Report)	Manucho  50'  67' Flávio  78'

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2008-01-27 19:30	Tunisia	3 – 1	South Africa	Tamale Stadium, Tamale Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Koman Coulibaly
	Santos  8'  34' Ben Saada  32'	(Report)	Mphela  87'

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2008-01-31 17:00	Senegal	1 – 1	South Africa	Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Alex Kotey
	H. Camara  36'	(Report)	van Heerden  14'

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2008-01-31 17:00	Tunisia	0 – 0	Angola	Tamale Stadium, Tamale Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Coffi Codjia
		(Report)

Knockout stage

	Quarter finals				Semi finals				Final
	3 February - Accra
	Ghana	2
					7 February - Accra
	Nigeria	1
					Ghana	0
	4 February - Tamale
					Cameroon	1
	Tunisia	2
									10 February - Accra
	Cameroon	3
									Cameroon	0
	3 February - Sekondi
									Egypt	1
	Côte d'Ivoire	5
					7 February - Kumasi
	Guinea	0
					Côte d'Ivoire	1			Third place
	4 February - Kumasi
					Egypt	4
	Egypt	2							Ghana	4
	Angola	1							Côte d'Ivoire	2
									9 February - Kumasi

Quarter-finals

2008-02-03 17:00	Ghana	2 – 1	Nigeria	Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra Attendance: 45,000 Referee: Mohamed Benouza
	Essien  45+2' Agogo  83'	(Report)	Yakubu  35' (pen.)

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2008-02-03 20:30	Côte d'Ivoire	5 – 0	Guinea	Sekondi Stadium, Sekondi Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Djamel Haimoudi
	Keïta  25' Drogba  70' Kalou  72'  81' B. Koné  85'	(Report)

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2008-02-04 17:00	Egypt	2 – 1	Angola	Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Yuichi Nishimura
	Hosny  23' (pen.) Zaki  38'	(Report)	Manucho  27'

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2008-02-04 20:30	Tunisia	2 – 3 (a.e.t.)	Cameroon	Tamale Stadium, Tamale Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Koman Coulibaly
	Ben Saada  34' Chikhaoui  81'	(Report)	Mbia  18'  93' Geremi  27'

Semi-finals

2008-02-07 17:00	Ghana	0 – 1	Cameroon	Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Abderahim El Arjoune
		(Report)	Nkong  72'

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2008-02-07 20:30	Côte d'Ivoire	1 – 4	Egypt	Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi Attendance: 45,000 Referee: Eddy Maillet
	Keita  63'	(Report)	Fathi  12' Zaki  61'  67' Aboutreika  90+1'

3rd Place

2008-02-09 17:00	Ghana	4 – 2	Côte d'Ivoire	Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi Attendance: 45,000 Referee: Jerome Damon
	Muntari  10' Owusu-Abeyie  70' Agogo  80' Dramani  84'	(Report)	Sanogo  24'  32'

Final

2008-02-10 17:00	Cameroon	0 – 1	Egypt	Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Coffi Codjia
		(Report)	Aboutreika  77'

Africa Cup of Nations 2008 Winners
Egypt Sixth title

Awards

Player of the Tournament Hosny Abd Rabo[5]

Top scorer Samuel Eto'o - 5 goals

Best XI

The following players were selected as the best in their respective positions, based on their performances throughout the tournament. Their performances were analysed by the tournament's Technical Study Group (TSG), who picked the team.^[6]

Goalkeepers	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Essam El-Hadary	Geremi Njitap Wael Gomaa Michael Essien	Sulley Muntari Yaya Touré Alexandre Song Hosny Abd Rabo Mohamed Aboutreika	Amr Zaki Manucho

Substitutes

• Richard Kingson
• Hany Saïd
• Ahmed Fathy
• Frej Saber
• Stéphane Mbia
• Didier Drogba
• Abdul Kader Keïta

Scorers

5 goals Samuel Eto'o 4 goals Manucho Hosny Abd Rabo Mohamed Aboutreika Amr Zaki 3 goals Didier Drogba Salomon Kalou Abdul Kader Keïta Boubacar Sanogo Junior Agogo Sulley Muntari Soufiane Alloudi 2 goals Geremi Njitap Joseph-Désiré Job Stéphane Mbia Mohamed Zidan Michael Essien Pascal Feindouno

2 goals, cont. Brian Brendell Yakubu Aiyegbeni Elrio van Heerden Chaouki Ben Saada Francileudo dos Santos Chris Katongo 1 goal Flávio Razak Omotoyossi Achille Emana Alain Nkong Aruna Dindane Bakari Koné Yaya Touré Marco Zoro Ahmed Fathy Haminu Dramani Asamoah Gyan Quincy Owusu-Abeyie Ismaël Bangoura Oumar Kalabane

1 goal, cont. Souleymane Youla Frédéric Kanouté Hicham Aboucherouane Abdeslam Ouaddou Tarik Sektioui Monsef Zerka Mikel John Obi Moustapha Bayal Sall Henri Camara Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye Diomansy Kamara Katlego Mphela Yassine Chikhaoui Issam Jemâa Mejdi Traoui James Chamanga Felix Katongo Jacob Mulenga Own goals Mohammed Ali El Khider (playing against Cameroon)

References

External links

• 2008 African Cup of Nations at CAFonline.com
• Africa Cup of Nations on BBC 1Xtra
• African sport on the BBC World Service - Fast Track
  • Real Player
  • Windows Media Player
• African Cup of Nations 2008 coverage on Reuters.co.uk

Africa Cup of Nations

Sudan 1957 | United Arab Republic 1959 | Ethiopia 1962 | Ghana 1963 | Tunisia 1965 | Ethiopia 1968 | Sudan 1970 | Cameroon 1972 | Egypt 1974 | Ethiopia 1976 | Ghana 1978 | Nigeria 1980 | Libya 1982 | Ivory Coast 1984 | Egypt 1986 | Morocco 1988 | Algeria 1990 | Senegal 1992 | Tunisia 1994 | South Africa 1996 | Burkina Faso 1998 | Ghana/Nigeria 2000 | Mali 2002 | Tunisia 2004 | Egypt 2006 | Ghana 2008 | Angola 2010 | Gabon/Equatorial Guinea 2012 | Libya 2014