2008 Africa Cup of Nations

2008 Africa Cup of Nations
Africa Cup of Nations Ghana 2008
Africa Cup of Nations 2008 official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Ghana
Dates	20 January – 10 February
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Egypt (6th title)
Runner-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
← 2006 2010 →

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. With 99 goals, it was the highest-scoring Africa Cup of Nations ever.

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	40,528
Accra	Ohene Djan Stadium	45,000
Tamale	Tamale Stadium	21,017
Sekondi-Takoradi	Sekondi-Takoradi Stadium	20,088

Squads

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

A map of Africa showing the qualified nations, highlighted by stage reached.

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

Tournament ball

During the previous editions of the Africa Cup of Nations, the ball used was not a ball especially made for the tournament. As the tournament was held on even years, the same years big tournaments such as the UEFA European Cup of Nations or the FIFA World Cup were held, the official ball for the tournament held this year was used for the African Cup of Nations: the Adidas Roteiro in 2004, or the Adidas Teamgeist in 2006. However, for the 2008 tournament, Adidas made a special ball, clearly different from the Adidas Europass going to be used five months later for the Euro. The ball was named Wawa Aba and was designed to include host nation Ghana’s red, yellow and green. The ball was later used for the other African competitions.

For the Akan culture originating from Western Africa, the name Wawa Aba is a symbol of persistence. People there particularly believe in the strength and team spirit of a community. The Wawa Aba is the seed of the Wawa tree, one of the strongest and most processible woods of Africa. For the population, the Wawa Aba mainly has mystical significance. These are people who don’t let failure discourage them, who seize all opportunities successfully and who are thus just as strong and adaptable as the Wawa Aba.

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]

points earned in the matches between the teams concerned;
goal difference in the matches between the teams concerned;
number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
number of away goals scored in the matches between the teams concerned;
goal difference in all group matches;
number of goals scored in all group matches;
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'

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'

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'

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

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

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'

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

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'

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

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

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.)

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'

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'

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)

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)

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'

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'

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'

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'

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'

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

7 February - Accra

Nigeria

Ghana

4 February - Tamale

Cameroon

Tunisia

10 February - Accra

Cameroon

Cameroon

3 February - Sekondi

Egypt

Côte d'Ivoire

7 February - Kumasi

Guinea

Côte d'Ivoire

Third place

4 February - Kumasi

Egypt

Ghana

Angola

Côte d'Ivoire

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.)

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)

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'

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'

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

Essam El-Hadary

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

↑ Referees
↑ Caf release Cup of Nations' seeds, "BBC Sport", 18 October 2007. Accessed 4 February 2008.
↑ Article 5, paragraph 13 in the Regulations of the XXVth Africa Cup of Nations guide.
↑ Kick-off delayed by 15 minutes due to floodlight failure
↑ "Abd Rabou wins best player award". BBC Sport. 2008-02-10. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/7238058.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
↑ "CAF names Best XI for Ghana 2008 ACN". cafonline.com. 2008-02-10. http://www.cafonline50.com/?lng=1&cmpt=0&module=media&ANC=&TNews=1&idrub=96375&idnews=82854. Retrieved 2008-02-11.

External links

2008 Africa Cup of Nations finalists

Champions	Egypt

Runners-up	Cameroon

Third place	Ghana

Fourth place	Côte d'Ivoire

Eliminated in quarter-finals	Angola · Guinea · Nigeria · Tunisia

Eliminated in group stage	Benin · Mali · Morocco · Namibia · Senegal · South Africa · Sudan · Zambia

Qualification · Squads

Africa Cup of Nations

Tournaments	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 2013 · 2015 · 2017

Qualification	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 2013

2008 Africa Cup of Nations

Contents

Background

Host venues

Squads

Qualification

Teams

Match officials

Seeding and grouping procedure

Tournament ball

Group stage

Tie-breaking criteria

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

3rd Place

Final

Awards

Player of the Tournament

Top scorer

Best Goalkeeper

Best XI

Scorers

References

External links