Africa Cup of Nations winners: History, finals, all-time champions of AFCON

The Africa Cup of Nations is always entertaining and its vivid history has provided so many memorable moments over nearly 70 years of play. MORE — AFCON 2025 schedule, results AFCON is Africa's continental showcase and gives no guarantees to the favorites as big names like Mohamed Salah and Didier Drogba have not claimed the top honors at the tournament. Here's a bit of history on the Africa Cup of Nations. When and where are the next AFCON tournaments? AFCON 2027 will be staged in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda in June and July of 2027. It will be the final AFCON before the tournament goes to a quadrennial calendar beginning in 2028. The 2028 tournament is expected to take place in the summer. The host is yet to be revealed, and a number of nations are bidding to host a tournament between 2028 and 2036: Angola, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mali, Rwanda, Senegal, Morocco, and Egypt. Who have won the most AFCON titles? Egypt have won the most titles (7) and played in the most finals (10). Here is the list of all-time winners, which explanations for how CAF classifies renamed winners. Egypt, 7 (one as United Arab Republic in 1959) Cameroon, 5 Ghana, 4 Nigeria, 3 ivory Coast, 3 Algeria, 2 DR Congo, 2 (as Congo-Kinshasa in 1968 and Zaire in 1974) Morocco, 2 Senegal, 1 Zambia, 1 Tunisia, 1 Sudan, 1 South Africa, 1 Ethiopia, 1 Congo, 1 (as PR Congo in 1972) Who has scored the most goals in AFCON history? Samuel Eto'o, Cameroon — 18 goals in 29 matches Laurent Pokou, Ivory Coast — 14 goals in 12 matches Rashidi Yekini, Nigeria — 13 goals in 20 matches Hassan El-Shazly, Egypt — 12 goals in eight matches Patrick Mboma, Cameroon —11 goals in 17 matches Hossam Hassan, Egypt — 11 goals in 21 matches Didier Drogba, Ivory Coast — 11 goals in 24 matches Mohamed Salah, Egypt — 11 goals in 25 matches Sadio Mane, Senegal — 11 goals in 28 games Ndaye Mulamba, DR Congo — 10 goals in 10 games Francileudo Santos, Tunisia — 10 goals in 12 games Joel Tiehl, Ivory Coast — 10 goals in 15 games Mengistu Worku, Ethiopia — 10 goals in 17 games Kalusha Bwalya, Zambia — 10 goals in 23 games Andre Ayew, Ghana — 10 goals in 36 games Other notable names: Mohamed Salah, Egypt (9 goals), Riyad Mahrez, Algeria (9 goals), Vincent Aboubakar, Cameroon (9 goals), Asamoah Gyan, Ghana (8 goals), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Gabon (7 goals), Roger Milla, Cameroon (7 goals), Yaya Toure, Ivory Coast (6 goals). Africa Cup of Nations all-time finals, winners 1957: Egypt defeat Ethiopia 4-0 in Sudan 1959: United Arab Republic win round-robin tournament in United Arab Republic 1962: Ethiopia defeat United Arab Republic 4-2 (aet) in Ethiopia 1963: Ghana defeat Sudan 3-0 in Ghana 1965: Ghana defeat Tunisia 3-2 (aet) in Tunisia 1968: Congo-Kinshasa defeat Ghana 1-0 in Ethiopia 1970: Sudan defeat Ghana 1-0 in Sudan 1972: PR Congo defeat Mali 3-2 in Cameroon 1974: Zaire defeat Zambia 2-2, 2-0 (replay) in Egypt 1976: Morocco win round-robin tournament in Ethiopia 1978: Ghana defeat Uganda 2-0 in Ghana 1980: Nigeria defeat Algeria 3-0 in Nigeria 1982: Ghana defeat Libya 1-1 (7-6 pens) in Libya 1984: Cameroon defeat Nigeria 3-1 in Ivory Coast 1986: Egypt defeat Cameroon 0-0 (5-4 pens) in Egypt 1988: Cameroon defeat Nigeria 1-0 in Morocco 1990: Algeria defeat Nigeria 1-0 in Algeria 1992: Ivory Coast defeat Ghana 0-0 (11-10 pens) in Senegal 1994: Nigeria defeat Zambia 2-1 in Tunisia 1996: South Africa defeat Tunisia 2-0 in South Africa 1998: Egypt defeat South Africa 2-0 in Burkina Faso 2000: Cameroon defeat Nigeria 2-2 (4-3 pens) in Nigeria 2002: Cameroon defeat Senegal 0-0 (3-2 pens) in Mali 2004: Tunisia defeat Morocco 2-1 in Tunisia 2006: Egypt defeat Ivory Coast 0-0 (4-2 pens) in Egypt 2008: Egypt defeat Cameroon 1-0 in Ghana 2010: Egypt defeat Ghana 1-0 in Angola 2012: Zambia defeat Ivory Coast 0-0 (8-7 pens) in Gabon 2013: Nigeria defeat Burkina Faso 1-0 in South Africa 2015: Ivory Coast defeat Ghana 0-0 (9-8 pens) in Equatorial Guinea 2017: Cameroon defeat Egypt 2-1 in Gabon 2019: Algeria defeat Senegal 1-0 in Egypt 2021: Senegal defeat Egypt 0-0 (4-2 pens) in Cameroon 2023: Ivory Coast defeat Nigeria 2-1 in Ivory Coast 2025: Senegal defeat Morocco 1-0 (aet) in Morocco ; Senegal stripped of title