The Africa Cup of Nations is a football competition established in 1957. It is contested by the men's national teams of members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the African governing body for the sport, and is held every two years. The winner of the first final was Egypt, who defeated Ethiopia 4âÂÂ0 in Khartoum after extra time. The most recent final was played in Rabat in January 2026; Morocco won the match by forfeiture, after the CAF overturned Senegal's 1âÂÂ0 win for temporarily leaving the pitch.
The Africa Cup of Nations final is the last match of the competition, and the result determines which team declared African champions. As of the 2025 edition, if the score is tied after 90 minutes of regular play, an additional 30-minute period of play, called extra time, is added. If such a match remains tied after extra time, it is decided by a penalty shoot-out. The team that wins the penalty shoot-out is then declared the champions.
The 34 finals to-date have produced thirteen drawn matches, the eventual winners of which have been determined variously by replay (1974), extra time (1962, 1965, 2025), or penalty shoot-out (1982, 1986, 1992, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2012, 2015, 2021). Egypt is the most successful team in the history of the tournament, winning seven times.
Years shown in bold indicate that the country also hosted that tournament.
<sup>1</sup> as United Arab Republic<br> <sup>2</sup> as Congo-Kinshasa<br> <sup>3</sup> as Zaire