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2008 Africa Cup of Nations

MTN 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
Venue(s)	4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Egypt (6th title)
Runners-up	Cameroon
Third place	Ghana
Fourth place	Ivory Coast
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(s)	Hosny Abd Rabo
Best goalkeeper	Essam El-Hadary
← 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 with the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament was staged at four venues around Ghana between 20 January and 10 February 2008. This was the last Africa Cup of Nations to use the old CAF logo.

Egypt won the tournament, beating Cameroon 1–0 in the final. As winners, they qualified for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup as the CAF representatives.

Host selection

Bids:

• Ghana (selected as hosts)
• Libya
• South Africa (withdrew)

The organization of the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations was awarded to Ghana on 8 July 2004 by the CAF Executive Committee members which are 12 in Cairo, Egypt. Voters had a choice between Ghana and Libya which was disadvantaged by the fact that two countries in the North Africa region had already hosted the last two editions (Tunisia in 2004, and Egypt in 2006).

South Africa, also a candidate at the start, eventually withdrew in May 2004 after being nominated for the organization of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

This was the fourth time that Ghana hosted the African Cup after 1963, 1978 and 2000 (jointly with Nigeria).

Results
Nation	Votes
Ghana	9
Libya	3
South Africa	Withdrew
Total votes	12

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)
•  Ivory Coast – 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, 14th 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)

Venues

Accra	AccraKumasiTamaleSekondi-Takoradi	Kumasi
Ohene Djan Stadium		Baba Yara Stadium
Capacity: 40,000		Capacity: 40,528
Tamale		Sekondi-Takoradi
Tamale Stadium		Sekondi-Takoradi Stadium
Capacity: 21,017		Capacity: 20,088

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 Championships 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, one of the Adinkra symbols named Wawa Aba is a symbol of hardiness, toughness, and perseverance. People there particularly believe in the strength and team spirit of a community. The Wawa Aba literally means "seed(s) of Wawa tree (Triplochiton scleroxylon)”, one of the strongest and most processible woods of Africa and whose seeds are very hard. 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.

Match officials

16 referees and 16 assistant referees were selected for the tournament, including two from Japan and one from South Korea.

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	Jeong Hae-sang
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

Squads

Draw

The draw for the tournament took place on 19 October 2007 in Accra. The sixteen teams were divided into four pots according to their performances in past Cup of Nations tournaments. Ghana, as hosts, were automatically seeded as the top team in Group A. Egypt, the defending champions, were seeded as the top team in Group C. Tunisia and Nigeria had the two strongest records and so completed the top seeded Pot 1. Each group consists of four teams, one drawn from each of the pots.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Ghana (hosts)  Egypt (title holders)  Tunisia  Nigeria	Ivory Coast  Cameroon  Morocco  Senegal	South Africa  Guinea  Mali  Zambia	Angola  Benin  Namibia  Sudan

Group stage

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:

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. goal difference in all group matches;
5. number of goals scored in all group matches;
6. drawing of lots by the organizing committee.

All times given as local time (UTC+0)

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ghana (H)	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Guinea	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4
3	Morocco	3	1	0	2	7	6	+1	3
4	Namibia	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1

Ghana	2–1	Guinea
A. Gyan 55' (pen.) Muntari 90'	Report	Kalabane 65'

Namibia	1–5	Morocco
Brendell 24'	Report	Alloudi 1', 5', 28' Sektioui 40' (pen.) Zerka 74'

Guinea	3–2	Morocco
Feindouno 11', 63' (pen.) Bangoura 59'	Report	Aboucherouane 60' Ouaddou 90'

Ghana	1–0	Namibia
Agogo 41'	Report

Ghana	2–0	Morocco
Essien 26' Muntari 45'	Report

Guinea	1–1	Namibia
Youla 62'	Report	Brendell 80'

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ivory Coast	3	3	0	0	8	1	+7	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Nigeria	3	1	1	1	2	1	+1	4
3	Mali	3	1	1	1	1	3	−2	4
4	Benin	3	0	0	3	1	7	−6	0

Nigeria	0–1	Ivory Coast
	Report	Kalou 66'

Mali	1–0	Benin
Kanouté 49' (pen.)	Report

Ivory Coast	4–1	Benin
Drogba 40' Y. Touré 44' Keïta 53' Dindane 63'	Report	Omotoyossi 90'

Nigeria	0–0	Mali
	Report

Nigeria	2–0	Benin
Mikel 53' Yakubu 86'	Report

Ivory Coast	3–0	Mali
Drogba 9' Zoro 54' Sanogo 86'	Report

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Egypt	3	2	1	0	8	3	+5	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Cameroon	3	2	0	1	10	5	+5	6
3	Zambia	3	1	1	1	5	6	−1	4
4	Sudan	3	0	0	3	0	9	−9	0

Egypt	4–2	Cameroon
Hosny 14' (pen.), 82' Zidan 17', 45'	Report	Eto'o 51', 90' (pen.)

Sudan	0–3	Zambia
	Report	Chamanga 2' J. Mulenga 50' F. Katongo 59'

Cameroon	5–1	Zambia
Geremi 28' Job 32', 82' Emana 44' Eto'o 66' (pen.)	Report	C. Katongo 90'

Egypt	3–0	Sudan
Hosny 29' (pen.) Aboutrika 78', 83'	Report

Cameroon	3–0	Sudan
Eto'o 27' (pen.), 90' El Khider 33' (o.g.)	Report

Egypt	1–1	Zambia
Zaki 15'	Report	C. Katongo 88'

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tunisia	3	1	2	0	5	3	+2	5	Advance to knockout stage
2	Angola	3	1	2	0	4	2	+2	5
3	Senegal	3	0	2	1	4	6	−2	2
4	South Africa	3	0	2	1	3	5	−2	2

Tunisia	2–2	Senegal
Jemâa 9' Traoui 82'	Report	Sall 45' D. Kamara 66'

South Africa	1–1	Angola
Van Heerden 87'	Report	Manucho 29'

Senegal	1–3	Angola
A. Faye 20'	Report	Manucho 50', 67' Flávio 78'

Tunisia	3–1	South Africa
Santos 8', 34' Ben Saada 32'	Report	Mphela 87'

Senegal	1–1	South Africa
H. Camara 36'	Report	Van Heerden 14'

Tunisia	0–0	Angola
	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 (a.e.t.)	3
									Cameroon	0
	3 February – Sekondi
									Egypt	1
	Ivory Coast	5
					7 February – Kumasi
	Guinea	0
					Ivory Coast	1
	4 February – Kumasi
					Egypt	4			Third place
	Egypt	2
									9 February – Kumasi
	Angola	1
									Ghana	4
									Ivory Coast	2

Quarter-finals

Ghana	2–1	Nigeria
Essien 45+2' Agogo 83'	Report	Yakubu 35' (pen.)

Ivory Coast	5–0	Guinea
Keïta 25' Drogba 70' Kalou 72', 81' B. Koné 85'	Report

Egypt	2–1	Angola
Hosny 23' (pen.) Zaki 38'	Report	Manucho 27'

Tunisia	2–3 (a.e.t.)	Cameroon
Ben Saada 34' Chikhaoui 81'	Report	Mbia 18', 93' Geremi 27'

Semi-finals

Ghana	0–1	Cameroon
	Report	N'Kong 72'

Ivory Coast	1–4	Egypt
Keita 63'	Report	Fathy 12' Zaki 61', 67' Aboutrika 90+1'

Third place match

Ghana	4–2	Ivory Coast
Muntari 10' Owusu-Abeyie 70' Agogo 80' Draman 84'	Report	Sanogo 24', 32'

Final

Cameroon	0–1	Egypt
	Report	Aboutrika 76'

Awards

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.

Substitutes

• Richard Kingson
• Hany Said
• Ahmed Fathy
• Saber Ben Frej
• Stéphane Mbia
• Didier Drogba
• Kader Keïta

Goalscorers

5 goals

• Samuel Eto'o

4 goals

• Manucho
• Hosny Abd Rabo
• Mohamed Aboutrika
• Amr Zaki

3 goals

• Didier Drogba
• Salomon Kalou
• Kader Keïta
• Boubacar Sanogo
• Junior Agogo
• Sulley Muntari
• Soufiane Alloudi

2 goals

• Geremi
• Joseph-Désiré Job
• Stéphane Mbia
• Mohamed Zidan
• Michael Essien
• Pascal Feindouno
• Brian Brendell
• Yakubu
• Elrio van Heerden
• Chaouki Ben Saada
• Francileudo dos Santos
• Chris Katongo

1 goal

• Flávio
• Razak Omotoyossi
• Achille Emana
• Alain N'Kong
• Aruna Dindane
• Bakari Koné
• Yaya Touré
• Marco Zoro
• Ahmed Fathy
• Haminu Dramani
• Asamoah Gyan
• Quincy Owusu-Abeyie
• Ismaël Bangoura
• Oumar Kalabane
• 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)

Tournament rankings

Pos.	Team	G	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	GF	GA	GD
1	Egypt	D	6	5	1	0	16	15	5	+10
2	Cameroon	B	6	4	0	2	12	14	8	+6
3	Ghana	A	6	5	0	1	15	11	5	+6
4	Ivory Coast	C	6	4	0	2	12	16	9	+7
Eliminated in the quarter-finals
5	Tunisia	B	4	1	2	1	5	7	6	+1
6	Angola	C	4	1	2	1	5	5	4	+1
7	Nigeria	A	4	1	1	2	4	3	3	0
8	Guinea	D	4	1	1	2	4	5	10	−5
Eliminated in the group stage
9	Zambia	A	3	1	1	1	4	5	6	−1
10	Mali	D	3	1	1	1	4	1	3	−2
11	Morocco	B	3	1	0	2	3	7	6	+1
12	Senegal	C	3	0	2	1	2	4	6	−2
13	South Africa	D	3	0	2	1	2	3	5	−2
14	Namibia	B	3	0	1	2	1	2	7	−5
15	Benin	A	3	0	0	3	0	1	7	−6
16	Sudan	C	3	0	0	3	0	0	9	−9

References

1. "Ohene Djan Stadium will last "forever"- Micheletti". ghananewsagency.org. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
2. Willis, W. Bruce (1998). The Adinkra Dictionary: A Visual Primer on the Language of Adinkra. Washington, DC: The Pyramid Complex. pp. 196–7.
3. Azindow, Yakubu M. (1999). Philosophical Reflections of Adinkra Symbols. Accra, Ghana. p. 29. ISBN 9988-0-0130-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
4. Referees
5. Caf release Cup of Nations' seeds, "BBC Sport", 18 October 2007. Retrieved 4 February 2008.
6. Article 5, paragraph 13 in the Regulations of the XXVth Africa Cup of Nations guide.
7. Kick-off delayed by 15 minutes due to floodlight failure
8. "Abd Rabou wins best player award". BBC Sport. 10 February 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2008.
9. "CAF names Best XI for Ghana 2008 ACN". cafonline.com. 10 February 2008. Archived from the original on 13 February 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2008.
10. "AFC Competition Operations Manual (Edition 2023)" (PDF). Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 25 January 2024.

External links

Media related to 2008 Africa Cup of Nations at Wikimedia Commons

• 2008 African Cup of Nations at CAFonline.com
• Africa Cup of Nations on BBC 1Xtra
• African Cup of Nations 2008 coverage on Reuters.co.uk

• 2008 Africa Cup of Nations
• Africa Cup of Nations tournaments
• International association football competitions hosted by Ghana
• 2007–08 in Ghanaian football
• Sport in Accra
• 2008 in African football
• January 2008 sports events in Africa
• February 2008 sports events in Africa