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2012 Africa Cup of Nations

Copa Africana de Naciones 2012 Campeonato Africano das Nações de 2012 Coupe d'Afrique des Nations 2012 AFCON 2012 CAN 2012
Tournament details
Host countries	Equatorial Guinea Gabon
Dates	21 January – 12 February
Teams	16
Venue(s)	4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Zambia (1st title)
Runners-up	Ivory Coast
Third place	Mali
Fourth place	Ghana
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	76 (2.38 per match)
Attendance	456,332 (14,260 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Manucho Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Didier Drogba Cheick Diabaté Houssine Kharja Christopher Katongo Emmanuel Mayuka (3 goals each)
Best player(s)	Christopher Katongo
Fair play award	Ivory Coast
← 2010 2013 →

The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

The competition took place between 21 January and 12 February 2012 and was co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. The bidding process for hosting the tournament ended in September 2006.

The matches were played in four stadiums in four host cities, with the final played at the newly built Stade d'Angondjé in Gabon's largest city, Libreville. Fourteen teams were selected for participation via a continental qualification tournament that began in July 2010.

The 2012 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations took place against the backdrop of political turmoil. Libya and Tunisia qualified for the tournament, even as the Arab Spring brought upheaval and regime change to both nations. Traditional African footballing nations such as reigning champions Egypt (also affected by political events), as well as Cameroon, Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa had failed to qualify. Players from third-placed Mali had pleaded for the insurgency in the north of their country to end.

In the first round of the tournament finals, the teams competed in round-robin groups of four teams for points, with the top two teams in each group proceeding. These eight teams advanced to the knockout stage, where three rounds of play decided which teams would participate in the final. Both host nations, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, were eliminated from the competition at the quarter-final stage.

In the final, unfancied Zambia defeated third-time finalists Ivory Coast after a dramatic penalty shootout, despite the fact that Ivory Coast did not concede a single goal during the entire tournament, giving Zambia their first continental title. Manager Hervé Renard dedicated their win to the members of the national team who died in a plane crash near the final's venue in Libreville in 1993.

Host selection

Bids :

• Angola (selected as hosts for 2010)
• Gabon / Equatorial Guinea (selected as hosts for 2012)
• Libya (selected as hosts for 2013)
• Nigeria (selected as reserve hosts for 2010, 2012 & 2013 tournaments)

Rejected Bids :

• Benin / Central African Republic
• Botswana
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• Senegal
• Zimbabwe

On 4 September 2006, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) approved a compromise between rival countries to host the Africa Cup of Nations after it ruled out Nigeria. CAF agreed to award the next three editions from 2010 to Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Libya respectively. They assigned Angola in 2010, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, which submitted a joint bid in 2012, and Libya for 2014.

This edition was awarded to Gabon and Equatorial Guinea to rotate the hosting of the cup and give hosting chance for first-timer nations.

Two-time former host Nigeria was the reserve host for the 2010, 2012 and 2014 tournaments, in the event that any of the host countries failed to meet the requirements established by CAF, although this ended up being unnecessary.

The 2014 tournament was pushed forward to 2013 and subsequently held in odd-numbered years to avoid clashing with the FIFA World Cup.

Qualification

The qualification process involved ten groups of four, one of which was reduced to a group of three after the withdrawal of Mauritania, and one group of five. The top team from each group goes through, as well as the second placed team from the group of five. The two best second place teams also qualify. At the end of the qualification process, fourteen teams would have qualified, as well as the two host nations. The first qualifiers were held on 1 July 2010.

Qualified teams

Country	Qualified as	Qualification date	Appearance in finals	Previous best performance	Regional body	FIFA ranking	Continental ranking
Angola	JWGroup J Winner	048 October 2011	066th	40Quarterfinals (2008, 2010)	COSAFA	85	19
Botswana	KWGroup K Winner	0126 March 2011	011st	20none	COSAFA	94	21
Burkina Faso	FWGroup F Winner	033 September 2011	088th	50Fourth place (1998)	WAFU	66	14
Ivory Coast	HWGroup H Winner	025 June 2011	1919th	80Winner (1992)	WAFU	18	1
Equatorial Guinea	AACo-host	0029 July 2007	011st	20none	UNIFFAC	151	41
Gabon	AACo-host	0029 July 2007	055th	30Quarterfinals (1996)	UNIFFAC	91	20
Ghana	IWGroup I Winner	048 October 2011	1818th	90Winner (1963, 1965, 1978, 1982)	WAFU	26	2
Guinea	BWGroup B Winner	048 October 2011	1010th	60Second place (1976)	WAFU	79	17
Libya	RU Top Two Runner-Up	048 October 2011	033rd	60Second place (1982)	UNAF	63	13
Mali	AWGroup A Winner	048 October 2011	077th	60Second place (1972)	WAFU	69	15
Morocco	DWGroup D Winner	059 October 2011	1414th	80Winner (1976)	UNAF	61	12
Niger	GWGroup G Winner	048 October 2011	011st	20none	WAFU	98	22
Senegal	EWGroup E Winner	033 September 2011	1212th	60Second place (2002)	WAFU	43	5
Sudan	RU Top Two Runner-Up	059 October 2011	088th	80Winner (1970)	CECAFA	120	30
Tunisia	KXGroup K Runner-up	048 October 2011	1515th	80Winner (2004)	UNAF	59	10
Zambia	CWGroup C Winner	048 October 2011	1515th	70Second place (1974, 1994)	COSAFA	71	16

FIFA World Rankings, release of 18 January 2012.

Controversies

Togo

Togo were initially banned from the 2012 and 2013 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments by CAF after they withdrew from the 2010 tournament following an attack on their team bus. Togo appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with FIFA president Sepp Blatter stepping in to mediate. The ban was subsequently lifted with immediate effect on 14 May 2010, after a meeting of the CAF Executive Committee. Togo were therefore free to play in the 2012 and 2013 qualifiers.

Nigeria

On 30 June 2010, after Nigeria's exit from the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan punished the team for a poor campaign by imposing a two-year ban from international competition. This would have resulted in the Nigerians missing out on both the 2012 qualifying phase and the 2012 African Cup of Nations. However, on 5 July, the Nigerian government dropped the ban after FIFA threatened to impose harsher international sanctions as a result of the government interference. Nigeria competed in qualifying for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations as scheduled but failed to qualify.

Venues

The opening match, one semi-final and the third place match were held in Equatorial Guinea, while the other semi-final and the final were held in Gabon.

• Equatorial Guinea
•  1  Bata
•  2  Malabo
•  
•  
• Gabon
•  3  Franceville
•  4  Libreville

City	Stadium	Capacity
Bata	Estadio de Bata	41,000
Franceville	Stade de Franceville	22,000
Libreville	Stade d'Angondjé	40,000
Malabo	Estadio de Malabo	20,000

Draw

The draw for the final tournament took place on 29 October 2011 at the Sipopo Conference Palace in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. The draw ceremony was attended by the two presidents from the host countries, President Ali Bongo of Gabon and President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea. The draw saw the 16 qualified teams being pitted into four groups of four teams each. The two top teams from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals with the winners progressing to the semi-finals and final eventually.

The two hosts were automatically seeded into pot 1. The other 14 qualified teams were ranked based on their performances during the previous three Africa Cup of Nations tournaments. For each of the last three African Cup of Nations final tournaments, the following system of points is adopted for the qualified countries:

Moreover, a weighted coefficient on points was given to each of the last three editions of the Africa Cup of Nations as follows:

• 2010 edition: points to be multiplied by 3
• 2008 edition: points to be multiplied by 2
• 2006 edition: points to be multiplied by 1

The teams were then divided into four pots based on the ranking. Each group contained one team from each pot. Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, as co-hosts, were automatically seeded as the top team in Group A and C respectively.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Equatorial Guinea (co-hosts)  Gabon (co-hosts)  Ghana (22 pts)  Ivory Coast (17 pts)	Angola (11 pts)  Tunisia (9 pts)  Zambia (9 pts)  Guinea (6 pts)	Mali (5 pts)  Senegal (5 pts)  Morocco (3 pts)  Burkina Faso (3 pts)	Sudan (2 pts)  Libya (1 pt)  Botswana (0 pts)  Niger (0 pts)

Match officials

The following referees were chosen for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

Squads

Each team's squad for the tournament consisted of 23 players; only players in these squads were eligible to take part in the tournament. Each participating national association had to submit their squad by 11 January 2012 (midnight CET). Replacement of seriously injured players was permitted until 24 hours before the team in question's first match of the tournament.

Group stage

Groups A and B took place in Equatorial Guinea, while Groups C and D were held in Gabon. Notably, there was not a single goalless draw during the group stage.

Tie-breaking criteria

If 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 matches between the teams concerned;
4. goal difference in all group matches;
5. number of goals scored in all group matches;
6. fair play points system taking into account the number of yellow and red cards;
7. drawing of lots by the organising committee.

All times are West Africa Time (UTC+1).

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Zambia	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Equatorial Guinea (H)	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	6
3	Libya	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
4	Senegal	3	0	0	3	3	6	−3	0

Equatorial Guinea	1–0	Libya
Balboa 87'	Report

Senegal	1–2	Zambia
N'Doye 73'	Report	Mayuka 12' Kalaba 20'

Libya	2–2	Zambia
Saad 5', 48'	Report	Mayuka 29' C. Katongo 54'

Equatorial Guinea	2–1	Senegal
Randy 61' Kily 90+3'	Report	Sow 89'

Equatorial Guinea	0–1	Zambia
	Report	C. Katongo 68'

Libya	2–1	Senegal
Boussefi 5', 84'	Report	D. N'Diaye 10'

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ivory Coast	3	3	0	0	5	0	+5	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Sudan	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
3	Angola	3	1	1	1	4	5	−1	4
4	Burkina Faso	3	0	0	3	2	6	−4	0

Ivory Coast	1–0	Sudan
Drogba 39'	Report

Burkina Faso	1–2	Angola
A. Traoré 58'	Report	Mateus Galiano 48' Manucho 68'

Sudan	2–2	Angola
Bashir 32', 74'	Report	Manucho 4', 50' (pen.)

Ivory Coast	2–0	Burkina Faso
Kalou 16' B. Koné 82' (o.g.)	Report

Sudan	2–1	Burkina Faso
Mudather Karika 33', 79'	Report	Ouédraogo 90+5'

Ivory Coast	2–0	Angola
Eboué 33' Bony 64'	Report

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Gabon (H)	3	3	0	0	6	2	+4	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Tunisia	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1	6
3	Morocco	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
4	Niger	3	0	0	3	1	5	−4	0

Gabon	2–0	Niger
Aubameyang 31' N'Guéma 42'	Report

Morocco	1–2	Tunisia
Kharja 86'	Report	Korbi 34' Msakni 76'

Niger	1–2	Tunisia
N'Gounou 9'	Report	Msakni 4' Jemâa 89'

Gabon	3–2	Morocco
Aubameyang 76' Cousin 79' Mbanangoyé 90+10'	Report	Kharja 24', 90+1' (pen.)

Gabon	1–0	Tunisia
Aubameyang 61'	Report

Niger	0–1	Morocco
	Report	Belhanda 78'

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ghana	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Mali	3	2	0	1	3	3	0	6
3	Guinea	3	1	1	1	7	3	+4	4
4	Botswana	3	0	0	3	2	9	−7	0

Ghana	1–0	Botswana
John Mensah 25'	Report

Mali	1–0	Guinea
B. Traoré 30'	Report

Botswana	1–6	Guinea
Selolwane 23' (pen.)	Report	S. Diallo 15', 27' A. R. Camara 42' Traoré 45' M. Bah 83' Soumah 86'

Ghana	2–0	Mali
Gyan 64' A. Ayew 71'	Report

Botswana	1–2	Mali
Ngele 50'	Report	Dembélé 56' Keita 75'

Ghana	1–1	Guinea
Agyemang-Badu 27'	Report	A. R. Camara 45'

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winners if necessary.

Bracket

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	4 February – Bata
	Zambia	3
					8 February – Bata
	Sudan	0
					Zambia	1
	5 February – Franceville
					Ghana	0
	Ghana (a.e.t.)	2
									12 February – Libreville
	Tunisia	1
									Zambia (p)	0 (8)
	5 February – Libreville
									Ivory Coast	0 (7)
	Gabon	1 (4)
					8 February – Libreville
	Mali (p)	1 (5)
					Mali	0
	4 February – Malabo
					Ivory Coast	1			Third place play-off
	Ivory Coast	3
									11 February – Malabo
	Equatorial Guinea	0
									Ghana	0
									Mali	2

Quarter-finals

Zambia	3–0	Sudan
Sunzu 15' C. Katongo 66' Chamanga 86'	Report

Ivory Coast	3–0	Equatorial Guinea
Drogba 35', 69' Y. Touré 81'	Report

Gabon	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Mali
Mouloungui 54'	Report	Diabaté 85'
Penalties
Poko Mbanangoyé Mouloungui Aubameyang Manga	4–5	Diabaté Yatabaré Kanté B. Traoré Keita

Ghana	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Tunisia
John Mensah 9' A. Ayew 100'	Report	Khelifa 41'

Semi-finals

Zambia	1–0	Ghana
Mayuka 78'	Report

Mali	0–1	Ivory Coast
	Report	Gervinho 45'

Third place play-off

Ghana	0–2	Mali
	Report	Diabaté 23', 80'

Final

Zambia	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Ivory Coast
	Report
Penalties
C. Katongo Mayuka Chansa F. Katongo Mweene Sinkala Lungu Kalaba Sunzu	8–7	Tioté Bony Bamba Gradel Drogba Tiéné Ya Konan K. Touré Gervinho

Awards

• Player of the tournament: Christopher Katongo
• Top goalscorer of the competition: Emmanuel Mayuka
• Fair Player of the competition: Jean-Jacques Gosso
• Fair Play award:  Ivory Coast

Team of the tournament

Tournament rankings

Pos.	Team	G	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	GF	GA	GD
1	Zambia	A	6	5	1	0	16	9	3	+6
2	Ivory Coast	B	6	5	1	0	16	9	0	+9
3	Mali	D	6	3	1	2	10	6	5	+1
4	Ghana	D	6	3	1	2	10	6	5	+1
Eliminated in the quarter-finals
5	Gabon	C	4	3	1	0	10	7	3	+4
6	Tunisia	C	4	2	0	2	6	5	5	0
7	Equatorial Guinea	A	4	2	0	2	6	3	5	−2
8	Sudan	B	4	1	1	2	4	4	7	−3
Eliminated in the group stage
9	Guinea	D	3	1	1	1	4	7	3	+4
10	Libya	B	3	1	1	1	4	4	4	0
11	Angola	C	3	1	1	1	4	4	5	−1
12	Morocco	A	3	1	0	2	3	4	5	−1
13	Senegal	A	3	0	0	3	0	3	6	−3
14	Burkina Faso	B	3	0	0	3	0	2	6	−4
15	Niger	C	3	0	0	3	0	1	5	−4
16	Botswana	D	3	0	0	3	0	2	9	−7

Scorers

3 goals

• Manucho
• Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
• Didier Drogba
• Cheick Diabaté
• Houssine Kharja
• Christopher Katongo
• Emmanuel Mayuka

2 goals

• André Ayew
• John Mensah
• Abdoul Camara
• Sadio Diallo
• Ihaab Boussefi
• Ahmed Saad Osman
• Mohamed Ahmed Bashir
• Mudather El Tahir
• Youssef Msakni

1 goal

• Mateus
• Mogakolodi Ngele
• Dipsy Selolwane
• Issiaka Ouédraogo
• Alain Traoré
• Javier Balboa
• Kily
• Randy
• Daniel Cousin
• Bruno Zita Mbanangoyé
• Éric Mouloungui
• Stéphane N'Guéma
• Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu
• Asamoah Gyan
• Mamadou Bah
• Naby Soumah
• Ibrahima Traoré
• Wilfried Bony
• Emmanuel Eboué
• Gervinho
• Salomon Kalou
• Yaya Touré
• Garra Dembélé
• Seydou Keita
• Bakaye Traoré
• Younès Belhanda
• William N'Gounou
• Deme N'Diaye
• Dame N'Doye
• Moussa Sow
• Issam Jemâa
• Saber Khelifa
• Khaled Korbi
• James Chamanga
• Rainford Kalaba
• Stophira Sunzu

Own goal

• Bakary Koné (playing against Ivory Coast)

Mascot

The mascot for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations was unveiled on 16 September 2011 at a ceremony in Libreville, Gabon. The mascot, named Gaguie, is a gorilla sporting the national team colors of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Match ball

The official match ball for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, manufactured by Adidas, was the Comoequa. The name was inspired by the Komo River, which runs through the host nations, and the Equator, which runs throughout Africa and unites the host nations.

Notes

1. Original kick-off at 17:00 but was delayed due to heavy rain.
2. Original kick-off at 20:00 but was pushed back due to the delay of the Libya–Zambia match.

References

1. "The Arab Spring, Libya and the African Cup of Nations: The effect of revolution has been to inspire, unite and embolden". Sporting Intelligence. 16 January 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
2. "Zambia win dramatic shoot-out". BBC Sport. 12 February 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
3. "Zambia Takes a Modest and Emotional Path to Victory". The New York Times. 13 February 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
4. "Zambia coach dedicates Africa Cup of Nations win to crash dead". BBC Sport. 13 February 2002. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
5. "Africa Cup of Nations Cup to move to odd-numbered years". BBC Sport. 16 May 2010. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
6. "African International Competitions". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 28 January 2012.
7. "Togo officially disqualified from Africa Cup of Nations". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 11 January 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
8. "Togo's African Cup ban is lifted". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 14 May 2010. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
9. "Nigeria's President Suspends Soccer Team". CBC Sports. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 30 June 2010. Archived from the original on 3 July 2010. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
10. "Nigeria backs down on soccer ban". ESPN Soccernet. 6 July 2010. Archived from the original on 8 July 2010. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
11. "Gabon : Libreville et Malabo s'accordent pour la CAN 2012" [Gabon: Libreville and Malabo agree for the 2012 ACN]. Gaboneco (in French). 5 January 2010. Archived from the original on 7 January 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
12. "Official Draw for the Orange CAN 2012 fixed for October 29, 2011". CAF Online. Confederation of African Football. 26 June 2011. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011.
13. "2012 Africa Cup of Nations draw conducted". CAF Online. Confederation of African Football. 29 October 2011. Archived from the original on 31 October 2011.
14. "Orange CAN 2012 Official Draw 29 Oct 2011 – Procedures" (PDF). CAF Online. Confederation of African Football. 12 October 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 September 2013.
15. "Referees". CAF Online. Confederation of African Football. Archived from the original on 28 December 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
16. ^ "Regulations of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations Gabon-Equatorial Guinea 2012" (PDF). CAF Online. Confederation of African Football. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
17. "Fixtures of the 28th Orange -Africa Cup of Nations, CAN 2012 Equatorial Guinea –Gabon" (PDF). CAF Online. Confederation of African Football. 29 October 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 November 2011.
18. ^ "2012 African Nations Cup Fixtures and Results". ESPN Soccernet. Archived from the original on 29 January 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
19. "Rain delays Libya-Zambia match". ESPNStar.com. 26 January 2012. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
20. "Orange CAN 2012 Awards Orange CAN 2012 Awards". cafonline.com. 12 February 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
21. "Orange CAN 2012 Best XI". cafonline.com. 12 February 2012. Archived from the original on 15 February 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
22. ^ "AFC Competition Operations Manual (Edition 2023)" (PDF). Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
23. "Orange CAN 2012 mascot Gaguie unveiled". CAF Online. Confederation of African Football. 16 September 2011. Archived from the original on 25 September 2011. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
24. "CAF and Adidas present the official match ball for the African Cup of Nations". CAF Online. Confederation of African Football. 3 January 2011. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2011.

External links

• Africa Cup of Nations at CAFonline.com

• 2012 Africa Cup of Nations
• Africa Cup of Nations tournaments
• International association football competitions hosted by Gabon
• International association football competitions hosted by Equatorial Guinea
• 2012 in African football
• 2012 in Gabonese sport
• 2012 in Equatoguinean sport
• January 2012 sports events in Africa
• February 2012 sports events in Africa