The CAF African Nations Championship is a football tournament which was first announced on 11 September 2007. It is administered by the Confederation of African Football and is played between the best national teams of Africa, exclusively featuring players who are active in the national championships and qualified to play in the ongoing season. Expatriate players, regardless of where they play, even in Africa, are not qualified to take part in the tournament. The first tournament was held in 2009. It was hosted by Ivory Coast and won by DR Congo. The competition was expanded to 16 teams for the second tournament, held in Sudan in 2011. The tournament was won by Tunisia, in the wake of the Tunisian Revolution. The tournament is now held every even years, alternating with the Africa Cup of Nations.
History
The creation of the African Nations Championship was a response to the desire to revive or strengthen national competitions regularly weakened by a mass exodus of top players who leave their home countries to play for foreign teams which will pay more and get them more media coverage. Starting from the 2014 edition onwards, all of the matches are recognized by FIFA as first team matches.
Sponsorship
In July2016, Total secured an eight-year sponsorship package from the Confederation of African Football to support 10 of its principal competitions. Due to this sponsorship, the African Nations Championship is named "Total African Nations Championship".
Qualifying
The eight tournament spots, for the first edition in 2009, were allocated the following way:
One each for North Zone, Zone West A, Zone West B, Centre Zone and Central-East Zone
Since the second edition, in 2011, 16 teams qualify for the tournament, allocated this way :
2 each for North Zone and Zone West A
3 each for Zone West B, Central Zone, Central-East Zone and Southern Zone
Tournament format
The group stage of the African Nations Championship features pools of four teams drawn at random. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage. On 8 March 2009, Democratic Republic of the Congo defeated Ghana 2–0 to become the first winner of the tournament.
Results
Summaries
Performance by nation
hosts.
Champions by region
Hat-tricks
A hat-trick is achieved when the same player scores three or more goals in one match. Listed in chronological order.
