There have been 31 Africa Cup of Nations finals between 1957-2019 and AFP Sport selects five of the most memorable ahead of the title decider between Egypt and Senegal in Yaounde on Sunday.
1962 – Ethiopia 4 Egypt 2
The final with the most goals, and plenty of excitement as hosts Ethiopia equalised twice against then holders Egypt before scoring two extra-time goals to win the competition for the only time. Mengistu Worku was the Ethiopia hero in front of a capacity 30,000 crowd crammed into the Haile Selassie Stadium in Addis Ababa. He scored the second equaliser with six minutes of regular time left and the fourth goal after 118 minutes.
1972 – Congo Brazzaville 3 Mali 2
Congo scored three goals in seven minutes either side of the hour mark to turn the tide in their favour at the Stade Omnisports (now Ahmadou Ahidjo) in Yaounde. Mali led 1-0 at half-time in a clash of first-time finalists watched by 40,000 spectators before Jean-Michel M’Bono equalised and scored again two minutes later. Rattled Mali fell further behind after a goal by Francois M’Pele, who was voted the outstanding player of the first Cup of Nations staged in central Africa.
1994 – Nigeria 2 Zambia 1
Zambia reached the final less than a year after 18 of the national squad died in a plane crash off the Gabon coast when en route to Senegal for a World Cup qualifier. Zambian Elijah Litana scored after only three minutes of a final watched by a crowd of 25,000 at the Stade El Menzah in Tunis. Emmanuel Amunike levelled within two minutes, however, and scored again early in the second half to give Nigeria a second Cup of Nations title.
1996 – South Africa 2 Tunisia 0
Hosts South Africa triumphed in front of a capacity 80,000 crowd in Johannesburg just four years after returning from an apartheid-induced international wilderness. Then President Nelson Mandela and the last white ruler of the country, FW de Klerk, saw Bafana Bafana (The Boys) struggle to pierce the Tunisian defence before substitute Mark Williams struck twice, breaking the deadlock eight minutes after coming off the bench and scoring again almost immediately.
2012 – Zambia 0 Ivory Coast 0 (Zambia won 8-7 on penalties)
Outsiders Zambia achieved a sensational victory by defeating the Didier Drogba-captained stars of the Ivory Coast in a final that had no goals but lots of drama. Drogba blazed a regular-time penalty over and Kolo Toure and Gervinho failed to score in the shoot-out before Stoppila Sunzu converted the winning spot-kick. Success in Libreville had special significance for the Chipolopolo (Copper Bullets) as the 1993 plane crash that killed most of the then national squad occurred not far from the final venue.
AFP
