Table of Contents
The most recent Africa Cup of Nations final was not decided on the pitch. Senegal beat Morocco 1-0 in Rabat on 18 January 2026, Pape Gueye scoring in extra time, and the Senegalese players lifted the trophy. Two months later, on 17 March, the CAF Appeal Board ruled that Senegal had forfeited the match for temporarily leaving the pitch in protest at a refereeing decision, awarded the game 3-0 to Morocco, and stripped Senegal of the title. Morocco are the champions. The record books now carry an asterisk no other final has.
It is the strangest ending in the history of the continent's showpiece, and it is the reason this record exists. Thirty-five editions of the Africa Cup of Nations have been played since 1957, and fifteen nations have won it. Every final is listed below — the score, the scorer where the record is verified, the stadium, the crowd — followed by the finals that changed what came after them.
THE MOST RECENT FINAL, AND THE ASTERISK
The 2025 final was played at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, in front of 66,526 people — the largest crowd at an AFCON final since Algiers in 1990. Senegal left the pitch late in the game in protest at a refereeing decision, returned, and won it in extra time when Gueye scored in the 94th minute. On the night, Senegal were champions for the second time.
The CAF Appeal Board's ruling in March changed the outcome but not the match. Under articles 82 and 84 of the competition regulations, the forfeit was recorded as a 3-0 win for Morocco. Morocco's second title — their first came in 1976 — arrived by committee decision, two months after the final whistle. Senegal, who won their first title in 2021, are listed as runners-up for the third time, after 2002 and 2019. The trophy, the medals and the history books disagree with what 66,526 people saw. That disagreement is now part of the record, and any honest list of AFCON finals has to carry it.
THE COMPLETE RECORD
| Year | Final | Score | Decisive moment | Venue | Crowd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Egypt v Ethiopia | 4–0 | Ad-Diba scored all four, in extra time | Municipal Stadium, Khartoum | 30,000 |
| 1959 | United Arab Republic v Sudan | 2–1 | Round-robin decider, not a final | Prince Farouk Stadium, Cairo | 30,000 |
| 1962 | Ethiopia v United Arab Republic | 4–2 a.e.t. | Kidane, L. Vassallo, I. Vassallo, Worku; Badawi 2 | Hailé Sélassié Stadium, Addis Ababa | 30,000 |
| 1963 | Ghana v Sudan | 3–0 | Aggrey-Fynn (pen), Acquah 2 | Accra Sports Stadium, Accra | not recorded |
| 1965 | Ghana v Tunisia | 3–2 a.e.t. | Ghana won after extra time in Tunis | Chedly Zouiten Stadium, Tunis | 16,000 |
| 1968 | Congo-Kinshasa v Ghana | 1–0 | Kalala 66' | Hailé Sélassié Stadium, Addis Ababa | 25,000 |
| 1970 | Sudan v Ghana | 1–0 | Hasabu El-Sagheer 12' | Municipal Stadium, Khartoum | 12,187 |
| 1972 | Congo v Mali | 3–2 | Congo scored three in seven minutes either side of the hour | Stade Omnisports, Yaoundé | 40,000 |
| 1974 | Zaire v Zambia | 2–2 a.e.t.; 2–0 replay | Mulamba scored twice in the final and twice in the replay | Nasser Stadium, Cairo | 55,000; 1,000 (replay) |
| 1976 | Morocco v Guinea | 1–1 | Round-robin decider, not a final | Addis Ababa Stadium, Addis Ababa | 30,000 |
| 1978 | Ghana v Uganda | 2–0 | Afriyie 38', 64' | Accra Sports Stadium, Accra | 80,000 |
| 1980 | Nigeria v Algeria | 3–0 | Odegbami 2', 42'; Lawal | Surulere Stadium, Lagos | 85,000 |
| 1982 | Ghana v Libya | 1–1 a.e.t. | Ghana won 7–6 on penalties | June 11 Stadium, Tripoli | 80,000 |
| 1984 | Cameroon v Nigeria | 3–1 | N'Djeya, Abega, Ebongué; Lawal | Félix Houphouët-Boigny Stadium, Abidjan | 27,456 |
| 1986 | Egypt v Cameroon | 0–0 a.e.t. | Egypt won 5–4 on penalties | Cairo International Stadium, Cairo | 95,000 |
| 1988 | Cameroon v Nigeria | 1–0 | Kundé 55' (pen) | Stade Mohammed V, Casablanca | 60,000 |
| 1990 | Algeria v Nigeria | 1–0 | Algeria's first title, before 105,032 | Stade du 5 Juillet, Algiers | 105,032 |
| 1992 | Ivory Coast v Ghana | 0–0 a.e.t. | Ivory Coast won 11–10 on penalties; 24 spot-kicks taken | Stade de l'Amitié, Dakar | 47,500 |
| 1994 | Nigeria v Zambia | 2–1 | Litana; Amuneke 5', 47' | El Menzah Stadium, Tunis | 25,000 |
| 1996 | South Africa v Tunisia | 2–0 | Williams scored twice off the bench | FNB Stadium, Johannesburg | 80,000 |
| 1998 | Egypt v South Africa | 2–0 | Egypt's fourth title | Stade du 4 Août, Ouagadougou | 40,000 |
| 2000 | Cameroon v Nigeria | 2–2 a.e.t. | Cameroon won 4–3 on penalties; Chukwu and Okocha scored for Nigeria | National Stadium, Lagos | 60,000 |
| 2002 | Cameroon v Senegal | 0–0 a.e.t. | Cameroon won 3–2 on penalties | Stade du 26 Mars, Bamako | 50,000 |
| 2004 | Tunisia v Morocco | 2–1 | Tunisia's only title, won at home | 7 November Stadium, Radès | 60,000 |
| 2006 | Egypt v Ivory Coast | 0–0 a.e.t. | Egypt won 4–2 on penalties | Cairo International Stadium, Cairo | 74,100 |
| 2008 | Egypt v Cameroon | 1–0 | The second of Egypt's three straight titles | Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra | 50,000 |
| 2010 | Egypt v Ghana | 1–0 | The three-peat, completed in Angola | Estádio 11 de Novembro, Luanda | 50,000 |
| 2012 | Zambia v Ivory Coast | 0–0 a.e.t. | Zambia won 8–7 on penalties; Drogba missed a penalty in play | Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville | 40,000 |
| 2013 | Nigeria v Burkina Faso | 1–0 | Mba 40' | FNB Stadium, Johannesburg | 85,000 |
| 2015 | Ivory Coast v Ghana | 0–0 a.e.t. | Ivory Coast won 9–8 on penalties | Estadio de Bata, Bata | 32,857 |
| 2017 | Cameroon v Egypt | 2–1 | Elneny; Nkoulou, Aboubakar | Stade de l'Amitié, Libreville | 38,250 |
| 2019 | Algeria v Senegal | 1–0 | Bounedjah, in the second minute | Cairo International Stadium, Cairo | 75,000 |
| 2021 | Senegal v Egypt | 0–0 a.e.t. | Senegal won 4–2 on penalties; Mané scored the winner | Olembe Stadium, Yaoundé | 48,000 |
| 2023 | Ivory Coast v Nigeria | 2–1 | Troost-Ekong (pen); Kessié, Haller | Alassane Ouattara Stadium, Abidjan | 57,094 |
| 2025 | Morocco v Senegal | 3–0 awarded | Gueye won it 1–0 in extra time on the pitch; CAF later awarded the match to Morocco | Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, Rabat | 66,526 |
Two editions had no final at all. In 1959 and 1976 the winner was decided by a final round-robin group, and the matches listed are the de facto deciders — the games between the top two teams. Nine finals have been decided by penalty shoot-outs, and one, in 1974, by a replay. The 1963 crowd is not recorded in the published record.
THE FINALS THAT CHANGED WHAT CAME NEXT
1957, Khartoum. Three teams played the first tournament, and Egypt won it with four goals in extra time from Mohamed Diab Al-Attar, known as Ad-Diba. He finished as the tournament's top scorer with five goals. Egypt retained the title in 1959, and the country has now won seven — more than any other nation — and reached ten finals.
1962, Addis Ababa. The highest-scoring final, and Ethiopia's only title. The hosts came from behind twice against the United Arab Republic, then scored twice in extra time through Italo Vassallo and Mengistu Worku. Ethiopia have not reached a final since.
1968 and 1974, the Congo story. Pierre Kalala Mukendi's 66th-minute goal beat Ghana in 1968 for Congo-Kinshasa's first title. Six years later, as Zaire, they won it again in the only final ever replayed — 2-2 in Cairo, then 2-0 two days later, with Ndaye Mulamba scoring twice in both games. Mulamba's nine goals in that tournament remain the record for a single edition. Zaire carried the title to the 1974 World Cup in Germany, the first sub-Saharan African team to play at a World Cup.
1978, Accra. Opoku Afriyie's two goals against Uganda gave Ghana their third title, which meant they kept the trophy permanently — the first nation to do so. Ghana won a fourth in 1982, in Tripoli on penalties, and have not won it since. That is 44 years, five lost finals, and the longest wait of any former champion.
1994, Tunis. Zambia reached the final less than a year after 18 members of the national squad were killed when their plane crashed off the coast of Gabon en route to a World Cup qualifier. Elijah Litana gave them the lead after three minutes. Emmanuel Amuneke equalised two minutes later and scored again early in the second half. Nigeria won their second title. Zambia would wait 18 years for their own, and when it came, in Libreville in 2012, it was against an Ivory Coast side captained by Didier Drogba — who missed a penalty in open play before Zambia won the shoot-out 8-7.
1996, Johannesburg. South Africa won the tournament four years after returning to international football following the end of apartheid, beating Tunisia 2-0 in front of 80,000 at FNB Stadium, with Nelson Mandela and F. W. de Klerk in the stands. Substitute Mark Williams scored twice, eight minutes after coming on and then again almost immediately.
2010, Luanda. Egypt's 1-0 win over Ghana completed three consecutive titles — 2006, 2008, 2010 — a feat no other nation has matched. Egypt have not won the tournament since.
2023, Abidjan. Ivory Coast lost two group games, including a 4-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea, and still won the tournament at home. William Troost-Ekong's penalty put Nigeria ahead in the final; Franck Kessié equalised and Sébastien Haller, eighteen months after returning from cancer treatment, volleyed the winner. It was the host nation's third title, and the first time the hosts had won it since Egypt in 2006.
WHAT THE LIST SAYS
Read the table as a whole, and three patterns stand out. First, the final is a home game more often than not: hosts have won it thirteen times, and the crowd figures show why — Algiers in 1990 drew 105,032, Lagos in 1980 drew 85,000, Johannesburg in 2013 drew 85,000. Second, the final is rarely settled in open play any more. Nine of the 35 finals have gone to penalties, five of them since 2002. Third, the geography of winning has widened. The first five titles were shared by three nations — Egypt, Ethiopia and Ghana. Fifteen have now won it, and the last five titles have been shared by five different nations.
The next final is in East Africa. AFCON 2027 will be staged in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in June and July 2027, and the record above will gain its 36th line. Whoever plays in it will be walking into a history that now includes a four-goal extra time, a replay watched by 1,000 people, a 24-penalty shoot-out, a three-peat, and a title decided in a committee room two months after the trophy was lifted.
Sportblot will carry the continental story from here.
