2004 African Cup of Nations

2004 African Cup of Nations

كأس الأمم الإفريقية 2004
Tournament details
Host country	Tunisia
Dates	24 January – 14 February
Teams	16
Venue(s)	6 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Tunisia (1st title)
Runners-up	Morocco
Third place	Nigeria
Fourth place	Mali
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	88 (2.75 per match)
Attendance	617,500 (19,297 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Patrick Mboma Frédéric Kanouté Jay-Jay Okocha Francileudo Santos (4 goals each)
Best player(s)	Jay-Jay Okocha
← 2002 2006 →

The 2004 African Cup of Nations, known as the Nokia 2004 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes, was the 24th edition of the African Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football championship of Africa organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament was played between 24 January and 14 February 2004 in Tunisia, taking place in the country for the third time following the 1965 and 1994 editions. The organization of the 2004 edition was awarded to Tunisia on 4 September 2000.

The defending champions were Cameroon from the 2002 edition. A total of 32 matches were played, in which 88 goals were scored, at an average of 2.75 goals per match. Attendance at all stages of the tournament reached 617,500, averaging 19,297 viewers per match. Qualification took place from 7 September 2002 to 6 July 2003. Cameroon as title holder and Tunisia as host country automatically qualified for the final phase of the tournament. As in the 2002 edition, sixteen teams, divided into four groups each comprising four teams, took part in the competition. The defending champions Cameroon were eliminated in the quarter-finals after losing 1–2 against Nigeria's Super eagles. Tunisia won the title for the first time in their history, after beating one-time champions Morocco in the final match with a score of 2–1, so the Eagles of Carthage are the 13th selection in history to be crowned African champions. Nigeria secured third place after beating Mali in the third place match, which placed them fourth.

Four players scored the most goals at the end of the tournament: Tunisian Francileudo Santos, Cameroonian Patrick Mboma, Malian Frédéric Kanouté and Nigerian Jay-Jay Okocha, however the top scorer title was given to Tunisia's Santos as he was the player of the champion team and did not receive any cards throughout the tournament, while Nigeria's Okocha won the best player award. As champions, Tunisia qualified for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany, as a representative of African continent.

The organization of the 2004 edition was awarded to Tunisia on 4 September 2000 by the CAF Executive Committee meeting in Cairo, Egypt.^[1] Voters had a choice between four countries : Malawi and Zambia (joint bid), Tunisia and Zimbabwe.^[2] Benin and Togo were both also candidates at the start (joint bid) but withdrew on 4 September 2000 before the meeting.^[3] This edition was awarded to Tunisia which represented Africa in the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France by taking the majority of the votes of the CAF Executive Committee members which are 13 after its impressive success in the 1994 edition.^[4] This is the third time that Tunisia has hosted the African Cup after 1965 and 1994 editions. Two years before the start of the tournament, an organizing committee (Comité d'organisation de la Coupe d'Afrique des Nations; COCAN) was established, headed by Slim Chiboub (who was the head of the organizing committee in 1994).^[5]

Voting results

Country	Votes
Tunisia	9
Zimbabwe	3
Malawi / Zambia	1
Benin / Togo	Withdrew
Total votes	13

The main host cities are concentrated on the country's coastal strip: Bizerte, Monastir, Sousse, Sfax and the capital Tunis.^[6] The 7 November Stadium is the largest stadium in the country with a capacity of 60,000 spectators, located in city of Radès, in the southern suburb of the city Tunis, it was built to host the 2001 Mediterranean Games and 2003 Tunis Four Nations Tournament and opened on 6 July 2001 during the final of the 2000–01 Tunisian Cup.^[7] The stadium obtains the Class 1 Certificate from the World Athletics,^[8] which means that it reaches the best standards and specifications in its field.^[9]

El Menzah Stadium in Tunis and Sousse Olympic Stadium in Sousse hosted matches of the 1994 African Cup of Nations.^[10][11] Taieb Mhiri Stadium in Sfax was one of the stadiums of the 1965 African Cup of Nations.^[12] Mustapha Ben Jannet Stadium in Monastir and 15 October Stadium in Bizerte have also been added to host the event.^[13][14] All stadiums were renovated before the start of the tournament.^[15]

List of candidate host cities

City	Stadium	Capacity
Bizerte	15 October Stadium	20,000[16]
Monastir	Mustapha Ben Jannet Stadium	22,000[17]
Sfax	Taieb Mhiri Stadium	22,000[18]
Sousse	Sousse Olympic Stadium	28,000[19]
Tunis	7 November Stadium	60,000[20]
	El Menzah Stadium	45,000[21]

Qualification took place from 7 September 2002 to 6 July 2003. The 49 nations registered for the competition are divided into thirteen groups: ten groups of four teams and three groups of three teams. The selections of Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe and Djibouti forfeit before the start of qualifying.

The first of each group qualify for the final tournament in Tunisia, as well as the best of the second. Cameroon, as defending champion, and Tunisia, as host country, are automatically qualified for the final phase of the competition. Benin, Rwanda and Zimbabwe managed to qualify for the African Cup of Nations for the first final phase of their history, after finishing at the top of their group in the qualifiers in front of two former African champions, Sudan and Ghana.

The following sixteen teams qualified for the tournament.

Team	Method of qualification	Finals appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance	FIFA ranking at start of event
Tunisia	Hosts	11th	2002	Runners-up (1965, 1996)	45
Cameroon	Holders	13th	2002	Winners (1984, 1988, 2000, 2002)	14
Nigeria	Group 1 winners	13th	2002	Winners (1980, 1994)	35
Guinea	Group 2 winners	7th	1998	Runners-up (1976)	102
Benin	Group 3 winners	1st	None	Debut	123
Burkina Faso	Group 4 winners	6th	2002	Fourth place (1998)	72
Kenya	Group 5 winners	5th	1992	Group stage (1972, 1988, 1990, 1992)	76
Mali	Group 6 winners	4th	2002	Runners-up (1972)	51
Morocco	Group 7 winners	12th	2002	Winners (1976)	38
Senegal	Group 8 winners	9th	2002	Runners-up (2002)	33
DR Congo	Group 9 winners	14th	2002	Winners (1968, 1974)	54
Egypt	Group 10 winners	19th	2002	Winners (1957, 1959, 1986, 1998)	32
South Africa	Group 11 winners	5th	2002	Winners (1996)	36
Algeria	Group 12 winners	13th	2002	Winners (1990)	63
Rwanda	Group 13 winners	1st	None	Debut	109
Zimbabwe	Group 6 runner-up	1st	None	Debut	49

The draw took place on 20 September 2003 in Tunis.^[22] The sixteen teams were divided into four pots according to their performances in past Cup of Nations tournaments.^[23] The January 2004 FIFA World Rankings (shown in parentheses).^[24]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Tunisia (hosts)  Cameroon (title holders)  Nigeria  Senegal	Algeria  South Africa  Egypt  DR Congo	Morocco  Burkina Faso  Mali  Guinea	Kenya  Rwanda  Benin  Zimbabwe

As is the case in all versions of the African Cup of Nations, each team participating in the tournament must consist of 23 players (including three goalkeepers). Participating national teams must confirm the final list of 23 players no later than ten days before the start of the tournament. In the event that a player suffers an injury which prevents him from participating in the tournament, his team has the right to replace him with another player at any time up to 24 hours before the team's first game.

The following referees were chosen for the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations.

The 16 national teams participating in the tournament together played a total of 32 matches ranging from group stage and progression matches to knockout matches, with teams eliminated through the various progressive stages. Rest days are set aside during the different stages to allow players to recover during the tournament.

Day	Time	Venue	Stage	Team 1	Result	Team 2
24 January 2004	Preliminary events
	18:00	7 November Stadium	Opening ceremony
	First round of group stage matches
	19:30	7 November Stadium	Group A	Tunisia	2–1	Rwanda
25 January 2004	14:00	El Menzah Stadium		DR Congo	1–2	Guinea
	16:30	Taieb Mhiri Stadium	Group C	Zimbabwe	1–2	Egypt
	19:00	Sousse Olympic Stadium		Cameroon	1–1	Algeria
26 January 2004	14:00	15 October Stadium	Group B	Kenya	1–3	Mali
	19:00	El Menzah Stadium		Senegal	0–0	Burkina Faso
27 January 2004	14:00	Mustapha Ben Jannet Stadium	Group D	Nigeria	0–1	Morocco
	18:00	Taieb Mhiri Stadium		South Africa	2–0	Benin
28 January 2004	Second round of group stage matches
	14:00	15 October Stadium	Group A	Rwanda	1–1	Guinea
	16:15	7 November Stadium		Tunisia	3–0	DR Congo
29 January 2004	16:30	Taieb Mhiri Stadium	Group C	Cameroon	5–3	Zimbabwe
	19:00	Sousse Olympic Stadium		Algeria	2–1	Egypt
30 January 2004	14:00	15 October Stadium	Group B	Senegal	3–0	Kenya
	19:00	El Menzah Stadium		Burkina Faso	1–3	Mali
31 January 2004	14:00	Mustapha Ben Jannet Stadium	Group D	Nigeria	4–0	South Africa
	18:00	Taieb Mhiri Stadium		Morocco	4–0	Benin
1 February 2004	Third round of group stage matches
	14:00	7 November Stadium	Group A	Tunisia	1–1	Guinea
	14:00	15 October Stadium		Rwanda	1–0	DR Congo
2 February 2004	14:00	El Menzah Stadium	Group B	Senegal	1–1	Mali
	14:00	15 October Stadium		Burkina Faso	0–3	Kenya
3 February 2004	14:00	Mustapha Ben Jannet Stadium	Group C	Cameroon	0–0	Egypt
	14:00	Sousse Olympic Stadium		Algeria	1–2	Zimbabwe
4 February 2004	18:00	Sousse Olympic Stadium	Group D	Morocco	1–1	South Africa
	18:00	Taieb Mhiri Stadium		Nigeria	2–1	Benin
5 February 2004	Rest days
6 February 2004
7 February 2004	Knockout stage matches
	14:00	El Menzah Stadium	Quarter-finals	Mali	2–1	Guinea
	17:00	7 November Stadium		Tunisia	1–0	Senegal
8 February 2004	14:00	Mustapha Ben Jannet Stadium		Cameroon	1–2	Nigeria
	17:00	Taieb Mhiri Stadium		Morocco	3–1 (a.e.t.)	Algeria
9 February 2004	Rest days
10 February 2004
11 February 2004	16:00	7 November Stadium	Semi-finals	Tunisia	1–1 (5–3 p)	Nigeria
	19:00	Sousse Olympic Stadium		Morocco	4–0	Mali
12 February 2004	Rest days
13 February 2004	20:00	Mustapha Ben Jannet Stadium	Third place match	Nigeria	2–1	Mali
14 February 2004	14:30	7 November Stadium	Final	Tunisia	2–1	Morocco

Teams highlighted in green progress to the quarter-finals.^[25]

All times local: CET (UTC+1)

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 74):^[26]

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Drawing of lots.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tunisia (H)	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Guinea	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5
3	Rwanda	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
4	DR Congo	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	0

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Mali	3	2	1	0	7	3	+4	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Senegal	3	1	2	0	4	1	+3	5
3	Kenya	3	1	0	2	4	6	−2	3
4	Burkina Faso	3	0	1	2	1	6	−5	1

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cameroon	3	1	2	0	6	4	+2	5	Advance to knockout stage
2	Algeria	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
3	Egypt	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
4	Zimbabwe	3	1	0	2	6	8	−2	3

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Morocco	3	2	1	0	6	1	+5	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Nigeria	3	2	0	1	6	2	+4	6
3	South Africa	3	1	1	1	3	5	−2	4
4	Benin	3	0	0	3	1	8	−7	0

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	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	7 February – Tunis (Radès)
	Tunisia	1
					11 February – Tunis (Radès)
	Senegal	0
					Tunisia (pen.)	1 (5)
	8 February – Monastir
					Nigeria	1 (3)
	Cameroon	1
									14 February – Tunis (Radès)
	Nigeria	2
									Tunisia	2
	8 February – Sfax
									Morocco	1
	Morocco (a.e.t.)	3
					11 February – Sousse
	Algeria	1
					Morocco	4
	7 February – Tunis (El Menzah)
					Mali	0			Third place
	Mali	2
									13 February – Monastir
	Guinea	1
									Nigeria	2
									Mali	1

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During the final, on 14 February 2004 at Stade 7 November in Radès in front of 60,000 supporters,^[59] Tunisia got off to a good start with a lead 1–0 after four minutes with Mehdi Nafti centered on Francileudo Santos, who scored his fourth goal of the tournament. At the end of the first half, Morocco came back to score with a goal from Youssouf Hadji on a lift from Youssef Mokhtari. Seven minutes passed in the second half before another Tunisian striker, Ziad Jaziri gave his country the lead. The match finally ends with the score of 2–1, giving Tunisia their first African Cup of Nations title.^[60] Khaled Badra and Riadh Bouazizi lifted the trophy after receiving it from President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.^[61] The Eagles of Carthage are the 13th selection in history to be crowned African champions. Roger Lemerre also becomes the first coach to win two different continental tournaments after having previously won the UEFA Euro 2000 with France.^[62] The national team also wins the African National Team of the Year award from the Confederation of African Football.^[63] As champions, Tunisia qualified for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany, as a representative of African continent.^[64]

There were 88 goals scored in 32 matches, for an average of 2.75 goals per match.

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final result
1	Tunisia (H)	6	5	1	0	10	4	+6	16	Champions
2	Morocco	6	4	1	1	14	4	+10	13	Runners-up
3	Nigeria	6	4	0	2	11	5	+6	12	3rd place
4	Mali	6	3	1	2	10	10	0	10	4th place
5	Senegal	4	1	2	1	4	2	+2	5	Eliminated in the quarter-finals
6	Cameroon	4	1	2	1	7	6	+1	5
7	Guinea	4	1	1	2	5	5	0	4
8	Algeria	4	1	1	2	5	7	−2	4
9	Rwanda	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4	Eliminated in the group stage
10	Egypt	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
11	South Africa	3	1	1	1	3	5	−2	4
12	Kenya	3	1	0	2	4	6	−2	3
13	Zimbabwe	3	1	0	2	6	8	−2	3
14	Burkina Faso	3	0	1	2	1	6	−5	1
15	DR Congo	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	0
16	Benin	3	0	0	3	1	8	−7	0

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

Player of the Tournament

• Jay-Jay Okocha^[66][67]

Top Scorer

• Francileudo Santos (4 goals)^[68][69]

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) selected the best players of the African Cup of Nations as part of the tournament's ideal team. This team was called the Ideal Team of the African Cup of Nations 2004 and consisted of:^[70]

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Vincent Enyeama	Walid Regragui Khaled Badra Abdeslam Ouaddou Timothée Atouba	Karim Ziani Riadh Bouazizi Jay-Jay Okocha John Utaka	Frédéric Kanouté Youssouf Hadji

Each of the four teams eliminated in the quarter-finals received a bonus of 61,000 euros for reaching this level of competition. The semi-finalists received 122,600 euros, the finalists 245,200 euros and the winner 280,000 euros. Compensation was also provided to help the various federations, calculated according to the length of each team's stay in Tunisia and based on a daily lump sum of 6 euros per player and coach.^[71]

Final position	Prize money
Champions	280,000 euros
Runners-up	245,200 euros
Semi-finalists	122,600 euros
Quarter-finalists	61,000 euros

On 20 September 2003, in Tunis, Nokia acquired from CAF the right to be the "title sponsor" of the 24th edition,^[72] which is therefore officially called Nokia Africa Cup of Nations, Tunisia 2004.^[73][74]

Sponsors list^[74]

Title sponsor	Official sponsors	Regional sponsors
Nokia	Toyota Pepsi Henkel Western Union The Laughing Cow Glo	Tunisie Telecom Tunisair AGIL Délice Danone

Territory	Channel
Tunisia	Tunis 7[74]
France	Canal+
MENA	ART
Sub-Saharan Africa	LC 2 AFNEX

To choose the tournament mascot, the organizing committee is launching a competition open to the entire Tunisian population. The only rules imposed, this mascot must be an eagle and must represent football, Africa and Tunisia. Of the fifty or so proposals submitted to the committee, it is the work of Malek Khalfallah that is retained. It is an eagle, which the author baptized Nçayir. The colors of its equipment, red and white, refer to the colors of the Tunisian flag.

I sent my proposal by post without even giving my phone number. I just wanted to participate. And one day someone knocked on the door telling me that I urgently needed to call a number. To my great surprise I learned that it was my first mascot proposal that won the contest! I then had to change a few details requested by the organizing committee.

— Malek Khalfallah (mascot designer)^[75]

The official ball for the 2004 African Cup of Nations is the Adidas Fevernova. Designed two years earlier by Adidas for the 2002 FIFA World Cup held in South Korea and Japan and 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup held in United States, the ball was reused during the 2004 African Cup of Nations.^[76]

• 2004 edition records and statistics at RSSSF