2006 Africa Cup of Nations

2006 Africa Cup of Nations

كأس أمم أفريقيا 2006
Africa Cup of Nations 2006 official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Egypt
Dates	20 January – 10 February
Teams	16
Venue(s)	6 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Egypt (5th title)
Runners-up	Ivory Coast
Third place	Nigeria
Fourth place	Senegal
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	73 (2.28 per match)
Attendance	714,054 (22,314 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Samuel Eto'o (5 goals)
Best player(s)	Ahmed Hassan
← 2004 2008 →

The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt, from 20 January to 10 February. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four. Egypt won its fifth championship, beating Ivory Coast in the final 4–2 in a penalty shootout after the regulation time had ended in a goalless draw.

Bids :

• Algeria
• Egypt (selected as hosts)
• Ivory Coast
• Libya

The organization of the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was awarded to Egypt on 24 October 2002 by the CAF Executive Committee meeting in Cairo, Egypt. Voters had a choice among four countries : Algeria, Egypt, Ivory Coast and Libya.

This marks the fourth time that Egypt has hosted the African Cup after 1959, 1974 and 1986.

It also coincides with the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the foundation of CAF.

For the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, qualification was done through the CAF's qualification process for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Whereas only the winner of each group qualified for the World Cup, the top 3 finishers in each of the five qualification groups gained entry into the Africa Cup of Nations. The exception was qualification group 3, which contained hosts Egypt. Since Egypt qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations automatically as the hosts, the final berth was instead awarded to the fourth-place finishers, Libya.

2006 also marked the first time that the defending champion did not automatically qualify for the finals. Tunisia, 2004's champion, qualified for the Cup of Nations by winning their group in the qualification process.

The draw for the final tournament took place on 20 October 2005 in Cairo. The 16 teams were split into four pots, with Pot 1 containing the top four seeded nations. Egypt, as hosts, were automatically seeded as the top team in Group A. Tunisia, the defending champions, were seeded as the top team in Group C. The remaining 14 teams were ranked based on their records in the three last editions of the competition.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Egypt (hosts)  Tunisia (title holders)  Cameroon  Nigeria	Morocco  South Africa  Senegal  DR Congo	Ghana  Ivory Coast  Guinea  Togo	Zambia  Angola  Zimbabwe  Libya

The top two teams of each group (highlighted in green) progress to the quarter-finals.

All times local: EET (UTC+2)

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Egypt (H)	3	2	1	0	6	1	+5	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Ivory Coast	3	2	0	1	4	4	0	6
3	Morocco	3	0	2	1	0	1	−1	2
4	Libya	3	0	1	2	1	5	−4	1

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cameroon	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	DR Congo	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
3	Angola	3	1	1	1	4	5	−1	4
4	Togo	3	0	0	3	2	7	−5	0

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Guinea	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Tunisia	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	6
3	Zambia	3	1	0	2	3	6	−3	3
4	South Africa	3	0	0	3	0	5	−5	0

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Nigeria	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Senegal	3	1	0	2	3	3	0	3
3	Ghana	3	1	0	2	2	3	−1	3
4	Zimbabwe	3	1	0	2	2	5	−3	3

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	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	3 February – Cairo
	Egypt	4
					7 February – Cairo
	DR Congo	1
					Egypt	2
	3 February – Alexandria
					Senegal	1
	Guinea	2
									10 February – Cairo
	Senegal	3
									Egypt (pen.)	0 (4)
	4 February – Cairo
									Ivory Coast	0 (2)
	Cameroon	1 (11)
					7 February – Alexandria
	Ivory Coast (pen.)	1 (12)
					Ivory Coast	1
	4 February – Port Said
					Nigeria	0			Third place
	Nigeria (pen.)	1 (6)
									9 February – Cairo
	Tunisia	1 (5)
									Senegal	0
									Nigeria	1

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5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Goalkeeper

• Essam El Hadary

Defenders

• Rigobert Song
• Wael Gomaa
• Emmanuel Eboué
• Taye Taiwo

Midfielders

• Stephen Appiah
• Mohamed Aboutrika
• Ahmed Hassan
• Pascal Feindouno

Forwards

• Didier Drogba
• Samuel Eto'o

Ranking criteria

For teams eliminated in the same knockout round, the following criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the final rankings:[1] Goal difference in round eliminated; Goals scored in round eliminated; If teams eliminated in the semi-finals or quarter-finals are tied, the above criteria are reapplied for the previous knockout round, with this process repeated once more should two semi-finalists remain tied; Points in group stage; Goal difference in group stage; Goals scored in group stage; Disciplinary points. For teams eliminated in the group stage, the following criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the final rankings:[1] Position in group; Points; Goal difference; Goals scored; Disciplinary points.

Pos.	Team	G	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	GF	GA	GD
1	Egypt	A	6	4	2	0	14	12	3	+9
2	Ivory Coast	A	6	3	2	1	11	6	5	+1
3	Nigeria	D	6	4	1	1	13	7	3	+4
4	Senegal	D	6	2	0	4	6	7	8	−1
Eliminated in the quarter-finals
5	Cameroon	B	4	3	1	0	10	8	2	+6
6	Guinea	C	4	3	0	1	9	9	4	+5
7	Tunisia	C	4	2	1	1	7	7	5	+2
8	DR Congo	B	4	1	1	2	4	3	6	−3
Eliminated in the group stage
9	Angola	B	3	1	1	1	4	4	5	−1
10	Zambia	C	3	1	0	2	3	3	6	−3
11	Ghana	D	3	1	0	2	3	2	3	−1
12	Zimbabwe	D	3	1	0	2	3	2	5	−3
13	Morocco	A	3	0	2	1	2	0	1	−1
14	Libya	A	3	0	1	2	1	1	5	−4
15	Togo	B	3	0	0	3	0	2	7	−5
16	South Africa	C	3	0	0	3	0	0	5	−5

• Cairo
• Egyptian Soccer Cup

• BBC coverage
• Details at RSSSF
• A guide to the teams