2008 Africa Cup of Nations

2008 Africa Cup of Nations

MTN Africa Cup of Nations Ghana 2008
Africa Cup of Nations 2008 official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Ghana
Dates	20 January – 10 February
Teams	16
Venue(s)	4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Egypt (6th title)
Runners-up	Cameroon
Third place	Ghana
Fourth place	Ivory Coast
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	99 (3.09 per match)
Attendance	714,000 (22,313 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Samuel Eto'o (5 goals)
Best player(s)	Hosny Abd Rabo
Best goalkeeper	Essam El-Hadary
← 2006 2010 →

The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated with the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament was staged at four venues around Ghana between 20 January and 10 February 2008. This was the last Africa Cup of Nations to use the old CAF logo.

Egypt won the tournament, beating Cameroon 1–0 in the final. As winners, they qualified for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup as the CAF representatives.

Bids:

• Ghana (selected as hosts)
• Libya
• South Africa (withdrew)

The organization of the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations was awarded to Ghana on 8 July 2004 by the CAF Executive Committee members which are 12 in Cairo, Egypt. Voters had a choice between Ghana and Libya which was disadvantaged by the fact that two countries in the North Africa region had already hosted the last two editions (Tunisia in 2004, and Egypt in 2006).

South Africa, also a candidate at the start, eventually withdrew in May 2004 after being nominated for the organization of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

This was the fourth time that Ghana hosted the African Cup after 1963, 1978 and 2000 (jointly with Nigeria).

The entrants were divided into 12 groups. All group winners and the best three runners-up from groups with four teams (groups 2-11) qualified for the finals. Host Ghana qualified automatically. Qualifying took place between 2 September 2006 and 13 October 2007.

•  Ghana – Host, 16th appearance (4 titles)
•  Ivory Coast – Group 1 winner, 17th appearance (1 title)
•  Egypt – Group 2 winner, 21st appearance (5 titles)
•  Nigeria – Group 3 winner, 15th appearance (2 titles)
•  Sudan – Group 4 winner, 7th appearance (1 title)
•  Cameroon – Group 5 winner, 15th appearance (4 titles)
•  Angola – Group 6 winner, 4th appearance
•  Senegal – Group 7 winner, 11th appearance
•  Guinea – Group 8 winner, 9th appearance
•  Mali – Group 9 winner, 5th appearance
•  Namibia – Group 10 winner, 2nd appearance
•  Zambia – Group 11 winner, 13th appearance
•  Morocco – Group 12 winner, 14th appearance (1 title)
•  Tunisia – Group 4 runner-up, 13th appearance (1 title)
•  Benin – Group 9 runner-up, 2nd appearance
•  South Africa – Group 11 runner-up, 7th appearance (1 title)

During the previous editions of the Africa Cup of Nations, the ball used was not a ball especially made for the tournament. As the tournament was held on even years, the same years big tournaments such as the UEFA European Championships or the FIFA World Cup were held, the official ball for the tournament held this year was used for the African Cup of Nations: the Adidas Roteiro in 2004, or the Adidas Teamgeist in 2006. However, for the 2008 tournament, Adidas made a special ball, clearly different from the Adidas Europass going to be used five months later for the Euro. The ball was named Wawa Aba and was designed to include host nation Ghana's red, yellow and green. The ball was later used for the other African competitions.

For the Akan culture originating from Western Africa, one of the Adinkra symbols named Wawa Aba is a symbol of hardiness, toughness, and perseverance.^[2] People there particularly believe in the strength and team spirit of a community. The Wawa Aba literally means "seed(s) of Wawa tree (Triplochiton scleroxylon)”,^[3] one of the strongest and most processible woods of Africa and whose seeds are very hard. For the population, the Wawa Aba mainly has mystical significance. These are people who don't let failure discourage them, who seize all opportunities successfully and who are thus just as strong and adaptable as the Wawa Aba.

16 referees and 16 assistant referees were selected for the tournament, including two from Japan and one from South Korea.^[4]

Referees	Assistant Referees
Mohamed Benouza	Brahim Djezzar
Divine Evehe	Evarist Menkouande
Yuichi Nishimura	Toru Sagara
Abderrahim El Arjoun	Redouane Achik
Jerome Damon	Enock Molefe
Kokou Djaoupe	Komi Konyoh
Kacem Bennaceur	Bechir Hassani
Djamel Haimoudi	Jeong Hae-sang
Coffi Codjia	Celestin Ntagungira
Modou Sowe	Angesom Ogbamariam
Alex Kotey	Desire Gahungu
Koman Coulibaly	Lassina Paré
Badara Diatta	Peter Edibe
Eddy Maillet	Inacio Manuel Candido
Muhmed Ssegonga	Nasser Sadek Abdel Nabi
Kenias Marange	Kenneth Chichenga

The draw for the tournament took place on 19 October 2007 in Accra. The sixteen teams were divided into four pots according to their performances in past Cup of Nations tournaments. Ghana, as hosts, were automatically seeded as the top team in Group A. Egypt, the defending champions, were seeded as the top team in Group C.^[5] Tunisia and Nigeria had the two strongest records and so completed the top seeded Pot 1. Each group consists of four teams, one drawn from each of the pots.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Ghana (hosts)  Egypt (title holders)  Tunisia  Nigeria	Ivory Coast  Cameroon  Morocco  Senegal	South Africa  Guinea  Mali  Zambia	Angola  Benin  Namibia  Sudan

Where two or more teams end the group stage with the same number of points, their ranking is determined by the following criteria:^[6]

1. points earned in the matches between the teams concerned;
2. goal difference in the matches between the teams concerned;
3. number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
4. goal difference in all group matches;
5. number of goals scored in all group matches;
6. drawing of lots by the organizing committee.

All times given as local time (UTC+0)

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ghana (H)	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Guinea	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4
3	Morocco	3	1	0	2	7	6	+1	3
4	Namibia	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ivory Coast	3	3	0	0	8	1	+7	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Nigeria	3	1	1	1	2	1	+1	4
3	Mali	3	1	1	1	1	3	−2	4
4	Benin	3	0	0	3	1	7	−6	0

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Egypt	3	2	1	0	8	3	+5	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Cameroon	3	2	0	1	10	5	+5	6
3	Zambia	3	1	1	1	5	6	−1	4
4	Sudan	3	0	0	3	0	9	−9	0

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

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	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	3 February – Accra
	Ghana	2
					7 February – Accra
	Nigeria	1
					Ghana	0
	4 February – Tamale
					Cameroon	1
	Tunisia	2
									10 February – Accra
	Cameroon (a.e.t.)	3
									Cameroon	0
	3 February – Sekondi
									Egypt	1
	Ivory Coast	5
					7 February – Kumasi
	Guinea	0
					Ivory Coast	1
	4 February – Kumasi
					Egypt	4			Third place
	Egypt	2
									9 February – Kumasi
	Angola	1
									Ghana	4
									Ivory Coast	2

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• Essam El-Hadary

The following players were selected as the best in their respective positions, based on their performances throughout the tournament. Their performances were analysed by the tournament's Technical Study Group (TSG), who picked the team.^[9]

Goalkeepers	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Essam El-Hadary	Geremi Wael Gomaa Michael Essien	Sulley Muntari Yaya Touré Alex Song Hosny Abd Rabo Mohamed Aboutrika	Amr Zaki Manucho

Substitutes

• Richard Kingson
• Hany Said
• Ahmed Fathy
• Saber Ben Frej
• Stéphane Mbia
• Didier Drogba
• Kader Keïta

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Own goals

• Mohammed Ali El Khider (playing against Cameroon)

Ranking criteria

For teams eliminated in the same knockout round, the following criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the final rankings: 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:[10] Position in group; Points; Goal difference; Goals scored; Disciplinary points.

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

Media related to 2008 Africa Cup of Nations at Wikimedia Commons

• 2008 African Cup of Nations at CAFonline.com
• Africa Cup of Nations on BBC 1Xtra
• African Cup of Nations 2008 coverage on Reuters.co.uk