1957 African Cup of Nations

1957 African Cup of Nations1957كأس أمم أفريقيا

Tournament details
Host country| Sudan
Dates| 10–16 February
Teams| 3
Venue(s)| 1
Final positions
Champions|  Egypt (1st title)
Runners-up|  Ethiopia
Third place|  Sudan
Tournament statistics
Matches played| 2
Attendance| 60,000 (30,000 per match)
Top scorer(s)|  El-Diba (5 goals)
Best player(s)|  El-Diba

1959 →

International football competition

The 1957 African Cup of Nations was the 1st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations,[1] the football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The competition took place between 10 and 16 February 1957. It was hosted by Sudan.

Organized by the African football continental association CAF, only three teams took part: Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan. South Africa, which had originally entered, was disqualified due to its refusal to enter a multi-racial team, so only two games took place. Both games were played in the Municipal Stadium in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

Egypt won the tournament and became the inaugural African football champions.

## Context

[edit]

Egypt's captain Hanafy Bastan carrying the African Cup of Nations trophy in 1957

On the African continent, South Africa created the South African Football Association in 1892, then joined FIFA in 1910, before leaving in 1924 and returning in 1952. Then, Egypt created its federation on 3 December 1921 and joined FIFA in 1923; then Sudan created its federation while it was under Anglo-Egyptian domination in 1936 and joined FIFA in 1948. Finally, Ethiopia created its federation in 1943 and joined FIFA under the name of Abyssinia in 1952. These were the first nations to organize themselves into an independent selection and to join FIFA.

The integration of these four African nations into FIFA was incomplete and this was evident in the organisation of the World Cup qualifiers: in 1934, only Egypt took part in the World Cup qualifiers (against Mandatory Palestine) in the Africa–Asia group and took part in the 1934 World Cup, making it the first African nation in the World Cup. In 1938, Egypt was transferred to a European group but withdrew. In 1950, no team was registered and in 1954, only Egypt played in the qualifiers in the European zone against Italy. The involvement of African teams in the qualifiers was either with Asia or Europe and this led to the idea of creating an African confederation.

## Overview

[edit]

South Africa was drawn to play Ethiopia in the semi-finals, but were disqualified due to apartheid.[2] Ethiopia therefore had a bye to the final, whilst in the other semi-final at Municipal Stadium in Khartoum, the Egyptians beat the host nation 2–1.[3] In the final, Egypt beat Ethiopia 4–0, with all four goals scored by El-Diba, who finished the tournament as top scorer with five goals. Only two games were played in this first edition.[2]

## Participating teams

[edit]

Result of teams participating:

Champion

Runner-up

Third place

Four teams were due to take part in the tournament: Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and South Africa, but South Africa was disqualified as they refused to field a multi-racial team due to the country's apartheid laws.

Team  | Qualified as  | Qualified on

|
|

Sudan | Hosts | 8 July 1956
Egypt | Invitee | 8 July 1956
Ethiopia | Invitee | 8 July 1956

## Venues

[edit]

Khartoum |

Khartoum

|

Municipal Stadium
Capacity: 30,000

## Squads

[edit]

Main article: 1957 African Cup of Nations squads

## Final tournament

[edit]

Main article: 1957 African Cup of Nations knockout stage

### Semifinals

[edit]

10 February 1957

Sudan | 1–2|  Egypt

|
|

Bashir 58' |  | Attia 21' (pen.)
Ad-Diba 72'

Municipal Stadium, Khartoum

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: Gebeyehu Doube (Ethiopia)

* * *

10 February 1957

Ethiopia | w/o|  South Africa

|
|

|  |

The match was scratched and Ethiopia advanced to the final as South Africa were disqualified after refusing to field a multi-racial team due to the country's apartheid policies.

### Final

[edit]

Main article: 1957 African Cup of Nations final

16 February 1957

Egypt | 4–0|  Ethiopia

|
|

Ad-Diba 2', 7', 68', 89' |  |

Municipal Stadium, Khartoum

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: Mohammed Youssef (Sudan)

## Goalscorers

[edit]

Ad-Diba, top scorer

5 goals

* Ad-Diba – four of the five goals were scored in Egypt's 4–0 defeat of Ethiopia in the final. [4][5]

1 goal

* Raafat Attia – first ever goal scorer in Africa Cup of Nations.[5]
* Boraî Bashir — "some sources report the Sudan goal-scorer as Seddiq Mohammed Manzul, but contemporary reports mention that "Seddiq passed the ball to Boraî who scored."[6][7]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Balogun, David. "Top 10 Memorable Events In African Football". Yo Chale. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
2. ^ a b Khaled Abul-Oyoun; Ken Knight; Neil Morrison; Karel Stokkermans (3 October 2013). "African Nations Cup 1957". Retrieved 14 May 2018.
3. ^ New dawn for Ethiopia after Nations Cup qualification \- BBC Sport
4. ^ FIFA : The day it all started for Ad-Diba and the Pharaohs (16 Feb 2017) [1]
5. ^ a b (Polish) - Onet sport : Puchar Narodów Afryki, czyli piłkarska fantazja w środku ligowego sezonu, by PAWEŁ BANACZYK (14 January 2017) [2]
6. ^ Khaled Abul-Oyoun; Ken Knight; Neil Morrison; Karel Stokkermans (3 October 2013). "African Nations Cup 1957". Retrieved 27 January 2019.
7. ^ Bagozzi, Marco (14 January 2017). "Sessant'anni fa la prima Coppa delle Nazioni d'Africa" (in Italian). Opinione Pubblica.

## External links

[edit]

Media related to 1957 African Cup of Nations at Wikimedia Commons

* v
* t
* e

1957 African Cup of Nations

Stages|

* Knockout stage
* Final

General information|

* Qualification
* Squads

Venues|

* Municipal Stadium

* v
* t
* e

Africa Cup of Nations

Editions|

* Sudan 1957
* United Arab Republic 1959
* Ethiopia 1962
* Ghana 1963
* Tunisia 1965
* Ethiopia 1968
* Sudan 1970
* Cameroon 1972
* Egypt 1974
* Ethiopia 1976
* Ghana 1978
* Nigeria 1980
* Libya 1982
* Ivory Coast 1984
* Egypt 1986
* Morocco 1988
* Algeria 1990
* Senegal 1992
* Tunisia 1994
* South Africa 1996
* Burkina Faso 1998
* Ghana/Nigeria 2000
* Mali 2002
* Tunisia 2004
* Egypt 2006
* Ghana 2008
* Angola 2010
* Gabon/Equatorial Guinea 2012
* South Africa 2013
* Equatorial Guinea 2015
* Gabon 2017
* Egypt 2019
* Cameroon 2021
* Ivory Coast 2023
* Morocco 2025
* Kenya/Tanzania/Uganda 2027
* TBD 2029

Qualification|

* 1957
* 1959
* 1962
* 1963
* 1965
* 1968
* 1970
* 1972
* 1974
* 1976
* 1978
* 1980
* 1982
* 1984
* 1986
* 1988
* 1990
* 1992
* 1994
* 1996
* 1998
* 2000
* 2002
* 2004
* 2006
* 2008
* 2010
* 2012
* 2013
* 2015
* 2017
* 2019
* 2021
* 2023
* 2025

Finals|

* 1957
* 1959
* 1962
* 1963
* 1965
* 1968
* 1970
* 1972
* 1974
* 1976
* 1978
* 1980
* 1982
* 1984
* 1986
* 1988
* 1990
* 1992
* 1994
* 1996
* 1998
* 2000
* 2002
* 2004
* 2006
* 2008
* 2010
* 2012
* 2013
* 2015
* 2017
* 2019
* 2021
* 2023
* 2025

Bids|

* 2027
* 2029

Squads|

* 1957
* 1959
* 1962
* 1963
* 1965
* 1968
* 1970
* 1972
* 1974
* 1976
* 1978
* 1980
* 1982
* 1984
* 1986
* 1988
* 1990
* 1992
* 1994
* 1996
* 1998
* 2000
* 2002
* 2004
* 2006
* 2008
* 2010
* 2012
* 2013
* 2015
* 2017
* 2019
* 2021
* 2023

Statistics|

* Finals
* Appearances
* Awards
* Records and statistics
* Hat-tricks

Miscellaneous|

* Balls
* Mascots
* Music
* Trophy

Notes
The 2021 and 2023 tournaments were actually held in 2022 and 2024 respectively.
There were no 1957 and 1959 qualifications as places were given by invitation only.
The "finals" articles for 1959 and 1976 are about the decisive matches of final group stages.

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