9 Things to Know About the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON): Format, Calendar, Records and How to Read Its Data

The Africa Cup of Nations, or AFCON, is the men's national-team championship of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). First played in 1957, it now brings 24 teams to a host country for a group stage and knockout rounds. Its fixtures, groups and results appear on RubiScore alongside other international competitions, but the tournament has quirks that change how its numbers should be read.

This listicle sets out nine features that make AFCON distinct, from its shifting calendar to a final still being argued in court. Live scores, group tables and fixtures for qualifiers and finals can be followed at https://rubiscore.com, while the structural points below explain what those tables do and do not show.

1. It Began With Three Teams in Khartoum

The first tournament was held in Khartoum, Sudan, in 1957. Four founding members of CAF entered: Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and South Africa. South Africa was excluded because of its apartheid-era squad policy, so only three teams played.

That origin matters for data. Early editions were tiny, and a team could become champion after two matches. Any all-time table that adds up wins or goals across every edition mixes those short tournaments with today's much longer ones. Comparisons across eras work better per edition than as raw totals.

2. The Field Has Grown From a Handful to 24

AFCON expanded in stages. It used a 16-team final tournament for two decades, a size it kept through the 2017 edition, and moved to 24 teams from 2019. Qualification is open to CAF's 54 member associations, and the host qualifies automatically.

The 24-team format works like this:

Because four of the six third-placed teams survive, three points from three matches can be enough to reach the last 16. A group table only shows the full picture when it is read next to the ranking of third-placed teams.

3. Qualifying Is a Competition of Its Own

The finals are the visible part. Behind them sits a qualifying campaign that runs across FIFA international windows. Since 1992 qualifiers have used groups of home-and-away matches, after a long period of knockout ties.

For the 2027 edition, CAF drew 48 teams into 12 groups of four in Cairo in May 2026, with a preliminary round played earlier that year. The top two in each group qualify. The three co-hosts were also drawn into groups, which reduces the number of places open to the other teams in those groups. Matchdays run from September 2026 to March 2027.

Qualifier and finals records should be kept apart. A team can dominate a qualifying group against weaker opponents and then face a much tougher draw at the finals.

4. The Calendar Has Moved Repeatedly

AFCON has been held every two years since 1968. In May 2010 CAF announced a switch to odd-numbered years from 2013, to avoid clashing with the World Cup. In July 2017 it approved moving the tournament from its traditional January slot to the northern summer, effective 2019.

The summer slot has not held steadily since. Recent editions show the pattern:

The timing affects club football directly. A winter tournament takes players away from European leagues in mid-season, while a summer edition falls in the off-season.

5. Edition Names Do Not Always Match the Year Played

A side effect of those moves is that an edition's name and its dates can differ. AFCON 2021 was played in 2022, AFCON 2023 in 2024, and AFCON 2025 ran across two calendar years.

Databases handle this in different ways. Some file results under the edition name, others under the date of each match. When a player's international record or a team's tournament history looks inconsistent between sources, the label is often the cause. Checking the actual match dates resolves most of these gaps.

6. The Four-Year Plan Came and Went Within a Year

On 20 December 2025, before the tournament in Morocco, CAF president Patrice Motsepe announced that AFCON would move to a four-year cycle. The 2027 edition would go ahead, the next would come in 2028, and the tournament would then return in 2032. An annual African Nations League for all member associations was to begin in 2029.

The plan did not last. At the end of October 2026 the CAF Executive Committee unanimously decided that AFCON would return to taking place every two years. Reports of that decision list editions in 2027, 2028, 2031 and 2033, with no tournament in 2030, a World Cup year. CAF said the proposed Nations League would take years to generate enough revenue to sustain the continent's competitions.

Any schedule beyond 2027 should therefore be treated as provisional. Hosts for later editions, including 2028, had not been confirmed in those reports.

7. Titles Are Concentrated, but the Winners' List Is Long

Egypt holds the record with seven titles, followed by Cameroon with five and Ghana with four. Fifteen different countries have won the tournament.

Both facts are true at once. A small group of nations has collected a large share of the trophies, while many others have won at least once. A cup decided over a few knockout matches tends to produce that mix. It rewards depth over many editions, but a single strong run can still bring a first title, as Senegal's did in the 2021 edition.

8. The 2025 Final Is Still Under Appeal

The final of the 2025 edition, between Senegal and hosts Morocco in Rabat, ended 1-0 to Senegal after extra time. During stoppage time several Senegal players had walked off in protest at a penalty awarded to Morocco.

On 17 March 2026 the CAF Appeal Board ruled that Senegal had forfeited the match under Article 84 of the tournament regulations and recorded it as a 3-0 win for Morocco. The Senegalese federation appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which held a hearing in October 2026. A ruling had not been published at the time of writing in early November 2026.

For readers of the data, this is a live example of a pitch result and an official result diverging. A source that shows 1-0 and one that shows 3-0 may both be accurate about different things.

9. The Trophy Itself Has Changed Hands

AFCON has used three trophies. The original Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem Trophy went permanently to Ghana in 1978 after its third title. Cameroon kept the Trophy of African Unity, used from 1980 to 2000. The current cup was first awarded in 2002, and Egypt kept the original after a third consecutive title in 2010, receiving a replica in its place.

The tournament also carries sponsor and language variations. It is currently branded the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations, is shortened to AFCON in English and is known as CAN in French. Searches and archives may use any of those names.

How Should AFCON Data Be Read?

The nine features point to a short set of habits for anyone comparing AFCON numbers, whether on a results platform or in an archive.

A typical case: a team tops its qualifying group with six wins, then draws all three group matches at the finals and advances as a third-placed side. Neither record is misleading on its own. Together they describe a team whose results depended heavily on the level of opposition, which is exactly what the format makes visible.

Fixtures, line-ups and match events for the next edition can be followed on RubiScore as qualifiers resume in November 2026. The history, the rules and any final decision on the 2025 title belong to CAF and CAS, and the habits above help keep those two kinds of information apart.