The stage is almost set for the 24 teams that will feature for next year’s Total Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) slated to hold in Cameroon from January 9 to February 6 in 2022.
The Bi-annual event which supposed to hold in 2021 was shifted to 2022 due to the pandemic. They wrote: “At the request of CAF, the Cameroon Local Organizing Committee (LOC) has agreed to postpone the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021 final draw for logistical reasons related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The last time the Central African country hosted the nations cup was in 1972 where Congo emerged as the champion as noted by Goalball. According to CAF online.com, the first Africa Cup of Nation was first hosted in Khartoum Sudan in 1957 where teams like: Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa and the host country Sudan took part in the competition. South Africa was later disqualified from the competition as a result of Apartheid going on in their country at that time. Thus, Egypt became the first African nation to win the competition after beating Ethiopia 4 nil in the finals of the tournament in Sudan.
However, we shall take a memory lane to give you an update on the 24 African countries that have made it to the AFCON competition slated for Cameroon based on the number(s) of the time participated, their last appearance and best performances in the event so far.
| S/N | TEAM | Number of times Participated | Last Appearance | Best performance |
| 1 | The Desert Warriors of Algeria.
|
19 | Egypt- 2019 | Champions: Algeria (1990) and Egypt ( 2019) |
| 2 | The Stallions of Burkina Faso.
|
12 | Gabon- 2017 | Runner-up: South Africa (2013) |
| 3 | The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.
|
20 | Egypt- 2019 | Champions: Ivory Coast (1984), Morocco (1988), Ghana-Nigeria (2000), Mali(2002) and Gabon (2017) |
| 4 | The Blue Sharks of Cape Verde.
|
3 | Equatorial Guinea- 2015 | Quarterfinals: South Africa (2013) |
| 5 | The Coelacanths (fish) of Comoros.
|
1 | None | None |
| 6 | The Elephants of Cote d` Ivoire.
|
24 | Egypt- 2019 | Champions: Senegal (1992) and Equatorial Guinea- (2015) |
| 7 | The Pharaohs of Egypt
|
25 | Egypt- 2019 | Champions: Sudan (1957), Egypt-Then United Arab Republic (1959), Egypt (1986), Burkina Faso (1998), Egypt (2006),Ghana (2008) and Angola (2010) |
| 8 | The National Thunder of Equatorial Guinea.
|
3 | Equatorial Guinea- 2015 | Fourth place: Equatorial Guinea (2015) |
| 9 | The Walyas (wild goat) of Ethiopia.
|
11 | South Africa-2013 | Champions: Ethiopia (1962) |
| 10 | The Panthers of Gabon.
|
8 | Gabon- 2017 | Quarterfinals: South Africa (1996) and Gabon-Equatorial Guinea (2012) |
| 11 | The Scorpions of Gambia.
|
1 | None | None |
| 12 | The Black Stars of Ghana.
|
23 | Egypt- 2019 | Champions: Ghana (1963),Tunisia (1965), Ghana (1978) and Libya (1982) |
| 13 | The National Elephants of Guinea.
|
13 | Egypt-2019 | Runner-up: Ethiopia (1976) |
| 14 | The Djurtus (wild dogs) of Guinea Bissau.
|
3 | Egypt-2019 | Group stage: Gabon (2017) and Egypt (2019) |
| 15 | The Flames of Malawi.
|
3 | Angola-2010 | Group stage: Cote d` Ivoire then Ivory coast (1984) and Angola (2010) |
| 16 | The Eagles of Mali.
|
12 | Egypt-2019 | Runner-up: Cameroon (1972) |
| 17 | The Almoravid dynasty of Mauritania.
|
2 | Egypt-2019 | Group stage: Egypt (2019) |
| 18 | The Atlas Lions of Morocco.
|
18 | Egypt-2019 | Champions: Ethiopia (1976) |
| 19 | The Super Eagles of Nigeria.
|
19 | Egypt-2019 | Champions: Nigeria (1980), Tunisia (1994) and South Africa (2013) |
| 20 | The Teranga Lions of Senegal.
|
16 | Egypt-2019 | Runner-up: Mali (2002) and Egypt (2019) |
| 21 | The Nile Crocodiles of Sudan.
|
9 | Gabon-Equatorial Guinea-2012 | Champions: Sudan (1970) |
| 22 | The Carthage (place) Eagles of Tunisia.
|
20 | Egypt-2019 | Champions: Tunisia (2004) |
| 23 | The Warriors of Zimbabwe.
|
5 | Egypt- 2019 | Group stage: Tunisia (2004), Egypt (2006), Gabon (2017) and Egypt (2019) |
| 24 | The Leones Stars of Sierra Leone.
|
3 | South Africa (1996) | Group stage: Tunisia (1994) and South Africa (1996) |
