Khaya Ndubane

By Khaya Ndubane

Digital Manager Phakaaathi


5 Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals facts

Five facts on the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals ahead of the last-four matches in Equatorial Guinea this week.


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Ghana defeated Ivory Coast 4-3 in 1968 and Mali won by the same score against Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) four years later in the semi-finals that produced the most goals.

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The longest Cup of Nations semi-final penalty shootout was in 1988 with Nigeria pipping Algeria 9-8 on spot-kicks after a 1-1 draw following extra-time in Morocco.

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Zambia trounced Mali 4-0 in 1994, Morocco defeated the Malians by a similar score 10 years later and Egypt overwhelmed Algeria 4-0 in 2010 for the biggest semi-finals winning margins.

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Four Cup of Nations tournaments had no semi-finals with mini-league formats used in 1959 and 1976, and in 1963 and 1965 the winners of three-team groups qualified directly for the final.

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Ethiopia (1962), Zaire (1974), Algeria (1980), Ghana (1982) and Nigeria (1984) staged the biggest comebacks in Cup of Nations semi-finals with all of them wiping out two-goal deficits to reach the final.

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