The vision:- Though the first in
the Sudan & the second African Nations Cup in Egypt; had to be contested only
by three of the founders, Ethiopia, Egypt and the Sudan; the
pioneers of the Confederation were well aware of the potential of the
Nations Cup to serve as the launch pad for the future
development of football in the continent, as well as to encourage and enhance unity among the African youth. It was with this
in mind, that they ensured
uninterrupted continuation of the Bi-Annual tournament, by
volunteering to shoulder the financial and organization burdens of
hosting seven of the first ten, non-lucrative editions; the Sudan in 1957 and 1970,
Egypt in 1959 and 1974, Ethiopia in 1962, 1968 and 1976.
Finance:-
The only income in those days was the meagre gate receipt. The Egyptian
Radio live transmission during the 2nd African Cup, in Cairo 1959
(photo below), was more for
popularizing the new Continental tournament, than for generating money for the hosts
and/or the Confederation.
Referees:- The first
match of the African Nations Cup, Egypt vs. Sudan in Khartoum, was
officiated by Ethiopian Gebeyehu Dube, and the first final between
Egypt and Ethiopia, by Sudanese Youssef Mohammed, but, as can be seen in
the photo below; F.I.F.A. accredited referee and one lines man had to
come from Greece and Yugoslavia respectively, for the second African Nations Cup in Cairo 1959.
The African lines man in the Egypt-Sudan final was the Ethiopian Ayele
Tessema.
The first two
editions:- Egypt, quarter
finalists in the 1924, and Semi finalists in the 1928 Olympics, were
too experienced for the relative new comers to International football, the Sudan and Ethiopia.
They therefore, easily won the
first and second tournaments in Khartoum and Cairo, with an identical
score line of 2-1 against the Sudan, and 4-0 against Ethiopia on both
occasions.
Decolonization:- In the
succeeding years, the ever-Increasing number of participants from
newly liberated African Nations necessitated continuous reviews and
adjustments on the formats of the
competition.
Coincidentally, the two major timely changes
happened during editions hosted by Ethiopia. Unlike the first and the
second, for which only the three founders Ethiopia, the Sudan and Egypt
appeared in the finals as a matter of right; qualification matches
were required during this third edition held in
Ethiopia in 1962. Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia from the West
and North; Sudan, Kenya and Uganda from the
East; had to fight for the two places, to
join holders Egypt and hosts Ethiopia, in the new four Nations
final.
Many,
including the new generation of African Sports journalists, wrongly assume, that this edition was
the same as the first and the second; a less competitive tournament, contested by
only the three founders!! To set the record straight, nearly all the big powers of
the Continents football to this day, had participated in the third
African Nations Cup. Apart from remarkable performances and historic
victories in different age groups of the F.I.F.A. World Cups, and
Nigeria's first Olympic football victory for the continent; the participants of
the third edition, Egypt (5),
Ghana (4), Nigeria (2), Ethiopia (1) Sudan (1), Tunisia (1) and
Morocco (1); together constitute, the winners of fifteen of the total twenty five
African Nations Cups so far.
Tunisia qualified from the first group
and was defeated 4-2 by Ethiopia in the Semi Final in Addis
Ababa;
Uganda qualified from the second group and lost 2-1 to Egypt in the
other Semi final. Ethiopia defeated Egypt with a similar 4-2
score-line in the final to win the Cup for the first and to this day,
the only time.
The fourth African Nations Cup was held in
Nkrumah's Ghana, which after winning this edition, was to become the new power house of
African football..
Nonetheless,
the win by any means attitude of the organizers of Ghana 1963 ought to be
remembered here. Accommodation arrangement that awaited the holders
Ethiopia was an appalling four players in a single room without air-condition, at
the "Star" hotel in Accra. This huge inconvenience was improved to one air-conditioned room for three players after two days of bitter
disputes in which the Ethiopian Embassy in Ghana had to involve. There was also deliberate delay of buses for players training
programs. Such practices are still a cause for concern in African
Football, guest teams continue to complain of ill treatments and sabotages by hosts, ranging from deliberate poor accommodation
and food, to denial of transportation and training fields. The well to
do North Africans always book direct with International first class
hotels in the host Country, and arrange their own transportation buses, but, this
was not, and is still not, the affordable option to all.
All these had happened
during the 4th edition in Ghana, to a team which was in the same Accra
group, with the hosts.
The Ethiopian team had defeated then West African strong side Senegal 2-1 in
a friendly in Dakar just a day before its arrival in Accra, may be ringing the alarm bell.
Moreover, its first match in the tournament was with hosts Ghana who
were already at a disadvantage after a 1-1 draw with Tunisia in the
opening day. The hosts knew a defeat by Ethiopia was automatic
disqualification. After causing all these
inconveniences, Ghana defeated Ethiopia 2-0, but,
in the end it was Ethiopia's fair play 4-2 win
against Tunisia in its second match, that enabled Ghana to qualify
from the group, and win the fourth edition, after convincingly beating Kumassi group
winners, Sudan, 3-0 in the final.
Here-on, Ghana won the fifth in Tunisia, and the eleventh in Ghana,
to become
permanent owners of the historic first Trophy of the Nations Cup, donated by
the first President of the Confederation, Egyptian, Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem.
The upgrade to
the popular eight Nations final, which with minor adjustments lasted
a record twelve tournaments also started during the sixth edition
hosted by Ethiopia, in 1968. With the country's' football at its peak,
the sixth edition was the only time Ethiopia started as favourites to
win the cup.
Two groups of
four Nations each played the group stage in Asmara and Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia defeated Uganda 2-1, Cote d'ivoire 1-0 and Algeria 3-1,
finishing top of the group in Addis Ababa. In the Semi finals,
Ethiopia lost 3-2 in extra time to the runners up from the Asmara
group, and the eventual winners of the Cup, Congo Kinshasa. Asmara
group winners Ghana defeated Addis Ababa group runner ups Cote
D'ivoire 4-3 in the other semi final, but lost 1-0 to Congo Kinshasa
in the Final.
The lengthy
domination of Mobutu's Leopards started at this sixth edition of the
African Nations Cup. Then after, they were number four in the eighth
edition in Cameroon and won the cup a second time at the ninth edition
held in Egypt 1974. They also won difficult qualification matches and
became the second country after Morocco in Mexico 1970, to
represent Africa in the 1974 World Cup in
Germany.
The Seventh
was organized by the Sudan, host of the first edition. Sudan the only
founder without the title up to this tournament, beat Ghana 1-0 in the
final and won the Cup for the first and the only time until today.
The eighth was
held in Cameroon, where underdogs Congo Brazzaville and Mali
surprisingly became the finalists. Congo Brazzaville won the cup after defeating Mali
3-2.
Cameroon 72
The ninth was
hosted by Egypt. Zaire ( Congo Kinshasa) defeated Zambia 2-0 in the
only
final that had to be played for a second time, on 14 March after the two teams
finished the first final 2-2 in extra time on the 12th of March 1974.
The Tenth African Cup
Yidnekatchew
Tessema was and still is
unduly criticised by some who wished the venue for the tenth edition
changed at the last minute, subsequent to the revolution in Ethiopia.
To begin with, it was in the absence of other candidate countries,
that Ethiopia volunteered to host the tenth edition for a record third
time. The change of Government took place in the country as preparations were underway.
To make matters even more complicated, Egypt which had already hosted the
ninth edition only two years earlier,
provocatively offered to replace Ethiopia as hosts, on the pretext of security risk
in the country. This was not acceptable to Yidnekatchew Tessema; at
the time
President of the Confederation as well as the leader of Ethiopian
sports. He argued:-
-
That such a move would be divisive and
bring about a dangerous precedence in a continent where military Coups
were the order of the day. He emphasized that the
Confederation would disintegrate if it ventured to alter venues at the
last minute, on
account of a member country's internal politics.
-
He pointed out that last minute
alteration of a venue would also imply unfair denial of the original
host's confirmed place in the final.
-
He said that all the
Confederation could ask for in such circumstances was security
guarantee from the host Nation, and this was already given.
Accepting the
validity of the above arguments, the Executive
Committee of the Confederation reconfirmed Ethiopia as the host of the
tenth edition.
The tournament was successfully organized in
Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa, with Morocco winning the Cup after
defeating Guinea 1-0 at the final in Addis Ababa on 14 March 1976.
 
More or less all African leaders
of the host countries before and after this edition came to power via
military coups; this being a widely known fact, it is amazing to observe that some
quarters still prefer to single
out the tenth edition, as the tournament hosted by a Military Junta.
Interestingly,
no one complained about the 11th in Ghana, which was also under a military regime
led by General Acheampong at the time!!
The twelfth edition was hosted by
Nigeria; the Confederation accepted the " African Unity Cup"
presented by the Supreme Council for sports in Africa. Nigeria defeated Algeria 3-0 in
the final, winning the tournament and the New Nations cup for the first time.
The thirteenth in Libya was of
exceptional high standards; qualities of accommodations,
transportations, and especially the artificial pitch, were by far
superior than any previous edition, and unprecedented until today.
The beautiful final of this excellently organized tournament
was marred by the behaviour of the home fans, when the match ended
with Ghana defeating the hosts after a tense extra time and
penalty shoot-outs. Nonetheless, this edition takes a special place in
the history of African Football as the beginning of unseen before
revenue from live TV transmission of matches, and sponsorship.
The fourteenth in Cote D'ivoire,
was a showpiece attesting the speedy development African football had
achieved in less than twenty years. Cameroon, African team of the Century; won the Cup for the
first time and with style. Memorable performances by Abega and Milla,
increased sponsors interest in African Football. Apart from
unauthorized tobacco advertisements placed in the stadium, which could
only be removed with help from the country's police force; Cote
D'ivoire, 84, was a huge success.
The fifteenth was for the third
time given to Egypt. Internal political tension during this tournament
did not intimidate the Confederation into changing the venue. Egypt
won the cup defeating Cameroon after extra time and penalty shoot-out
in a yet another tense final. Strict enforcer, Yidnekatchew Tessema was
for the first time accused of bending the law to help Egypt. Their
star player Abouzaid should have missed the final after a second
yellow card he received in the semi final of this tournament.
Yidnekatchew intervened to have this yellow card cancelled, as it was
given to Abouzaid for celebrating after scoring a goal in the semi
final, which at the time was legal. However, he
admitted making the most difficult and controversial decision of his
life as the leader of African football.
Yidnekatchew
died just months before another interesting edition
of this tournament, elegantly hosted by Morocco and convincingly won
by the new African football power; Cameroon.
In all, from a humble
beginning in 1957, Yidnekatchew
and his colleagues had
succeeded in making this prestigious continental tournament a success.
The African Nations Cup of today was not heaven
sent. It was realised through selfless hard work, perseverance, uninterrupted
organization under difficult circumstances, as well as the training and continual skill
upgrading of a huge number of technicians in all departments of the
game. International technical standard for
the continent's football was achieved after several
continent wide skill upgrading courses. In this regard, the
assistance of F.I.F.A. was crucial.
The subsequent
speedy all-round progress, had enabled the Continent to catch-up with
Latin American and European standards in a short span of time. This
exceptional achievement had been acknowledged by F.I.F.A.'s
highest Centennial recognition to African Football development in
2004.
The
Confederation also launched the African Cup of Champion clubs
and the the Cup winners Cup of African Clubs in 1964 and 1975
respectively. The youth championship was introduced in 1977and
the Under Sixteen in 1985.
In his message
to the 30th Anniversary book of the African Football Confederation,
Yidnekatchew Tessema summarized the progress as follows; " A lot
has happened since that day when the four F.I.F.A. affiliated National
Associations founded this institution, which is considered the oldest
Pan-African Organization.......Thousands of players, coaches,
Journalists, referees, masseurs, etc.. travel to the different
Countries of Africa, thus enabling the people of our Continent,
especially the youth, to get to know each other better and strengthen
mutual understanding and respect. These factors are very important for
one unified Africa. In a Continent which does not have similar
economic strengths and level of development as Europe and America, we
have succeeded throughout the years to reach greater heights and to
organize our competitions and our development programs effectively. We
have formed thousands of technicians thereby enabling member countries
to rely on these authentic African officials, who perform their duties
excellently and not just for financial benefits, but for their sense
of duty towards their respective countries and their Continent".
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