[The Lord Of The Rings]

The 26th MTN African Cup of Nations, Ghana 2008 produced series of records.

*Sixth title for Egypt after 1957, 1959, 1986, 1998 and 2006. Cameroon and Ghana have won the title four times each.

*A total of 99 goals were recorded, ranking the tournament as the one to have produced the highest number of goals in the history of the African Cup of Nations.

*Samuel Eto’o was the top scorer of the tournament with five goals. He has so far scored a total of 16 goals, two more than Ivorian legend Laurent Poku, who held the record previously.

*Cameroon defender Rigobert Song made history by playing his 33rd match at the Africa Cup of Nations final since making his debut in 1996. Song has also featured a total of 54 hours.

*A total of 100 yellow cards were recorded in the 32 matches played during the tournament, an average of 3 yellow cards per match.

Teams Placing
1. Egypt
2. Cameroon
3. Ghana
4. Côte d’Ivoire
5. Tunisia
6. Angola
7. Nigeria
8. Guinea
9. Zambia
10. Mali
11. Morocco
12. Senegal
13. South Africa
14. Namibia
15. Benin
16. Sudan

Goals scored by teams
Côte d’Ivoire - 16 goals
Egypt – 15 goals
Cameroon – 14 goals
Ghana – 11 goals
Morocco – 7 goals
Tunisia – 7 goals
Angola – 5 goals
Guinea – 5 goals
Zambia – 5 goals
Senegal – 4 goals
South Africa – 3 goals
Nigeria – 3 goals
Namibia – 2 goals
Benin – 1 goal
Mali – 1 goal
Sudan – No goal

Goals conceded by teams
Mali – 3 goals
Nigeria – 3 goals
Angola – 4 goals
South Africa – 5 goals
Egypt – 5 goals
Ghana – 5 goals
Morocco – 6 goals
Senegal – 6 goals
Tunisia - 6 goals
Zambia – 6 goals
Benin – 7 goals
Namibia – 7 goals
Cameroon – 8 goals
Côte d’Ivoire – 8 goals
Sudan – 9 goals
Guinea – 10 goals

Total Goals scored
Final – 1 goal
Semi-finals and 3rd place match - 12 goals, An average of 4 goals per match.
Quarter-final – 16 goals, an average of 4 goals per match
Group Phase
Group A : 19 goals
Group B : 12 goals
Group C : 23 goals
Group D : 16 goals

Total : 99 goals, Average of 3 goals per match

Goals scored in previous competitions
1998 : 93 goals (72 goals during group stages)
2004 : 88 goals (65 goals during group stages)
2000 : 73 goals (52 goals during stages)
2006 : 72 goals (47 goals during group stages)
2002 : 49 goals (35 goals during first round)



11 penalties, all scored
Cameroon : 3 (Samuel Eto’o)
Egypt : 3 (Hosny Abd Rabou)
Ghana : 1 (Asamoah Gyan)
Guinea : 1 (Pascal Feindouno)
Mali : 1 (Frederic Kanouté)
Morocco : 1 (Tarik Sektioui)
Nigeria : 1 (Yakubu Aiyegbeni)

Ghana – Guinea : Asamoah Gyan (55)
Morocco – Namibia: Tarik Sektioui (40)
Guinea – Morocco : Pascal Feindouno (62)
Mali – Benin : Frederic Kanouté (49)
Egypt – Cameroun : Hosny Abd Rabou (13)
Egypt – Cameroon : Samuel Eto’o (89)
Cameroon – Zambia : Samuel Eto’o (65)
Egypt – Sudan : Hosny Abd Rabou (29)
Cameroon – Sudan : Samuel Eto’o (27)
Ghana – Nigeria : Yakubu Aiyegbeni (34)
Egypt – Angola : Hosni Abd Rabou (23)


Scorers chart
5 goals : Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)

4 goals : Manucho (Angola),Hosni Abd Rabou, Mohamed Aboutreika, Amr Zaky (Egypt)

3 goals : Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Boubacar Sanogo (Côte d’Ivoire), Junior Agogo, Sulley Ali Muntari (Ghana), Soufiane Alloudi (Morocco)

2 goals : Elrio van Heerden (South Africa),Joseph Désiré Job, Stéphane Mbia, Geremi Njitap (Cameroon),Kader Keita (Côte d’Ivoire),Mohamed Abdullah Zidan (Egypt), Michael Essien (Ghana), Pascal Feindouno (Guinea), Brian Brendell (Namibia), Yakubu Aiyegbeni (Nigeria), Chaouki Ben Saada, Santos (Tunisia), Christopher Katongo (Zambia)

1 goal : Katlego Mphela (South Africa), Flavio (Angola), Razack Omotoyossi (Benin), Achille Emana, Alain Nkong (Cameroon), Aruna Dindane, Bakari Koné, Yaya Touré, Marc Zoro (Côte d’Ivoire), Ahmed Fathy (Egypt), Haminu Draman, Asamoah Gyan, Quincy Owusu-Abeyie (Ghana), Ismaël Bangoura, Oumar Kalabane, Souleymane Youla (Guinea), Frédéric Kanouté (Mali), Hicham Aboucherouane, Abdeslam Ouaddou, Tarik Sektioui, Moncef Zerka (Morocco), John Mikel Obi (Nigeria), Henri Camara, Abdoulaye Diagne Faye, Diomansy Kamara, Moustapha Bayal Sall (Senegal), Yacine Chikhaoui, Issam Jemaâ, Mejdi Traoui (Tunisia) James Chamanga, Felix Katongo, Jacob Mulenga (Zambia)

Own goal: Mohamed Al Khider (Sudan) against Cameroon



Yellow Cards
A total of 100 yellow cards were recorded, with 81 of them coming in the first round.
Egypt – 10 yellow cards
Senegal – 9 yellow cards
Guinea – 8 yellow cards
Namibia – 8 yellow cards
Tunisia – 8 yellow cards
Ghana – 7 yellow cards
Nigeria – 7 yellow cards
Sudan – 7 yellow cards
Cameroon – 6 yellow cards
Angola – 5 yellow cards
Cote d’Ivoire – 5 yellow cards
Mali – 5 yellow cards
Benin – 4 yellow cards
Morocco – 4 yellow cards
Zambia – 4 yellow cards
South Africa – 3 yellow cards

Three games recorded no yellow cards
Cote d’Ivoire – Mali
Tunisia – South Africa
Ghana – Cameroon

Red Cards
The tournament recorded 3 red cards
Pascal Feindouno – Guinea (against Morocco)
John Mensah – Ghana (against Nigeria)
Andre Bikey – Cameroon (against Ghana)

17 titles between the eight quarter-finalists
5 – Egypt
4 – Cameroon, Ghana
2 – Nigeria,
1 – Cote d’Ivoire, Tunisia

Angola and Guinea have never won the title

Six of the teams reached the last eight in during the 25th edition in Egypt in 2006. They are Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Guinea, Nigeria and Tunisia.
Hosts Ghana and Angola replaced DR Congo and Senegal in the