African Cup of Nations winners list: every AFCON champion, and why 2025 is disputed
Egypt lead the AFCON winners list with seven titles. Morocco are the 2025 champions of record – Senegal won the final on the pitch and the case is still at CAS.
Feb 8, 2024 · Updated Aug 13, 2026
The African Cup of Nations (AFCON) is the continental championship of the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF), first played in 1957 between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. Egypt are the most successful side in its history with seven titles, and 15 different countries have won it across 35 editions.
The reigning champions are Morocco — and that is the most contested sentence on this page. Senegal beat Morocco 1-0 after extra time in the AFCON 2025 final in Rabat on 18 January 2026, but CAF’s Appeal Board later ruled that Senegal had forfeited the match and recorded the result as a 3-0 win for Morocco. Senegal have taken the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which has not ruled.
Below is the complete winners list from 1957 to 2025, the title count by country, what happened in Morocco, and exactly where the 2025 dispute stands as of August 2026.
African Cup of Nations winners list: every AFCON winner since 1957
Thirty-five editions, 15 winners. The 1959 entry reads United Arab Republic because that was Egypt’s name at the time, and it counts towards Egypt’s seven.
| Year | Winner | Runner-up |
| 1957 | Egypt | Ethiopia |
| 1959 | United Arab Republic | Sudan |
| 1962 | Ethiopia | United Arab Republic |
| 1963 | Ghana | Sudan |
| 1965 | Ghana | Tunisia |
| 1968 | DR Congo | Ghana |
| 1970 | Sudan | Ghana |
| 1972 | Congo | Mali |
| 1974 | Zaire | Zambia |
| 1976 | Morocco | Guinea |
| 1978 | Ghana | Uganda |
| 1980 | Nigeria | Algeria |
| 1982 | Ghana | Libya |
| 1984 | Cameroon | Nigeria |
| 1986 | Egypt | Cameroon |
| 1988 | Cameroon | Nigeria |
| 1990 | Algeria | Nigeria |
| 1992 | Ivory Coast | Ghana |
| 1994 | Nigeria | Zambia |
| 1996 | South Africa | Tunisia |
| 1998 | Egypt | South Africa |
| 2000 | Cameroon | Nigeria |
| 2002 | Cameroon | Senegal |
| 2004 | Tunisia | Morocco |
| 2006 | Egypt | Ivory Coast |
| 2008 | Egypt | Cameroon |
| 2010 | Egypt | Ghana |
| 2012 | Zambia | Ivory Coast |
| 2013 | Nigeria | Burkina Faso |
| 2015 | Ivory Coast | Ghana |
| 2017 | Cameroon | Egypt |
| 2019 | Algeria | Senegal |
| 2021 | Senegal | Egypt |
| 2023 | Ivory Coast | Nigeria |
| 2025* | Morocco | Senegal |
*Senegal won the 2025 final 1-0 on the pitch. CAF’s Appeal Board declared the match forfeit and recorded it 3-0 to Morocco on 17 March 2026. Senegal’s appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport is still open, so this row could yet change. The section below sets out the whole sequence.
Note also that the 1968 and 1974 winners are the same country under two names — DR Congo were called Zaire between 1971 and 1997 — while the 1972 winner, Congo, is the separate country across the river.
Who won AFCON 2025? The final that was decided twice
Morocco hosted the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations from 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026, and reached the final at home. Senegal, the 2021 champions, were the opponents. A crowd of 66,526 was at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, with Jean-Jacques Ndala of DR Congo refereeing.
The match broke down deep into second-half stoppage time. A Senegal goal was ruled out, and in the eighth added minute a VAR review gave Morocco a penalty. Brahim Díaz went for a Panenka and Édouard Mendy saved it. Senegal’s players left the pitch in protest around that same passage of play, and the game was held up for roughly 14 minutes before Sadio Mané brought them back out. It went to extra time, and Pape Gueye won it for Senegal in the 94th minute with a left-footed finish into the top corner.
Senegal won the match. Three months later they were not the champions.
| Date | What happened |
| 18 Jan 2026 | Senegal beat Morocco 1-0 after extra time in the final in Rabat |
| 28 Jan 2026 | CAF’s Disciplinary Board sanctions both federations. Senegal coach Pape Thiaw is banned for five matches; Iliman Ndiaye and Ismaïla Sarr get two each |
| 17 Mar 2026 | CAF’s Appeal Board rules that Senegal forfeited the final. Result recorded 3-0 to Morocco, who are declared champions |
| 25 Mar 2026 | The Senegalese federation files an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport |
| Aug 2026 | No CAS ruling. The CAF decision stands and Morocco are the champions of record |
The Appeal Board’s reasoning rests on Articles 82 and 84 of the AFCON regulations, which cover a team’s refusal to play. It found that Senegal’s conduct fell within those articles and that the Senegalese federation had breached Article 82 — so the walk-off, not the football, settled the title.
The same ruling went against Morocco on several counts, which is worth knowing before treating it as a home decision. It confirmed a USD 100,000 fine on the Moroccan federation for interference with the pitchside VAR review, cut a fine over a ball-boys incident to USD 50,000 and one over lasers in the crowd to USD 10,000, and reduced Ismaël Saibari’s suspension to two CAF matches with one of those suspended, setting aside his USD 100,000 fine.
One warning before you go looking for an update. A document claiming CAS had stripped Morocco of the title and handed it to Senegal, dated 10 June 2026, went round social media in July 2026. It was fabricated. CAS confirmed on 25 March 2026 that Senegal’s appeal had been registered and an arbitration panel appointed, said it was too early to set a hearing date, and has announced no verdict since. If you see a CAS ruling on this final, check it against the court’s own case list before believing it.
Most successful teams in African Cup of Nations: by each country
Fifteen countries have won the African Cup of Nations. Egypt lead with seven, and Morocco moved to two with the 2025 award.
| Country | Titles | Winning years |
| Egypt | 7 | 1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2006, 2008, 2010 |
| Cameroon | 5 | 1984, 1988, 2000, 2002, 2017 |
| Ghana | 4 | 1963, 1965, 1978, 1982 |
| Nigeria | 3 | 1980, 1994, 2013 |
| Ivory Coast | 3 | 1992, 2015, 2023 |
| Algeria | 2 | 1990, 2019 |
| DR Congo | 2 | 1968, 1974 |
| Morocco | 2 | 1976, 2025* |
| Zambia | 1 | 2012 |
| Tunisia | 1 | 2004 |
| Sudan | 1 | 1970 |
| Senegal | 1 | 2021 |
| Ethiopia | 1 | 1962 |
| South Africa | 1 | 1996 |
| Congo | 1 | 1972 |
Read down the winning-years column and one gap stands out. Morocco waited 49 years between titles, 1976 to 2025 — the longest wait of any country on this list. Algeria’s 29 years and Egypt’s 27 between 1959 and 1986 are the next longest.
AFCON 2025 in Morocco: how the tournament was won
Twenty-four teams played. Ivory Coast arrived as holders, having won at home in 2023, and went out in the quarter-finals to Egypt — a result we wrote about in our look at Ivory Coast’s squad going into the 2026 World Cup.
| Stage | Result |
| Semi-final | Morocco 0-0 Nigeria, Morocco won 4-2 on penalties |
| Semi-final | Senegal 1-0 Egypt, Sadio Mané scoring |
| Third place | Nigeria 0-0 Egypt, Nigeria won 4-2 on penalties |
| Final | Senegal 1-0 Morocco after extra time, recorded 3-0 to Morocco |
Both shootouts turned on a goalkeeper. Yassine Bounou kept Morocco in the semi-final with saves from Samuel Chukwueze and Bruno Onyemaechi. In the third-place match, Stanley Nwabali saved from Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush to send Nigeria home with bronze.
| Award | Winner |
| Player of the tournament | Sadio Mané (Senegal) |
| Top scorer | Brahim Díaz (Morocco), 5 goals in 7 matches |
| Best goalkeeper | Yassine Bounou (Morocco) |
| Fair play | Morocco |
Morocco’s players went almost straight from this tournament into the 2026 World Cup, where they reached the quarter-finals and went out to France — the run we followed as the Atlas Lions made the last eight. For the tournament that started Senegal’s modern run, our page on AFCON 2021’s key statistics and records has the detail.
AFCON records: the numbers behind the winners list
Egypt are the only country to have won three in a row. Check it against the winners table above: no other nation appears in three consecutive rows. Egypt took 2006, 2008 and 2010, and their seven titles are two clear of Cameroon.
Samuel Eto’o is the competition’s all-time top scorer with 18 goals. The Cameroon striker played six editions between 2000 and 2010 and scored in every one of them — a record he shares with Zambia’s Kalusha Bwalya and Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan.
The first final was a one-man performance. Egypt beat Ethiopia 4-0 in Khartoum on 16 February 1957 and Ad-Diba scored all four, in the 2nd, 7th, 68th and 89th minutes. He finished the tournament on five goals.
Fifteen countries have won it in 35 editions, and seven of those 15 have won it exactly once. Ethiopia’s win came in 1962, Sudan’s in 1970 and Congo’s in 1972, and none of the three has won it since.
Why the AFCON trophy has been replaced twice
The competition’s founding rule was that a country winning it three times kept the trophy for good, and two countries did exactly that.
The first trophy was silver and named the Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem Trophy, after CAF’s first president. Ghana won their third title in 1978 and took it home permanently. The replacement, the Trophy of African Unity, was played for from 1980 to 2000, and Cameroon’s third win in 2000 removed that one too. The current gold-plated trophy was made in Italy and first presented in 2001.
The tournament’s first edition also came within one team of not happening as planned. Four founding CAF nations were invited in 1957 — Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and South Africa — and South Africa were disqualified for refusing to field a multi-racial side. That left three teams, and Ethiopia went straight through to the final.
When is the next AFCON? Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in 2027
The next edition is the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Pamoja 2027, co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. It opens on Saturday 19 June 2027 and the final is on Saturday 17 July 2027. Pamoja is Swahili for “together”, and this is the first AFCON to be shared between three countries.
Twenty-four teams will play the finals and the three hosts are in automatically. Qualifying was drawn in Cairo on 19 May 2026 — 48 teams in 12 groups of four, with the top two in each group going through — and the first qualifiers are on 21 September 2026.
The slot matters as much as the hosts. AFCON has moved between a northern-summer window and a northern-winter one for years: 2019 in Egypt was played in June and July, then the 2021, 2023 and 2025 editions were all staged across December and January, which is what pulls African players out of European club seasons mid-campaign. Pamoja 2027 goes back to summer.
If you follow the other continental lists, we keep the same running records for the UEFA European Championship winners and the Champions League winners.
With qualifying under way from September and the 2026-27 European season alongside it, our guide to the best football betting sites in India compares the operators covering African and European football.
Frequently asked
Who has won the most African Cup of Nations titles? Egypt, with seven — 1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2006, 2008 and 2010. Cameroon are next on five.
Who won AFCON 2025? Morocco are the champions of record. Senegal won the final 1-0 on the pitch on 18 January 2026, but CAF’s Appeal Board ruled on 17 March 2026 that Senegal had forfeited the match and recorded it 3-0 to Morocco. Senegal’s appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport has not been decided.
How many countries have won the African Cup of Nations? Fifteen, across 35 editions since 1957. Seven of them have won it exactly once.
Who is the all-time top scorer at AFCON? Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon, with 18 goals across six editions from 2000 to 2010.
Why do Ghana and Cameroon not have the original trophies? They do. Both were given the trophy permanently after a third win — Ghana in 1978 and Cameroon in 2000 — which is why the current cup only dates from 2001.
When is the next Africa Cup of Nations? 19 June to 17 July 2027, co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
Author: William Paul
Featured photo: AFP / CHARLY TRIBALLEAU