AFCON 2023: Which teams have qualified for Round of 16

The Round of 16 will start place from January 27

AFCON (Africa Cup Of Nations) is the international men’s football competition in Africa. It started back in 1957 and since then it has been held every two years. It has been switched to odd-numbered years since 2013 to not interfere with the FIFA World Cup’s schedule. In its first-ever tournament in 1957, the AFCON known as CAF back then comprised only four nations.

The four founding nations were Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan and South Africa. South Africa were disqualified because of their insistence to only select white players due to their apartheid policy. Leading to this, Ethiopia qualified directly for the finals and only three matches were held. Egypt beat Sudan in the semi-finals and beat Ethiopia in the finals to win the first-ever CAF title.

Egypt hosted the CAF after two years in 1959 comprising of the same teams and once again won it beating Sudan in the finals. After this Egypt went quiet for a while with Cameroon and Ghana racking up majority of the wins until 2006. Between 1959 and 2006, Egypt had managed only two AFCON titles after which they made a great comeback which cemented their legacy.

Egypt then became the most successful nation in AFCON winning it seven times. This includes their glorious run of winning three consecutive titles in 2006, 2008, 2010. Senegal are the defending champions having beat Egypt in the 2021 AFCON finals. Followed by Egypt, Cameroon have won five titles and Ghana are third winning four AFCON titles.

The 2024 AFCON started on January 7th and consists of 24 teams divided into six groups of four teams each. The Round Of 16 will start on January 27th. Proceeding the RO16, the quarter finals and semi-finals will start on 2nd February and 7th February respectively.

Let’s take a look at the teams which have qualified for the AFCON 2023 Round of 16:

Group A

Equatorial Guinea

Nigeria

Ivory Coast

Group B

Cape Verde

Egypt

Group C

Senegal

Cameroon

Guinea

Group D

Angola

Burkina Faso

Mauritania

Group E

Mali

South Africa

Namibia

Group F

Morocco

DR Congo

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