African Cup of Nations winners list: Know all the past champions

The African Cup of Nations (AFCON) is a prestigious continental competition contested by the member nations of the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF). The inaugural edition was played in 1957 between the three founding nations - Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.

Senegal secured their first title in history as they won a 4-2 penalty shootout against Egypt in the AFCON 2021 final.

Egypt - the winners of the first edition - are the most successful team in AFCON history with seven triumphs. In 2010, the Egyptians became the first country to win a hat-trick of Africa Cup of Nations titles (2006, 2008 and 2010) having emerged victorious in three consecutive editions of the tournament.

Cameroon, hosts of AFCON 2021, are the second-most successful team having lifted the title five times. They enjoyed a lot of success in the early 2000s as the Indomitable Lions won back-to-back trophies in 2000 and 2002. Cameroon won their last AFCON title in 2017.

Ghana won their first African Cup of Nations trophy in 1963, and went on to achieve success on another three occasions. Since they were the first team to win three AFCON titles, Ghana were given the permanent right to keep the original trophy - Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem Trophy in 1978.

Nigeria have tasted AFCON success thrice in 1980, 1994 and 2013. Ivory Coast - one of the most well-known African football nations - triumphed first in 1992 and then in 2015 after beating Ghana 9–8 in a penalty shootout.

Algeria ended their 29-year wait for an AFCON trophy with a 1-0 win over Senegal in the last edition of the tournament. In 1990, the Desert Warriors hosted and won the AFCON. Their 1990 triumph aside, Algeria’s best result until the 2019 win was just a fourth-place finish in 2010.

African Cup of Nations winners list: Know them all

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	PR 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