Africa Cup 2006

Africa Cup 2006
MTN Africa Cup of Nations 2006
Number of nations	16  (of 51 applicants)
African champions	Egypt (5th title)
venue	Egypt
Opening game	January 20, 2006
Endgame	February 10, 2006
Games	32
Gates	73  (⌀: 2.28 per game)
spectator	773,600  (⌀: 24,175 per game)
Top scorer	Samuel Eto'o (5 goals)
Best player	Ahmed Hassan
yellow cards	101  (⌀: 3.16 per game)
Yellow-red cards	3  (⌀: 0.09 per game)
Red cards	4  (⌀: 0.13 per game)

The Africa Cup 2006 ( English : African Cup of Nations , French : Coupe d'Afrique des Nations ) was the 25th game of the African continental championship in football and took place from January 20th to February 10th as the fourth mall after 1959 , 1974 and 1986 in Egypt .

Algeria , Libya , Ivory Coast , Gabon , South Africa and Egypt all competed to host the tournament . Before that, Namibia and Senegal had also expressed their interest, but ultimately did not officially apply. As a result, Gabon and South Africa withdrew from the award process, the latter in order not to endanger Egypt's support in bidding for the 2010 World Cup . In August 2002, two months before the award, Libya made a move and brought a joint alignment with Egypt into play, a proposal that was rejected by the Egyptian side. On October 24, 2002 in Cairo, the CAF Executive Committee named Egypt as the host in the first round of voting. Egypt received seven of the eleven votes, Libya two, Ivory Coast and Algeria each received one.

To reduce the field of participants with the record number of 51 applicants, which was achieved for the third time after 2002 and 2004, to the sixteen final round participants, the African qualifying groups for the World Cup were used for the first time . The group winners qualified for the 2006 World Cup , the top three in each group (with the exception of Libya in fourth place, as Egypt was already qualified as host in third place) for the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations finals separate qualifying round was played, was also a concession by the African association CAF to the African national players, who for the most part play in European football clubs and have an extremely tight schedule.

Ultimately, the following teams qualified: Egypt (hosts and record participants with 20 participations), Angola , Ivory Coast , Ghana , Guinea , Cameroon , DR Congo , Libya , Morocco , Nigeria , Zambia , Senegal , Zimbabwe , South Africa , Togo , Tunisia (defending champions).

The game was played with four groups of four teams each. In the event of a tie between two teams, the table position and progression were decided in the following order: the goal difference and the higher number of goals scored from all group matches, the direct encounters between the teams concerned (higher number of points, goal difference, goals scored), and finally the fair play list (which results from the lower number of yellow and red cards) or the lot. The two best teams in each group then played the tournament winner from the quarter-finals in the knockout system as usual . If the games in the final round were tied after the regular playing time of 90 minutes, there was an extension of 15 minutes twice and possibly (if there is still no winner) a penalty shoot-out .

Hosts Egypt used their home advantage, won the tournament and became African champions in football for the fifth time. This made Egypt the sole record holder of the competition.

Venues

The three-week tournament took place around the Nile Delta, because with Cairo , Alexandria , Port Said and Ismailia all the venues were in the northern part of the country. The Egyptian Organizing Committee planned six football stadiums for the continental tournament. The opening game between the hosts Egypt and Libya and the final took place in the football stadium “Cairo International” with a capacity of 74,100. All other stadiums were more than half the size.

Alexandria	Alexandria	Cairo Alexandria Ismailia Port Said Venues 2006 in Egypt	Port Said
Alexandria Stadium	Harras El-Hedoud Stadium		Port Said Stadium
Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 22,000		Capacity: 22,000
Cairo	Cairo		Ismailia
Cairo International Stadium	Cairo Military Academy Stadium		Ismailia Stadium
Capacity: 74,100	Capacity: 28,500		Capacity: 16,500

Shutdowns

The deployment of the African national players for the Africa Cup in Egypt was problematic for the European football clubs in the run-up to the 2006 World Cup . However, the African association insisted on the two-year rhythm of the tournament.

In 2006, six soccer clubs from the Bundesliga had to release nine African players. Sibusiso Zuma by Arminia Bielefeld was nominated for South Africa . Borussia Dortmund's new signing Matthew Amoah was also missing at the beginning of the second half of the season as he played for Ghana . The 1. FC Köln had the defender Andrew Sinkala from Zambia without. Some Bundesliga clubs were missing two players: Hamburger SV ( Thimothée Atouba / Cameroon, Guy Demel / Ivory Coast), VfL Wolfsburg ( Pablo Thiam / Guinea, Hans Sarpei / Ghana) and 1. FC Nürnberg ( Jawhar Mnari , Adel Chedli / both Tunisia ). In addition, German clubs nominated George Mbwando from SSV Jahn Regensburg for Zimbabwe and Sherif Touré from SV Concordia Ihrhove for Togo.

From the Swiss Super League , Yao Aziawonou from BSC Young Boys and from the Challenge League Junior Yao Senaya from YF Juventus (both for Togo ) played at the Africa Cup 2006. No players were released from other German-speaking countries such as Austria, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. Most of the African national players came from the French Ligue 1 and the English Premier League .

Group stage

All times in CET

Group A

Opening ceremony The opening ceremony took place a few hours before the start of the opening match between Egypt and Libya in the Cairo International Stadium in front of 70,000 spectators. A play told the history of Egypt in short sections. Hisham Abbas and Samira Saïd performed the official song of the Africa Cup, after which Egyptian President Husni Mubarak declared the Africa Cup 2006 to be open.

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Egypt	3	2	1	0	006: 100	+5	07th
2.	Ivory Coast	3	2	0	1	004: 400	± 0	06th
3.	Morocco	3	0	2	1	000: 100	−1	02
4th	Libya	3	0	1	2	001: 500	−4	01

January 20 at 6:00 p.m. in Cairo
Egypt	-	Libya	3: 0 (2: 0)
January 21 at 1:00 p.m. in Cairo
Morocco	-	Ivory Coast	0: 1 (0: 1)
January 24th at 4:15 pm in Cairo
Libya	-	Ivory Coast	1: 2 (1: 1)
January 24th at 7:00 p.m. in Cairo
Egypt	-	Morocco	0-0
January 28 at 6:00 p.m. in Cairo
Libya	-	Morocco	0-0
January 28 at 6:00 p.m. in Cairo
Egypt	-	Ivory Coast	3: 1 (1: 1)

Egypt started brilliantly at the Africa Cup. The hosts won the opening game against Libya with 3-0. 70,000 spectators followed the game in Cairo's International Stadium. Tottenham Hotspur striker Ahmed Hossam ("Mido") scored 1-0 after fourteen minutes. Eight minutes later, Mohamed Abo Treka was able to convert a direct free kick for Egypt to make it 2-0. Ahmed Hassan made it 3-0 . After a 0-0 win against Morocco in the second game, Egypt was even able to advance to the quarter-finals as group winners by beating the already qualified Ivorians. The Ivory Coast took the first team to reach the quarter-finals. The Ivorian international striker Didier Drogba from Chelsea had scored the decisive goal against Morocco (1-0) with a penalty kick. Drogba also brought Ivory Coast, which was represented at a World Cup for the first time in the summer , into the lead in the second game against Libya (2-1) . Due to a defeat in the final group game they gave up the championship lead. Morocco was eliminated from the tournament without a goal of their own. After two goalless draws and a defeat at the start against Ivory Coast, the finalist of the Africa Cup of 2004 had to return home after the preliminary round. Libya failed to cause a surprise in Group A. With just one point you finished the preliminary round and were eliminated early.

Group B

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Cameroon	3	3	0	0	007: 100	+6	09
2.	DR Congo	3	1	1	1	002: 200	± 0	04th
3.	Angola	3	1	1	1	004: 500	−1	04th
4th	Togo	3	0	0	3	002: 700	−5	00

January 21 at 4:15 p.m. in Cairo
Cameroon	-	Angola	3: 1 (2: 1)
January 21 at 7:00 p.m. in Cairo
Togo	-	DR Congo	0: 2 (0: 1)
January 25 at 4:15 p.m. in Cairo
Angola	-	DR Congo	0-0
January 25 at 7:00 p.m. in Cairo
Cameroon	-	Togo	2: 0 (0: 0)
January 29 at 6:00 p.m. in Cairo
Angola	-	Togo	3: 2 (2: 1)
January 29 at 6:00 p.m. in Cairo
Cameroon	-	DR Congo	2: 0 (2: 0)

Cameroon qualified early for the quarter-finals after two games. Former Cologne Bundesliga player Rigobert Song has made African football history when he played against Togo (2-0). The captain of Cameroon played his 25th game in an Africa Cup, breaking the record of Alain Gouaméné , who made 24 games as the Ivory Coast goalkeeper. Very successful in the three games of the Cameroon striker was Samuel Eto'o from FC Barcelona , who scored five goals (against Angola three).

Congo prevailed after a win (2-0 against Togo) and a draw (0-0 against Angola) due to the better goal difference against World Cup participants Angola and thus reached the round of eight.

Angola , newcomer to the 2006 World Cup , was eliminated from the group stage at the tournament in Egypt. Coach Luís Oliveira Gonçalves' team had four points like Congo, but lacked a goal to advance. The most conspicuous player among the Angolans was the goal scorer Flávio da Silva Amado with three goals.

Togo was eliminated with three defeats. The Togolese national team shows that a continental championship does not automatically have to dominate who qualifies for a soccer world championship. The Togoers showed a very poor performance, they did not manage to score in the first two games, they lost 2-0 in each case. In the last game the team lost to Angola 2: 3 in Cairo. Despite the first World Cup qualification, the association dismissed coach Stephen Keshi after the disappointing performance at the continental championship on February 13, 2006 .

Group C

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Guinea	3	3	0	0	007: 100	+6	09
2.	Tunisia	3	2	0	1	006: 400	+2	06th
3.	Zambia	3	1	0	2	003: 600	−3	03
4th	South Africa	3	0	0	3	000: 500	−5	00

January 22nd at 4:15 pm in Alexandria
Tunisia	-	Zambia	4: 1 (1: 1)
January 22nd at 7:00 p.m. in Alexandria
South Africa	-	Guinea	0: 2 (0: 0)
January 26 at 4:15 p.m. in Alexandria
Zambia	-	Guinea	1: 2 (1: 0)
January 26 at 7:00 p.m. in Alexandria
Tunisia	-	South Africa	2: 0 (1: 0)
January 30th at 6:00 p.m. in Alexandria
Tunisia	-	Guinea	0: 3 (0: 1)
January 30th at 6:00 p.m. in Alexandria
Zambia	-	South Africa	1: 0 (0: 0)

Guinea was the surprise team in the preliminary round. The Guinean national team started with a 2-0 win against South Africa and reached the quarter-finals without losing points. An important player in the team was the Wolfsburg soccer player Pablo Thiam . In the last group game, Guinea won 3-0 (1-0) against World Cup participants and defending champions Tunisia in Alexandria . The most striking player was the striker Pascal Feindouno from AS Saint-Étienne , who scored three goals (four in total) in the preliminary round.

Tunisia won the first two games against Zambia and South Africa with ease and, as the defending champion and favorite for the Africa Cup 2006, qualified for the finals ahead of schedule. The best player from Tunisia was Francileudo Silva dos Santos , who with four goals in the preliminary round played a major role in the early qualification for the second round. In the third game against Guinea, coach Roger Lemerre spared some important players for the quarter-finals and so the game was clearly lost.

Zambia was eliminated early after two defeats and only surprisingly won the last game against South Africa just 1-0.

South Africa , host of the 2010 World Cup , said goodbye to the tournament with three defeats and 0-5 goals. Interim coach Ted Dumitru was supposed to provide an upswing after a failed World Cup qualification and was released on the day of departure from Cairo.

Group D

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Nigeria	3	3	0	0	005: 100	+4	09
2.	Senegal	3	1	0	2	003: 300	± 0	03
3.	Ghana	3	1	0	2	002: 300	−1	03
4th	Zimbabwe	3	1	0	2	002: 500	−3	03

January 23 at 4:15 p.m. in Port Said
Nigeria	-	Ghana	1: 0 (0: 0)
January 23 at 7:00 p.m. in Port Said
Zimbabwe	-	Senegal	0: 2 (0: 0)
January 27 at 4:15 p.m. in Port Said
Ghana	-	Senegal	1: 0 (1: 0)
January 27 at 7:00 p.m. in Port Said
Nigeria	-	Zimbabwe	2: 0 (0: 0)
January 31 at 6:00 p.m. in Port Said
Nigeria	-	Senegal	2: 1 (0: 0)
January 31 at 6:00 p.m. in Ismaïlia
Ghana	-	Zimbabwe	1: 2 (0: 0)

Nigeria achieved three close wins. A unified team performance helped coach Christian Chukwu's team to reach the round of eight.

Senegal qualified with a win (2-0 against Zimbabwe) and despite two defeats just ahead of Ghana.

Ghana , the newcomer to the World Cup, missed the final round due to a goal compared to Senegal, against which Ghana had won 1-0. Decisive for the World Cup participant Ghana was the 1: 2 defeat in the last game against Zimbabwe.

As the bottom of the table, Zimbabwe also had three points, but with 2: 5 the worst goal difference in Group D.

Final round

In the quarter and semi-finals, in the game for third place and in the final, the knockout system is used . If the games in the final round are tied after the regular playing time of 90 minutes, there will be two extra times of 15 minutes and, if there is still no winner after the end of extra time, there will be a penalty shoot-out .

	Quarter finals				Semifinals				final
	February 3, 2:00 p.m. in Alexandria
	Guinea	2
					February 7, 6:00 p.m. in Cairo
	Senegal	3
					Senegal	1
	February 3, 6:00 p.m. in Cairo
					Egypt	2
	Egypt	4th
									February 10, 5:00 p.m. in Cairo
	DR Congo	1
									Egypt	0 (4)
	February 4, 2:00 p.m. in Port Said
									Ivory Coast	0 (2)
	Nigeria	1 (6)
					February 7, 2:00 p.m. in Alexandria
	Tunisia	1 (5)
					Nigeria	0			Game for third place
	February 4, 6:00 p.m. in Cairo
					Ivory Coast	1
	Cameroon	1 (11)							Senegal	0
	Ivory Coast	1 (12)							Nigeria	1
									February 9, 5:00 p.m. in Cairo

Quarter finals

February 3 at 2:00 p.m. in Cairo
Guinea	-	Senegal	2: 3 (1: 0)
February 3 at 6:00 p.m. in Alexandria
Egypt	-	DR Congo	4: 1 (2: 1)
February 4th at 2:00 p.m. in Cairo
Nigeria	-	Tunisia	1: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 1: 0), 6: 5 in E.
February 4th at 6:00 p.m. in Port Said
Cameroon	-	Ivory Coast	1: 1 a.d. (0: 0, 0: 0), 11:12 i. E.

The two favorites for the title, Nigeria and Tunisia, met in the quarter-finals. On penalties, Nigeria beat defending champions Tunisia 7-6 after an even game. In the fifth minute, Victor Nsofor Obinna scored the 1-0 for Nigeria. In the 15th minute, Ziad Jaziri was fouled in the penalty area and Jose Clayton missed the penalty. In the 49th minute, the central defender Karim Haggui scored the 1-1 equalizer. It stayed in overtime. In the penalty shoot-out, Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama saved two penalties.

Hosts Egypt had no problems reaching the semi-finals against Congo in front of 75,000 spectators. Ahmed Hassan converted a penalty in the 33rd minute to make it 1-0 for Egypt. In the 40th minute, Hossam was able to increase to 2-0. Before the break (45th + 2), Congo scored the connection through an own goal by Abdelzaher El Saka. Emad Moteab to 3-1 (59th) and Ahmed Hassan with a free kick to 4-1 (88th) decided the game.

Cameroon captain and goalscorer Samuel Eto'o missed the crucial penalty after all eleven players had played. Cameroon lost 11:12 against Ivory Coast. Didier Drogba scored the decisive penalty for his team; he had also scored the 1-1 in regular time.

Semifinals

February 7 at 2:00 p.m. in Cairo
Ivory Coast	-	Nigeria	1: 0 (0: 0)
February 7 at 6:00 p.m. in Alexandria
Egypt	-	Senegal	2: 1 (1: 0)

The Ivory Coast won the first semi-final against Nigeria 1-0 (0-0) in Alexandria. Captain Didier Drogba scored the decisive goal in the 47th minute. As the second finalist of the Africa Cup 2006, the host was determined. In front of 75,000 spectators in Cairo, Egypt defeated Senegal 2-1. The 1-0 shot was scored by Egyptian captain Ahmed Hassan with a penalty after a handball in the 37th minute. After the break, the Senegalese got stronger and equaled in the 51st minute by Mamadou Niang, before the Egyptian Amr Zaki scored 2-1 in the 80th minute. A scandal broke out in the game after Ahmed Hossam , known as Mido, was substituted on in the 80th minute. Mido took on the Egyptian national coach Hassan Shehata and was suspended by the association before the final.

3rd place match

February 9 at 5:00 p.m. in Cairo
Nigeria	-	Senegal	1: 0 (0: 0)

Nigeria won the game for third place 1-0 against Senegal. The decisive goal for the two-time African champions was scored by the Dutch honorary divisionist Roda Kerkrade, Garba Lawal , in the 79th minute.

final

February 10 at 5:00 p.m. in Cairo
Ivory Coast	-	Egypt	0: 0 a.d., 2: 4 i. E.

At the Africa Cup of 2006, the hosts Egypt defeated Ivory Coast 4-2 on penalties. With this title, the North African country is the first team to win the continental championship in Africa five times.

In the “International Stadium” in the capital Cairo, which was sold out with 74,100 spectators, no goals were scored in regular time or in extra time. The most successful Egyptian goalscorer at this tournament, Ahmed Hassan, had put a penalty in the 98th minute on the post. The game was decided on penalties by the Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El Hadary, who blocked Bakari Koné and Didier Drogba ’s penalties .

• Egypt: El Hadary; Said (113th Halim Ali), El Saka, Gomaa (21st A.Fathy), Abdelwahab ; Barakat, Shawky, Abo Treka, Ahmed Hassan; Emad Motaeb (81st H. Mostafa), Amri Zaky
• Ivory Coast: Tizie; Eboue, Kolo Touré, Kouassi, Boka; Zokora, Yaya Touré (91st Bakari Koné), Faé, Akale (62nd Kalou); Arouna Koné, Drogba

Best goal scorers

rank	player	Gates
1	Samuel Eto'o	5
2	Ahmed Hassan	4th
	Francileudo Silva dos Santos	4th
	Pascal Feindouno	4th
5	Flávio da Silva Amado	3
	Emad Moteab	3
	Didier Drogba	3

Trivia

The economic dimension of the Africa Cup in 2006 was manageable. For example, the total television rights worldwide for the tournament amounted to five million euros . For comparison: With the European equivalent of the Africa Cup, the organizers received around 550 million euros.

The participants received from the organizers of the Africa Cup 2006 an entry fee of around 100,000 euros and a title bonus of around 300,000 euros. At the 2004 European Championship, entry fees and game bonuses of 3.5 million euros were paid out for each of the 16 nations.

The ticket prices were 10 EGP (1.43 €) for the cheapest ticket and 900 EGP (85.94 €) for the most expensive ticket. The prices varied depending on the stadium and game.

The sports television broadcaster Eurosport broadcast 27 of the 32 games live and exclusively. The games were broadcast to 54 countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and the games were offered in 19 different languages. In the Arab countries, Al Jazeera Sports and ART broadcast all 32 games.

The official mascot was a crocodile from the Egyptian River Nile with the compound name "Croconile". The green color of the mascot represented the blooming landscapes of Africa. On its stomach it had the red, white, and black colors of the host's flag . The crocodile with its pharaoh hat reminded of Egyptian history.

Web links

• Game details on rsssf.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ bbc.co.uk: Bidding hots up for CAN 2006 (March 21, 2002)
2. ↑ bbc.co.uk: Six beat bid deadline for Nations Cup 2006 (April 1, 2002)
3. ↑ bbc.co.uk: Gabon pull out of 2006 bid (April 4, 2002)
4. ↑ bbc.co.uk: SA withdraw bid for 2006 (Apr. 26, 2002)
5. ↑ bbc.co.uk: Libya aim to co-host 2006 (Aug. 19, 2002)
6. ↑ bbc.co.uk: Egypt hosts 2006 Nations Cup (Oct. 24, 2002)
7. ↑ weltfussball.de: Game report of the Africa Cup 2006