2008 Africa Cup of Nations

2008 Africa Cup of Nations
MTN Africa Cup of Nations Ghana 2008
	Africa Cup of Nations 2008 official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Ghana
Dates	20 January – 10 February
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Egypt (6th title)
Runners-up	Cameroon
Third place	Ghana
Fourth place	Ivory Coast
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	99 (3.09 per match)
Attendance	714,000 (22,313 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Samuel Eto'o (5 goals)
Best player(s)	Hosny Abd Rabo
Best goalkeeper	Essam El-Hadary

The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated to the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament was staged at four venues around Ghana between 20 January and 10 February 2008. This was the last Africa Cup of Nations to use the old CAF logo.

Egypt won the tournament, beating Cameroon 1–0 in the final. As winners, they qualified for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup as African representatives.

Host selection

Bids:

Ghana
Libya
South Africa

The organization of the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations was awarded to Ghana on 8 July 2004 by the CAF Executive Committee members which are 12 in Cairo, Egypt. Voters had a choice between Ghana and Libya which was disadvantaged by the fact that two countries in the North Africa region had already hosted the last two editions (Tunisia in 2004, and Egypt in 2006).

South Africa, also was a candidate at the start, eventually withdrew in May 2004 after being nominated for the organization of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

This is the fourth time that Ghana has hosted the African Cup after 1963, 1978 and 2000 (jointly with Nigeria).

Results
Nation	Votes
Ghana	9
Libya	3
South Africa	Withdrew
Total votes	12

Venues

Accra	Accra Kumasi Tamale Sekondi-Takoradi	Kumasi
Ohene Djan Stadium		Baba Yara Stadium

Capacity: 40,000[1]		Capacity: 40,528
Tamale		Sekondi-Takoradi
Tamale Stadium		Sekondi-Takoradi Stadium

Capacity: 21,017		Capacity: 20,088

Squads

Qualification

The entrants were divided into 12 groups. All group winners and the best three runners-up from groups with four teams (groups 2-11) qualified for the finals. Host Ghana qualified automatically. Qualifying took place between 2 September 2006 and 13 October 2007.

Teams

A map of Africa showing the qualified nations, highlighted by stage reached.

Ghana – Host, 16th appearance (4 titles)
Ivory Coast – Group 1 winner, 17th appearance (1 title)
Egypt – Group 2 winner, 21st appearance (5 titles)
Nigeria – Group 3 winner, 15th appearance (2 titles)
Sudan – Group 4 winner, 7th appearance (1 title)
Cameroon – Group 5 winner, 15th appearance (4 titles)
Angola – Group 6 winner, 4th appearance
Senegal – Group 7 winner, 11th appearance
Guinea – Group 8 winner, 9th appearance
Mali – Group 9 winner, 5th appearance
Namibia – Group 10 winner, 2nd appearance
Zambia – Group 11 winner, 13th appearance
Morocco – Group 12 winner, 13th appearance (1 title)
Tunisia – Group 4 runner-up, 13th appearance (1 title)
Benin – Group 9 runner-up, 2nd appearance
South Africa – Group 11 runner-up, 7th appearance (1 title)

Match officials

16 referees and 16 assistant referees were selected for the tournament, including two from Japan and one from South Korea.[2]

Referees	Assistant Referees
Mohamed Benouza	Brahim Djezzar
Divine Evehe	Evarist Menkouande
Yuichi Nishimura	Toru Sagara
Abderrahim El Arjoun	Redouane Achik
Jerome Damon	Enock Molefe
Kokou Djaoupe	Komi Konyoh
Kacem Bennaceur	Bechir Hassani
Djamel Haimoudi	Jeong Hae-Sang
Coffi Codjia	Celestin Ntagungira
Modou Sowe	Angesom Ogbamariam
Alex Kotey	Desire Gahungu
Koman Coulibaly	Lassina Paré
Badara Diatta	Peter Edibe
Eddy Maillet	Inacio Manuel Candido
Muhmed Ssegonga	Nasser Sadek Abdel Nabi
Kenias Marange	Kenneth Chichenga

Seeding and grouping procedure

The draw for the tournament took place on 19 October 2007. The sixteen teams were divided into four pots according to their performances in past Cup of Nations tournaments. Ghana, as host, were automatically seeded as the top team in Group A. Egypt, the defending champions, were seeded as the top team in Group C.[3] Each group consists of four teams, one drawn from each of the pots.

Pot 1: Ghana (Group A), Egypt (Group C), Nigeria, Tunisia
Pot 2: Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal
Pot 3: Guinea, Mali, South Africa, Zambia
Pot 4: Angola, Benin, Namibia, Sudan

Tournament ball

The tournament ball "Wawa Aba"

Wawa aba, an Adinkra symbol of hardiness, toughness, and perseverance

During the previous editions of the Africa Cup of Nations, the ball used was not a ball especially made for the tournament. As the tournament was held on even years, the same years big tournaments such as the UEFA European Cup of Nations or the FIFA World Cup were held, the official ball for the tournament held this year was used for the African Cup of Nations: the Adidas Roteiro in 2004, or the Adidas Teamgeist in 2006. However, for the 2008 tournament, Adidas made a special ball, clearly different from the Adidas Europass going to be used five months later for the Euro. The ball was named Wawa Aba and was designed to include host nation Ghana’s red, yellow and green. The ball was later used for the other African competitions.

For the Akan culture originating from Western Africa, one of the Adinkra symbols named Wawa Aba is a symbol of hardiness, toughness, and perseverance.[4] People there particularly believe in the strength and team spirit of a community. The Wawa Aba literally means “seed(s) of Wawa tree (Triplochiton scleroxylon)”,[5] one of the strongest and most processible woods of Africa and whose seeds are very hard. For the population, the Wawa Aba mainly has mystical significance. These are people who don’t let failure discourage them, who seize all opportunities successfully and who are thus just as strong and adaptable as the Wawa Aba.

Group stage

Tie-breaking criteria

Where two or more teams end the group stage with the same number of points, their ranking is determined by the following criteria:[6]

points earned in the matches between the teams concerned;
goal difference in the matches between the teams concerned;
number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
number of away goals scored in the matches between the teams concerned;
goal difference in all group matches;
number of goals scored in all group matches;
drawing of lots by the organizing committee.

All times given as local time (UTC+0)

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
Ghana	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	9	Advanced to the quarter-finals
Guinea	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4	Advanced to the quarter-finals
Morocco	3	1	0	2	7	6	+1	3
Namibia	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1

Source:

20 January 2008

17:00

Ghana	2–1	Guinea
A. Gyan 55' (pen.) Muntari 90'	Report	Kalabane 65'

Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra

Attendance: 35,000

Referee: Eddy Maillet (Seychelles)

21 January 2008