1976 African Cup of Nations

1976 African Cup of Nations
1976 የአፍሪካ ዋንጫ
Tournament details
Host countryEthiopia
Dates29 February – 14 March
Teams8
Venues2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Morocco (1st title)
Runners-up Guinea
Third place Nigeria
Fourth place Egypt
Tournament statistics
Matches played18
Goals scored54 (3 per match)
Top scorer(s)Guinea Mamadou Aliou Keïta
(4 goals)
Best playerMorocco Ahmed Faras
← 1974
1978 →

The 1976 African Cup of Nations was the tenth edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa (CAF). It was hosted by Ethiopia. The format of competition changed from 1974: the field of eight teams was still split into two groups of four, but a final stage was introduced with the top two finishers of each of the first stage groups, in the form of a semi-final and a final. This is the same approach that was followed in the 1974 and 1978 World Cups. Morocco won its first championship by topping the final group. Guinea finished second.

Until Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda won a joint bid to host the 2027 edition of the tournament, it was the last one to be held in East Africa.[1]

Qualified teams

The 8 qualified teams were:

Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in tournament[a]
 EthiopiaHosts7 (1957, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1968, 1970)
 ZaireHolders14 March 19745 (1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1974)
 Morocco2nd round winners13 July 19751 (1972)
 Guinea2nd round winners17 July 19752 (1970, 1974)
 Nigeria2nd round winners27 July 19751 (1963)
 Egypt2nd round winners1 August 19756 (1957, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1970, 1974)
 Sudan2nd round winners15 August 19755 (1957, 1959, 1963, 1970, 1972)
 Uganda2nd round winners15 August 19753 (1962, 1968, 1974)
Notes
  1. ↑ Bold indicates champion for that year, Italic indicates host.

Squads

Venues

First round

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tie-breakers were used to determine the final ranking:

  1. Goal difference in all group matches
  2. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
  3. Drawing of lots

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Guinea 3 2 1 0 5 3 +2 5 Advance to Final round
2  Egypt 3 1 2 0 4 3 +1 4
3  Ethiopia (H) 3 1 1 1 4 3 +1 3
4  Uganda 3 0 0 3 2 6 −4 0
Source:
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Ethiopia 2–0 Uganda
Sheferahu 2'
Seyoum 83'
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: Abdelkader Aouissi (Algeria)
Egypt 1–1 Guinea
Basri 43' B. Sylla 44' (pen.)
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: Youssou N'Diaye (Senegal)
Egypt 2–1 Uganda
Abdou 26'
Basri 32'		 Obua 21'
Referee: Théophile Lawson-Hétchéli (Togo)
Ethiopia 1–2 Guinea
Sheferahu 40' N'Jo Léa 15'
Petit Sory 85'
Referee: Saad Gamar (Libya)
Guinea 2–1 Uganda
N'Jo Léa 2'
Sylla 20'		 Muguwa 85'
Referee: John Amenghor (Ghana)
Ethiopia 1–1 Egypt
Ali 46' Shehata 26'
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Abdelkader Aouissi (Algeria)

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Morocco 3 2 1 0 6 3 +3 5 Advance to Final round
2  Nigeria 3 2 0 1 6 5 +1 4
3  Sudan 3 0 2 1 3 4 −1 2
4  Zaire 3 0 1 2 3 6 −3 1
Source:
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Nigeria 4–2 Zaire
Mohammed 28', 44'
Ojebode 37' (pen.)
Usiyan 90'		 Kabasu 51'
Ekofa 58'
Referee: Hédi Seoudi (Tunisia)
Morocco 2–2 Sudan
Chérif 1'
Abouali 58'		 Gagarin 9', 79' (pen.)
Referee: Gratian Matovu (Tanzania)
Nigeria 1–0 Sudan
Usiyan 8'
Referee: Nyirenda Chayu (Zambia)
Morocco 3–1 Nigeria
Faras 8'
Tazi 19'
Chebbak 81'		 Ojebode 81'
Attendance: 4,000
Referee: Bernard Grah (Ivory Coast)
Zaire 1–1 Sudan
Mulamba 41' Gagarin 14'
Attendance: 4,000
Referee: Robert Foiret (Mauritius)

Final round

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Result
1  Morocco 3 2 1 0 5 3 +2 5 Champions
2  Guinea 3 1 2 0 6 4 +2 4
3  Nigeria 3 1 1 1 5 5 0 3
4  Egypt 3 0 0 3 5 9 −4 0
Source:
Guinea 1–1 Nigeria
Camara 88' Lawal 55'
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: Hédi Seoudi (Tunisia)
Morocco 2–1 Egypt
Faras 23'
Zahraoui 88'		 Abou Rehab 34'
Attendance: 10,000
Morocco 2–1 Nigeria
Faras 82'
Guezzar 87'		 Mohammed 57'
Referee: Youssou N'Diaye (Senegal)
Guinea 4–2 Egypt
N'Jo Léa 24', 65'
Sultan red-colored football 53' (o.g.)
M. Sylla 62'		 Abdou 33'
El-Seyagui 86'
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: Théophile Lawson-Hétchéli (Togo)
Nigeria 3–2 Egypt
Ilerika 35', 62'
Lawal 82'		 El Khatib 7'
Khalil 86'
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Bernard Grah (Ivory Coast)
Guinea 1–1 Morocco
Souleymane 33' Report Baba 86'
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: Nyirenda Chayu (Zambia)

Goalscorers

There were 54 goals scored in 18 matches, for an average of 3 goals per match.

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

  • Egypt Ghanem Sultan (against Guinea)

Awards

CAF Team of the tournament

Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards
Morocco Mohammed Al-Hazaz Morocco Mustapha "Chérif" Fetoui
Egypt Mustafa Younis
Guinea Chérif Souleymane
Guinea Djibril Diara		 Ethiopia Tolde
Egypt Farouk Gaafar
Nigeria Haruna Ilerika
Nigeria Kunle Awesu		 Guinea Petit Sory
Morocco Ahmed Faras

Source:

Final Ranking

Results of countries participating in AFCON 1976
  Champion
  Runner-up
  Third place
  Fourth place
  First round

Team shown in italics represent the host nation. The competition's winning team is rendered in bold.

Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Result
1 B  Morocco 6 4 2 0 11 6 +5 10 1st
2 A  Guinea 6 3 3 0 11 7 +4 9 2nd
3 B  Nigeria 6 3 1 2 11 10 +1 7 3rd
4 A  Egypt 6 1 2 3 9 12 −3 4 4th
5 A  Ethiopia 3 1 1 1 4 3 +1 3 Eliminated in the first round
6 B  Sudan 3 0 2 1 3 4 −1 2
7 B  Zaire 3 0 1 2 3 6 −3 1
8 A  Uganda 3 0 0 3 2 6 −4 0
Source:

References

  1. ↑ Chowdhury, Tasnim (20 January 2026). "Afcon 2027: When is the next Africa Cup of Nations tournament?". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
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