2004 African Cup of Nations

2004 African Cup of Nations
2004 Nokia African Cup of Nations; Coupe d'Afrique des Nations 2004; كأس الأمم الأفريقية 2004;
Tournament details
Host country	Tunisia
Dates	24 January – 14 February
Teams	16
Venue(s)	6 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Tunisia (1st title)
Runners-up	Morocco
Third place	Nigeria
Fourth place	Mali
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	88 (2.75 per match)
Attendance	617,500 (19,297 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Frédéric Kanouté; Patrick Mboma; Jay-Jay Okocha; Francileudo Santos; (4 goals each)
Best player(s)	Jay-Jay Okocha
	← 2002 2006 →

The 2004 African Cup of Nations, known as the 2004 AFCON or CAN 2004 for short and as the Nokia African Cup of Nations, Tunisia 2004 for sponsorship purposes, was the 24th edition of the biennial African association football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football hosted in Tunisia from 24 January and 14 February 2004.

Qualification took place from 7 September 2002 to 6 July 2003. Cameroon as title holder and Tunisia as host country automatically qualified for the final phase of the tournament. As in the 2002 edition, sixteen teams, divided into four groups each comprising four teams, took part in the competition. The defending champions Cameroon were eliminated in the quarter-finals after losing 1–2 to Nigeria.

Tunisia won their first title after defeating one-time champions Morocco 2–1 in the final, and Nigeria finished third after beating Mali 2–1 in the third place play-off. As champions, Tunisia qualified for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany, as a representative of CAF.

Host selection

Bids :

Benin / Togo (withdrew)
Malawi / Zambia (joint bid)
Tunisia (selected as hosts)
Zimbabwe

The organization of the 2004 edition was awarded to Tunisia on 4 September 2000 by the CAF Executive Committee meeting in Cairo, Egypt. Voters had a choice between four countries : Malawi and Zambia (joint bid), Tunisia and Zimbabwe.

Benin and Togo were both also candidates at the start (joint bid) but withdrew on 4 September 2000 before the meeting.

This edition was awarded to Tunisia which represented Africa in the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France by taking the majority of the votes of the CAF Executive Committee members which are 13 after its impressive success in the 1994 edition.

This is the third time that Tunisia has hosted the African Cup after 1965 and 1994 Africa Cup of Nations.

Results
Nation(s)	Votes
Tunisia	9
Zimbabwe	3
Malawi / Zambia	1
Benin / Togo	Withdrew
Total votes	13

Sponsorship

On 20 September 2003, in Tunis, Nokia acquired from CAF the right to be the "title sponsor" of the 24th edition, which is therefore officially called Nokia Africa Cup of Nations, Tunisia 2004.

Sponsors list
Title sponsor	Official sponsors	Regional sponsors
Nokia

Mascot

To choose the tournament mascot, the organizing committee is launching a competition open to the entire Tunisian population. The only rules imposed, this mascot must be an eagle and must represent football, Africa and Tunisia.

Of the fifty or so proposals submitted to the committee, it is the work of Malek Khalfallah that is retained. It is an eagle, which the author baptized Nçayir. The colors of its equipment, red and white, refer to the colors of the Tunisian flag.

Match ball

The official ball for the 2004 African Cup of Nations is the Adidas Fevernova. Designed two years earlier by Adidas for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, the ball was reused during 2004 African Cup of Nations.

Qualification

Qualified

Failed to qualify

Withdrew or did not enter

Not part of CAF

The 49 nations registered for the competition are divided into thirteen groups: ten groups of four teams and three groups of three teams. The selections of Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe and Djibouti forfeit before the start of qualifying.

The first of each group qualify for the final tournament in Tunisia, as well as the best of the second. Cameroon, as defending champion, and Tunisia, as host country, are automatically qualified for the final phase of the competition.

First participation

Benin, Rwanda and Zimbabwe managed to qualify for the AFCON for the first final phase of their history, after finishing at the top of their group in the qualifiers in front of two former African champions, Sudan and Ghana.

Qualified teams

The following sixteen teams qualified for the tournament.

Team	Method of qualification	Finals appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance	FIFA ranking at start of event
Tunisia	Hosts	11th	2002	Runners-up (1965, 1996)	45
Cameroon	Holders	13th	2002	Winners (1984, 1988, 2000, 2002)	14
Nigeria	Group 1 winners	13th	2002	Winners (1980, 1994)	35
Guinea	Group 2 winners	7th	1998	Runners-up (1976)	102
Benin	Group 3 winners	1st	None	Debut	123
Burkina Faso	Group 4 winners	6th	2002	Fourth place (1998)	72
Kenya	Group 5 winners	5th	1992	Group stage (1972, 1988, 1990, 1992)	76
Mali	Group 6 winners	4th	2002	Runners-up (1972)	51
Morocco	Group 7 winners	12th	2002	Winners (1976)	38
Senegal	Group 8 winners	9th	2002	Runners-up (2002)	33
DR Congo	Group 9 winners	14th	2002	Winners (1968, 1974)	54
Egypt	Group 10 winners	19th	2002	Winners (1957, 1959, 1986, 1998)	32
South Africa	Group 11 winners	5th	2002	Winners (1996)	36
Algeria	Group 12 winners	13th	2002	Winners (1990)	63
Rwanda	Group 13 winners	1st	None	Debut	109
Zimbabwe	Group 14 winners	1st	None	Debut	49

Venues

The five cities selected to host the event are coastal.


Tunis	Tunis Sousse Sfax Monastir Bizerte	Tunis
Stade 7 November		Stade El Menzah
Capacity: 60,000		Capacity: 45,000

Sousse		Bizerte
Stade Olympique de Sousse		Stade 15 Octobre
Capacity: 28,000		Capacity: 20,000

Monastir		Sfax
Stade Mustapha Ben Jannet		Stade Taïeb Mhiri
Capacity: 22,000		Capacity: 22,000

Match officials

The following referees were chosen for the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations.

Referees

Divine Evehe
Abubakar Sharaf
Jérôme Damon
Modou Sowe
Tessama Hailemalek
Falla N'Doye
Mohamed Guezzaz
Abdul Hakim Shelmani
Essam Abd El Fatah
Lassina Paré
Coffi Codjia
Alain Hamer
Eddy Maillet
Koman Coulibaly
Ali Bujsaim
Hichem Guirat

Squads

As is the case in all versions of the African Cup of Nations, each team participating in the tournament must consist of 23 players (including three goalkeepers). Participating national teams must confirm the final list of 23 players no later than ten days before the start of the tournament. In the event that a player suffers an injury which prevents him from participating in the tournament, his team has the right to replace him with another player at any time up to 24 hours before the team's first game.

Format

Only the hosts received an automatic qualification spot; the other 15 teams qualified through a qualification tournament. At the finals, the 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams each. The teams in each group played a single round robin. After the group stage, the top two teams from each group advanced to the quarter-finals. The quarter-final winners advanced to the semi-finals. The semi-final losers played in a third place match, while the semi-final winners played in the final.

Draw

The draw took place on 20 September 2003 in Tunis. The sixteen teams were divided into four pots according to their performances in past Cup of Nations tournaments.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Tunisia (hosts) Cameroon (title holders) Nigeria Senegal	Algeria South Africa Egypt DR Congo	Morocco Burkina Faso Mali Guinea	Kenya Rwanda Benin Zimbabwe

Match summary

The 16 national teams participating in the tournament together played a total of 32 matches ranging from group stage and progression matches to knockout matches, with teams eliminated through the various progressive stages. Rest days are set aside during the different stages to allow players to recover during the tournament.

Day	Time	Venue	Stage	Team 1	Result	Team 2
24 January 2004	Preliminary events
	18:00	Stade 7 November	Opening ceremony
	First round of group stage matches
	19:30	Stade 7 November	Group A	Tunisia	2–1	Rwanda
25 January 2004	14:00	Stade El Menzah	Group A	DR Congo	1–2	Guinea
	16:30	Stade Taïeb El Mhiri	Group C	Zimbabwe	1–2	Egypt
	19:00	Stade Olympique de Sousse	Group C	Cameroon	1–1	Algeria
26 January 2004	14:00	Stade 15 Octobre	Group B	Kenya	1–3	Mali
26 January 2004	19:00	Stade El Menzah	Group B	Senegal	0–0	Burkina Faso
27 January 2004	14:00	Stade Mustapha Ben Jannet	Group D	Nigeria	0–1	Morocco
27 January 2004	18:00	Stade Taïeb El Mhiri	Group D	South Africa	2–0	Benin
28 January 2004	Second round of group stage matches
	14:00	Stade 15 Octobre	Group A	Rwanda	1–1	Guinea
	16:15	Stade 7 November	Group A	Tunisia	3–0	DR Congo
29 January 2004	16:30	Stade Taïeb El Mhiri	Group C	Cameroon	5–3	Zimbabwe
29 January 2004	19:00	Stade Olympique de Sousse	Group C	Algeria	2–1	Egypt
30 January 2004	14:00	Stade 15 Octobre	Group B	Senegal	3–0	Kenya
30 January 2004	19:00	Stade El Menzah	Group B	Burkina Faso	1–3	Mali
31 January 2004	14:00	Stade Mustapha Ben Jannet	Group D	Nigeria	4–0	South Africa
31 January 2004	18:00	Stade Taïeb El Mhiri	Group D	Morocco	4–0	Benin
1 February 2004	Third round of group stage matches
	14:00	Stade 7 November	Group A	Tunisia	1–1	Guinea
	14:00	Stade 15 Octobre	Group A	Rwanda	1–0	DR Congo
2 February 2004	14:00	Stade El Menzah	Group B	Senegal	1–1	Mali
2 February 2004	14:00	Stade 15 Octobre	Group B	Burkina Faso	0–3	Kenya
3 February 2004	14:00	Stade Mustapha Ben Jannet	Group C	Cameroon	0–0	Egypt
3 February 2004	14:00	Stade Olympique de Sousse	Group C	Algeria	1–2	Zimbabwe
4 February 2004	18:00	Stade Olympique de Sousse	Group D	Morocco	1–1	South Africa
4 February 2004	18:00	Stade Taïeb El Mhiri	Group D	Nigeria	2–1	Benin
5 February 2004	Rest days
6 February 2004	Rest days
7 February 2004	Knockout stage matches
	14:00	Stade El Menzah	Quarter-finals	Mali	2–1	Guinea
	17:00	Stade 7 November		Tunisia	1–0	Senegal
8 February 2004	14:00	Stade Mustapha Ben Jannet		Cameroon	1–2	Nigeria
8 February 2004	17:00	Stade Taïeb El Mhiri		Morocco	3–1 (a.e.t.)	Algeria
9 February 2004	Rest days
10 February 2004	Rest days
11 February 2004	16:00	Stade 7 November	Semi-finals	Tunisia	1–1 (5–3 p)	Nigeria
11 February 2004	19:00	Stade Olympique de Sousse	Semi-finals	Morocco	4–0	Mali
12 February 2004	Rest days
13 February 2004	20:00	Stade Mustapha Ben Jannet	Third place match	Nigeria	2–1	Mali
14 February 2004	14:30	Stade 7 November	Final	Tunisia	2–1	Morocco

Group stage

Teams highlighted in green progress to the quarter-finals.

All times local: CET (UTC+1)

Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 74):

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Drawing of lots.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tunisia (H)	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Guinea	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5	Advance to knockout stage
3	Rwanda	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
4	DR Congo	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(H) Hosts

24 January 2004