African Cup of Nations Tips

Since the African Cup of Nations was first played in 1957, the continent of Africa has been in awe of the high-quality talent that participates in the tournament. 22 countries have had the privilege of hosting Africa's most famous tournament but the number of winners in the tournament is substantially lower as only 15 countries have won Africa's biggest prize, starting with Egypt in 1957 and the most recent winner of the tournament was Senegal in 2021, after they beat Egypt on penalties in the final. That final was billed as a classic contest that pitted Liverpool's top talents against each other as Sadio Mane took on Mo Salah; however, the match itself failed to live-up to the billing as both teams played out a timid 0-0 draw.

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None of the losing semi-finalists have gone on to make the final in the next tournament since 1994 when Nigeria won the tournament after finishing third in 1992. That doesn't bode well for Cameroon and Burkina Faso.

No host has won the tournament since 2006, when Egypt won, beating Ivory Coast on penalties. Prior to this, hosts had won nine competitions out of 24. (Meaning 37.5% of hosts won the tournament prior to 2006. Since 2006, not a single host has made any of the 8 finals. Could Ivory Coast end that? Recent matches would indicate no but many AFCON predictions have them progressing far in the tournament.

Senegal were the first nation to win the AFCON after losing in the previous tournaments final since 1988 and only the second to achieve that feat in history. The following year, Cameroon lost out in the group stages to Zambia and Senegal.

Burkina Faso have an oddly good record at the competition in the last 10 years. Making it to the semi final or further on three occasions.

• In 2021, they beat the likes of Gabon and Tunisia to make the semi-final, losing to eventual winners Senegal.
• In 2019, they didn't qualify for the competition.
• In 2017, they topped their group, featuring Cameroon and hosts Gabon and beat Tunisia before losing on penalties in the semi-finals to Egypt.
• In 2015, they were eliminated in the groups tages.
• In 2013, they topped their group featuring Nigeria and Zambia and eliminated Togo and Ghana before losing out to Nigeria in the AFCON final.

So, if you're looking to make any African Cup of Nations predictions, perhaps you shouldn't rule out Burkina Faso, who start the competition with odds of 50/1 to win the tournament but 7/2 to win their group.