The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt, from 20 January to 10 February. Just like in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four.

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

won its fifth championship, beating

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

in the final 4–2 in a penalty shootout after the regulation time had ended in a goalless draw.

Host selection

Bids : *Algeria *Egypt (selected as hosts) *Ivory Coast *Libya The organization of the 2006

was awarded to Egypt on 24 October 2002 by the CAF Executive Committee meeting in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, Egypt. Voters had a choice among four countries : Algeria, Egypt, Ivory Coast and Libya. This marks the fourth time that Egypt has hosted the African Cup after

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

and

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

. It also coincides with the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the foundation of CAF.

Qualification

For the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, qualification was done through the CAF's qualification process for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

. Whereas only the winner of each group qualified for the World Cup, the top 3 finishers in each of the five qualification groups gained entry into the Africa Cup of Nations. The exception was qualification group 3, which contained hosts

. Since Egypt qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations automatically as the hosts, the final berth was instead awarded to the fourth-place finishers,

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

. 2006 also marked the first time that the defending champion did not automatically qualify for the finals.

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

's champion, qualified for the Cup of Nations by winning their group in the qualification process.

Participating teams

* * * * * (qualified as hosts) * * * * * * * * * (holders) * *

Squads

Venues

Draw

The draw for the final tournament took place on 20 October 2005 in

. The 16 teams were split into four pots, with Pot 1 containing the top four seeded nations. Egypt, as hosts, were automatically seeded as the top team in Group A. Tunisia, the defending champions, were seeded as the top team in Group C. The remaining 14 teams were ranked based on their records in the three last editions of the competition.

Group stage

The top two teams of each group (highlighted in green) progress to the quarter-finals. ''All times local: EET (

UTC+2 UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. As standard time (year-round) Principal cities: Pretoria, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Por ...

)''

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Group D

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Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Third-place match

Final

Goalscorers

;5 goals *

Samuel Eto'o Samuel Eto'o Fils (; born 10 March 1981) is a Cameroonian Association football, football administrator and former Football player, player who is the current president of the Cameroonian Football Federation. He is often regarded as one of the ...

;4 goals * Ahmed Hassan * Pascal Feindouno * Francileudo Santos ;3 goals *

Emad Moteab Emad Mohamed Abdelnaby Ibrahim Moteab (; born 20 February 1983) is an Egyptian former professional footballer who played as a striker. International career Moteab played for the youth team in 2003 in Burkina Faso under the leadership of Hassan ...

* Flávio *

Didier Drogba Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (; born 11 March 1978) is an Ivorian former professional association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker. He is the Top international association football goal scorers by cou ...

;2 goals *

Mohamed Aboutrika Mohamed Mohamed Mohamed Aboutrika (; born 7 November 1978) is an Egyptian retired professional association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and a forward (association football), forward. He was voted second place in the ...

* Albert Meyong * Ousmane Bangoura * Kaba Diawara *

Obafemi Martins Obafemi Akinwunmi Martins (born 28 October 1984) is a Nigerian former professional association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward. After leaving Nigeria for Italy at age 16, he played for a number of L ...

* Henri Camara * Mamadou Niang ;1 goal * Norberto Maurito *

Geremi Geremi Sorele Njitap Fotso (born 20 December 1978), known simply as Geremi, is a Cameroonian former professional footballer. He was a versatile player able to play at right back, right midfield or defensive midfielder, known for his power, p ...

Lomana LuaLua Trésor Lomana LuaLua (; born 28 December 1980) is a Congolese former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is currently the attacking coach for Spalding United. LuaLua was born in Kinshasa, but moved to England at a young age. ...

* Tresor Mputu *

Hossam Hassan Hossam Hassan Hassanein (; born 10 August 1966) is an Egyptian former professional association football, football player who played as a Striker (association football), striker, and current coach of the Egypt national football team, Egyptian nat ...

* Mido *

Amr Zaki Amr Hassan Zaki (; born 1 April 1983) is an Egyptian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He has played for numerous different clubs in Egypt, Russia, England, Turkey and Kuwait. Zaki has made 63 appearances and scored 30 goa ...

* Baba Adamu * Matthew Amoah * Sambégou Bangoura * Arouna Koné *

Bakari Koné Bakari Koné (born 17 September 1981) is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as a winger. Club career Early career Koné was born in Abidjan. Like many other Ivorian stars, he began his career at the famed youth academy at A ...

Yaya Touré Gnégnéri Yaya Touré (born 13 May 1983) is an Ivorian professional football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently an assistant coach for the Saudi Arabia national team. Touré aspired to be a striker during h ...

* Abdusalam Khames * Garba Lawal * Mikel John Obi *

Victor Obinna Victor Nsofor Obinna (born 25 March 1987) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Obinna in Igbo, literally means "father's heart". He played for Chievo in Italy's Serie B, having played regularly in Serie A wit ...

* Christian Obodo * Taye Taiwo * Issa Ba * Souleymane Camara *

Papa Bouba Diop Papa Bouba Diop (28 January 197829 November 2020) was a Senegalese professional footballer. His preferred position was as a defensive midfielder, but he could also play as a centre-back, where he played at Lens. Diop was considered a physicall ...

Mohamed Kader Mohamed Abdel-Kader Coubadja-Touré (born 8 April 1979) is a Togolese former professional footballer who played as a forward. Club career After starting with Étoile Filante de Lomé, he left Togo for CA Bizertin (Tunisia) before landing a ...

* Chérif Touré Mamam * Selim Benachour * Riadh Bouazizi * Karim Haggui *

James Chamanga James Chamanga (born 2 February 1980) is a Zambian professional association football, football who plays as a striker (association football), striker for Red Arrows F.C., Red Arrows. Club career Chamanga's goal against the South Africa national ...

* Christopher Katongo *

Elijah Tana Elijah Tana (born 28 February 1975) is a Zambian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. International career Tana represented the Zambia national team at the African Cup of Nations in 2000 and 2006. See also *List of me ...

* Benjani Mwaruwari ;1 own goal * Abdel-Zaher El-Saqqa (against Congo DR) * Issah Ahmed (against Zimbabwe)

CAF Team of the Tournament

Goalkeeper * Essam El Hadary Defenders *

Rigobert Song Rigobert Song Bahanag (born 1 July 1976) is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who is the manager of the Central African Republic national team. Known for his defensive skills, Song usually played as a centre-back, but could also oper ...

Wael Gomaa Wael Kamel Gomaa El Hawty (; born 3 August 1975) is an Egyptian retired professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He is regarded as one of the best African defenders of all time. Club career Gomaa's performances with Ghazl El Mahalla ...

* Emmanuel Eboué * Taye Taiwo Midfielders * Stephen Appiah *

* Ahmed Hassan * Pascal Feindouno Forwards *

Tournament rankings

, - , colspan="11", Eliminated in the quarter-finals , - , - , colspan="11", Eliminated in the group stage , -

References

External links

BBC coverage

A guide to the teams
{{Africa Cup of Nations Africa Cup of Nations tournaments International association football competitions hosted by Egypt Nations, 2006 Africa Cup

Africa Cup of Nations, 2006 Sports competitions in Alexandria Sport in Port Said