2006 Africa Cup of Nations

2006 Africa Cup of Nations
كأس أمم أفريقيا 2006
	Africa Cup of Nations 2006 official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Egypt
Dates	20 January – 10 February
Teams	16
Venue(s)	6 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Egypt(5th title)
Runners-up	Ivory Coast
Third place	Nigeria
Fourth place	Senegal
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	73 (2.28 per match)
Attendance	714,054 (22,314 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Samuel Eto'o(5 goals)
Best player(s)	Ahmed Hassan
	←2004 2008→

The2006 Africa Cup of Nationswas the 25th edition of theAfrica Cup of Nations,the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt, from 20 January to 10 February. Just like in2004,the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four.Egyptwon its fifth championship, beatingIvory Coastin 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 2006Africa Cup of Nationswas awarded to Egypt on 24 October 2002 by theCAFExecutive Committee meeting inCairo,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 after1959,1974and1986.

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

Results
Nation	Votes
Egypt	7
Libya	2
Algeria	1
Ivory Coast	1
Total votes	11

Qualification

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

For the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, qualification was done through theCAF's qualification processfor the2006 FIFA World Cup.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 hostsEgypt.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.

2006 also marked the first time that the defending champion did not automatically qualify for the finals.Tunisia,2004's champion, qualified for the Cup of Nations by winning their group in the qualification process.

Participating teams

Squads

Venues

Cairo	Cairo Alexandria Port Said Ismailia		Port Said
Cairo International Stadium			Port Said Stadium
Capacity:74,100			Capacity:24,060

Cairo			Alexandria
Cairo Military Academy Stadium			Haras El Hodoud Stadium
Capacity:25,500			Capacity:21,650

Ismailia			Alexandria
Ismailia Stadium			Alexandria Stadium
Capacity:16,606			Capacity:19,676

Draw

Croconile, the championship's official mascot

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

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Egypt(hosts) Tunisia(title holders) Cameroon Nigeria	Morocco South Africa Senegal DR Congo	Ghana Ivory Coast Guinea Togo	Zambia Angola Zimbabwe Libya

Group stage

The top two teams of each group (highlighted in green) progress to the quarter-finals.

All times local:EET(UTC+2)

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Egypt(H)	3	2	1	0	6	1	+5	7	Advance toknockout stage
2	Ivory Coast	3	2	0	1	4	4	0	6	Advance toknockout stage
3	Morocco	3	0	2	1	0	1	−1	2
4	Libya	3	0	1	2	1	5	−4	1

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source:^{[citation needed]}
(H)Hosts

20 January 2006

19:00

Egypt	3–0	Libya
Mido18' Aboutrika22' A. Hassan78'

Cairo International Stadium,Cairo

Attendance: 65,000

Referee: Lassina Paré (Burkina Faso)

21 January 2006