2004 African Cup of Nations

The 2004 African Cup of Nations, known as the NOKIA African Cup of Nations, Tunisia 2004 for sponsorship reasons (also referred to as AFCON 2004 or CAN 2004) is the 24th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament was hosted by Tunisia. The qualifying phase takes place from 7 September 2002 to 6 July 2003. Cameroon as title holder and Tunisia as host country automatically qualify for the final phase of the tournament.

The competition takes place in six stadiums between 24 January and February 14, 2004. As in the 2002 edition, sixteen teams, divided into four groups each comprising four teams, take part in the competition. Tournament defending champions Cameroon eliminated in the quarter-finals after failing to win their match against 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
* Malawi / Zambia
* Tunisia
* Zimbabwe

The organization of the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations 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.

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.

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

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 and Rwanda manage 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.

Zimbabwe do the same after finishing first in the finalists in all qualifying groups.

Qualified teams

The following sixteen teams qualified for the tournament.

Venues

The five cities selected to host the event are coastal.

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. In parentheses, the FIFA World Rankings as of 14 January 2004.

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.

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

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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

Statistics

Goalscorers

There were 88 goals scored in 32 matches, for an average of 2.75 goals per match.
;4 goals

* Patrick M'Boma
* Frédéric Kanouté
* Jay-Jay Okocha
* Francileudo Santos

;3 goals

* Aboubacar Titi Camara
* Youssouf Hadji
* Osaze Odemwingie
* Peter Ndlovu

;2 goals

* Hocine Achiou
* Modeste M'Bami
* Mahamadou Diarra
* Marouane Chamakh
* John Utaka
* Mamadou Niang
* Siyabonga Nomvete
* Ziad Jaziri
* Pascal Feindouno

;1 goal

* Abdelmalek Cherrad
* Mamar Mamouni
* Brahim Zafour
* Moussa Latoundji
* Dieudonné Minoungou
* Samuel Eto'o
* Alain Masudi
* Tamer Abdel Hamid
* Mohamed Barakat
* Ahmed Belal
* John Wamalwa Baraza
* Emmanuel Ake
* Titus Mulama
* Dennis Oliech
* Sedonoude Abouta
* Soumaïla Coulibaly
* Mohamed Sissoko
* Dramane Traoré
* Nabil Baha
* Talal El Karkouri
* Abdeslam Ouaddou
* Youssef Safri
* Jawad Zairi
* Garba Lawal
* Joseph Yobo
* João Elias
* Karim Kamanzi
* Saïd Abed Makasi
* Habib Beye
* Papa Bouba Diop
* Patrick Mayo
* Khaled Badra
* Selim Ben Achour
* Najeh Braham
* Jawhar Mnari
* Joel Lupahla
* Adam Ndlovu
* Esrom Nyandoro

;Own goal
* Anicet Adjamossi (Against Morocco)

Tournament team rankings

As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

CAF AFCON Team of the Tournament

* Source:

Media

Broadcasting

References

External links

Details at RSSSF

{{DEFAULTSORT:2004 African Cup of Nations

International association football competitions hosted by Tunisia
African Cup of Nations
Nations
Africa Cup of Nations tournaments
African Cup of Nations
African Cup of Nations