The 1972 African Cup of Nations was the eighth 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 Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Cameroon, in the cities of

Yaoundé Yaoundé (; , ) is the Capital city, capital city of Cameroon. It has a population of more than 2.8 million which makes it the second-largest city in the country after the port city Douala. It lies in the Centre Region (Cameroon), Centre Region o ...

and

Douala Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region (Cameroon), Littoral Region. It was home to Central Africa's largest port, now being replaced by Kribi port. It has the country ...

. Just like in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, the field of eight teams was split into two groups of four. The

People's Republic of the Congo The People's Republic of the Congo () was a Marxist–Leninist socialist state that existed in the Republic of the Congo from 1969 to 1992. The People's Republic of the Congo was founded in December 1969 as the first Marxist-Leninist state ...

won its first championship, beating

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

in the final 3−2.

Qualified teams

For the first time, Ethiopia did not compete. The 8 qualified teams are: ;Notes

Squads

Venues

The competition was played in two venues in

and

Group stage

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tie-breakers were used to determine the final ranking: # Goal difference in all group matches # Greater number of goals scored in all group matches # Drawing of lots

Group A

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Group B

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Knockout stage

Semifinals

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Third place match

Final

Goalscorers

Team of the tournament

Source:

References

External links

Details at RSSSF

{{DEFAULTSORT:1972 African Cup of Nations

Nations A nation is a type of social organization where a collective identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, territory, or societ ...

African Cup of Nations, 1972 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments Sport in Yaoundé Sport in Douala African Cup of Nations, 1972

African 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 ...

Events in Yaoundé