How the Africa Cup of Nations was finally accepted at the international football table in the 1950s
The story of the Africa Cup of Nations
(or AFCON) is one filled with tragedy and triumph, and is now a tournament that
brings together some of the best football players in the world. With AFCON 2023 (delayed to January and February 2024 due to adverse summer weather) currently taking place in Ivory Coast, Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, Senegal’s Sadio Mane and Algeria’s Riyad
Mahrez are amongst the world-class players competing for their
nations at AFCON.Ben Jackson’s new book The Africa Cup
of Nations: The History of an Underappreciated Tournament looks back at the
tournament’s rich history—from the great Ghana team of the 1960s and Zaire team
of the 1970s, up to the dominant Egypt side of the 2000s. It also examines how
South Africa returned in the 1990s after apartheid and how Zambia triumphed
after the tragedy of 1993.
In the following extract, Ben discusses how Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt came together
to create the first AFCON tournament.
By the end of the Second World War, only
four African states were independent. Of that group, it was South Africa, Egypt
and Ethiopia who were to begin the process of creating a tournament that would
eventually feature, from qualification to the finals, 54 African nations. The
end of the war brought questions of the validity of colonialism, resulting in
the decolonisation of Africa from the 1950s onwards.”In 1954, during the fifth World Cup, FIFA’s congress finally voted to recognise Africa as a confederation”Alongside the independence movements, the
footballing landscape in Africa began to rapidly expand. Colonialism had
introduced football to the continent, and in 1920 Egypt had competed at the
Olympic Games, then the major tournament before FIFA was established and the
World Cup superseded it. However, for AFCON, it all began in 1954 in Bern.
During the fifth World Cup, FIFA’s congress finally voted to recognise Africa
as a confederation.
European and South American domination of
FIFA had proved to be a barrier to Africa’s recognition as the continent
struggled for representation, alongside Asia, on FIFA’s executive committee.
The main crux of their argument against these two regions was that football had
not reached a sufficient level to be considered an equal partner. Eventually,
representation within FIFA for Africa was won by 24 votes to 16.
CAF headquarters in Egypt. Credit: Cafonline.com
It
was at the 30th FIFA conference in Portugal that the idea of hosting a
continental tournament began to take shape. In 1956, Egypt, Ethiopia and South
Africa were joined by Sudan. Once under the rule of a joint British-Egyptian
regime, Sudan had gained independence at the beginning of 1956, with the
support of the new government in Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser. In Portugal,
the four countries were able to discuss the future of African football, and the
desire to create a tournament for themselves. In
keeping with the speed of political developments throughout the 1950s in
Africa, it only took a year for plans to fully materialise. In February 1957,
the Grand Hotel in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum played host to four
delegations from the founding nations. It was fitting that this legacy of
Sudanese colonial history would be the site on which one of the first official
organisations of pan-Africanism was established, the Confederation of African
Football (CAF). The first AFCON tournament was to start the same month, with
the four founding nations vying for the trophy.Two major international developments
almost put an end to the inaugural AFCON before it had even begun. Egypt, being
the most prominent footballing nation of the four, were favourites to host.
However, when Israeli forces invaded Egypt on October 29, 1956, those prospects
looked bleak. Both France and Britain also deployed troops alongside the
Israelis, looking to take control of the Suez Canal. The Suez Crisis meant the
country was in no fit state to host the tournament.”When South Africa offered either an all-white or all-black team, Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia expelled them from the tournament”
Sudan came to the rescue, offering
Khartoum as a host city for the four-team event. It was agreed by CAF that the
inauguration of the country’s new Municipal Stadium would be the perfect way to
kick-start a continental tournament. Originally, the draw had pitted hosts
Sudan against Egypt and Ethiopia against South Africa.
The South African Football Federation
offered that either an all-white or all-black team would compete in Khartoum.
Unsurprisingly, this proved unacceptable to the other three founding members.
Given that over the past decades, Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia had all been
colonised by white Europeans and had only just gained independence, feelings of
resistance were high. In response, the three expelled South Africa from the
tournament and CAF.
AFCON 2013 hosted in South Africa. Credit: Akidjoh
Around 30,000 people packed into the
Municipal Stadium for the first-ever AFCON match, with Ethiopian referee
Gebeyehu Doube in charge. It only took 20 minutes for the game’s first goal,
with Sudan giving away a penalty. Zamalek striker Raafat Attia converted the
spot-kick, much to the dismay of the home crowd.The crowd’s prayers were answered in the
58th minute when Boraî Bashir managed to pull the hosts level and grab Sudan’s
first-ever AFCON goal. Unfortunately for Sudan, Egypt had the future player of
the tournament in their ranks. Alexandria-born striker Mohamed Diab Al-Attar,
known as Ad-Diba, was one of the best strikers Egypt had. He was in the
twilight of his career with Alexandria-based club Al Ittihad at the time, where
he had won the Egyptian Cup in 1948 and finished top scorer in the first-ever
Egyptian Premier League. Fahmy had named Ad-Diba captain for the game, and he
repaid this faith by scoring the winning goal in the 72nd minute, setting up a
final against Ethiopia.
Egyptian top scorer of the inaugural AFCON, Ad-Diba. Credit: Paul Tchir Archives
Barely
ten minutes after Sudanese referee Mohammed Youssef had gotten the final under
way, Ethiopia were in deep trouble. It was that man again, Ad-Diba, who had
decided that he was going to write his name into the AFCON history books. The
veteran striker grabbed the first goal, before doubling his tally in the
seventh minute. Zewde Moustafa’s men were perhaps rusty having not played a
competitive game for a long time. However, they did manage to keep the score to
just two by half-time. “Egyptian Al-Diba was the tournament’s first top scorer and first player to score a hat-trick in an AFCON match and final”If the spectators were hoping for a
closely fought contest, they were to be disappointed. Ad-Diba got his hat-trick
in the 68th minute, before grabbing a fourth in the 89th. Remarkably, with only
two matches played the man from Alexandria finished the tournament with five
goals. He goes down in history as the tournament’s first-ever top scorer, as
well as the first player to score a hat-trick in an AFCON match and final.
Ad-Diba never played another AFCON tournament, retiring in 1958.At the end of the 1950s, Egypt were the
masters of AFCON’s founding fathers. They had not lost a single game and were
defensively strong. However, things were about to change. The 1960s would see
the expansion of not only the number of independent nations on the continent,
but also of those competing for the AFCON trophy. Between 1959 and 1962, when
it was Ethiopia’s chance to host the tournament, 25 more nations had gained
independence, such as Nigeria, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal.
Nations: The History of an Underappreciated Tournament (Pitch Publishing)
by Ben Jackson
Banner credit: Sadio Mane playing for eventual champions Senegal at AFCON 2021
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Publish date : 2024-01-22 14:24:34
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