Episode 37: The African Cup of Nations

In 1956 when the Confederation of African Football was founded, four African nations were members of FIFA: Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, and South Africa. The first Cup of Nations was played in Sudan between three of these, with South Africa's apartheid supporting Football Association immediately excluded from both CAF and the new tournament, not to return for nearly forty years.

In those forty years, the competition grew. Within a decade of that first three-team tournament dozen of countries had shaken off the last remnants of their colonial pasts, and most had set their sights on the biggest sporting prize the continent had to offer. Three teams became four, eight, twelve, sixteen and now twenty-four competing for the glittering gold trophy. Legends were born, many becoming household ...