2008 Africa Cup of Nations


The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated to the Confederation of African Football. The tournament was staged at four venues around Ghana between 20 January and 10 February 2008. This was the last Africa Cup of Nations to use the old CAF logo.
Egypt won the tournament, beating Cameroon 1–0 in the final. As winners, they qualified for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup as African representatives.

Host selection

Bids:
The organization of the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations was awarded to Ghana on 8 July 2004 by the CAF Executive Committee members which are 12 in Cairo, Egypt. Voters had a choice between Ghana and Libya which was disadvantaged by the fact that two countries in the North Africa region had already hosted the last two editions.
South Africa, also was a candidate at the start, eventually withdrew in May 2004 after being nominated for the organization of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
This is the fourth time that Ghana has hosted the African Cup after 1963, 1978 and 2000.

Venues


Accra
Kumasi
Ohene Djan Stadium
Baba Yara Stadium

Capacity: 40,000
Capacity: 40,528
Tamale
Sekondi-Takoradi
Tamale Stadium
Sekondi-Takoradi Stadium

Capacity: 21,017
Capacity: 20,088

Squads

Qualification

The entrants were divided into 12 groups. All group winners and the best three runners-up from groups with four teams qualified for the finals. Host Ghana qualified automatically. Qualifying took place between 2 September 2006 and 13 October 2007.

Teams

16 referees and 16 assistant referees were selected for the tournament, including two from Japan and one from South Korea.
RefereesAssistant Referees
Mohamed Benouza Brahim Djezzar
Divine Evehe Evarist Menkouande
Yuichi Nishimura Toru Sagara
Abderrahim El Arjoun Redouane Achik
Jerome Damon Enock Molefe
Kokou Djaoupe Komi Konyoh
Kacem Bennaceur Bechir Hassani
Djamel Haimoudi Jeong Hae-Sang
Coffi Codjia Celestin Ntagungira
Modou Sowe Angesom Ogbamariam
Alex Kotey Desire Gahungu
Koman Coulibaly Lassina Paré
Badara Diatta Peter Edibe
Eddy Maillet Inacio Manuel Candido
Muhmed Ssegonga Nasser Sadek Abdel Nabi
Kenias Marange Kenneth Chichenga

Seeding and grouping procedure

The draw for the tournament took place on 19 October 2007. The sixteen teams were divided into four pots according to their performances in past Cup of Nations tournaments. Ghana, as host, were automatically seeded as the top team in Group A. Egypt, the defending champions, were seeded as the top team in Group C. Each group consists of four teams, one drawn from each of the pots.
During the previous editions of the Africa Cup of Nations, the ball used was not a ball especially made for the tournament. As the tournament was held on even years, the same years big tournaments such as the UEFA European Cup of Nations or the FIFA World Cup were held, the official ball for the tournament held this year was used for the African Cup of Nations: the Adidas Roteiro in 2004, or the Adidas Teamgeist in 2006. However, for the 2008 tournament, Adidas made a special ball, clearly different from the Adidas Europass going to be used five months later for the Euro. The ball was named Wawa Aba and was designed to include host nation Ghana’s red, yellow and green. The ball was later used for the other African competitions.
For the Akan culture originating from Western Africa, one of the Adinkra symbols named Wawa Aba is a symbol of hardiness, toughness, and perseverance. People there particularly believe in the strength and team spirit of a community. The Wawa Aba literally means “seed of Wawa tree ”, one of the strongest and most processible woods of Africa and whose seeds are very hard. For the population, the Wawa Aba mainly has mystical significance. These are people who don’t let failure discourage them, who seize all opportunities successfully and who are thus just as strong and adaptable as the Wawa Aba.

Group stage

Tie-breaking criteria

Where two or more teams end the group stage with the same number of points, their ranking is determined by the following criteria:
  1. points earned in the matches between the teams concerned;
  2. goal difference in the matches between the teams concerned;
  3. number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
  4. number of away goals scored in the matches between the teams concerned;
  5. goal difference in all group matches;
  6. number of goals scored in all group matches;
  7. drawing of lots by the organizing committee.
All times given as local time

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

Awards

Player of the tournament

The following players were selected as the best in their respective positions, based on their performances throughout the tournament. Their performances were analysed by the tournament's Technical Study Group, who picked the team.
GoalkeepersDefendersMidfieldersForwards

Essam El-Hadary

Geremi
Wael Gomaa
Michael Essien

Sulley Muntari
Yaya Touré
Alex Song
Hosny Abd Rabo
Mohamed Aboutrika

Amr Zaki
Manucho

;Substitutes
;5 goals
;4 goals
;3 goals
;2 goals
;1 goal
;Own goals