1988 African Cup of Nations

1988 African Cup of Nations

كأس أمم إفريقيا 1988 Coupe d'Afrique des Nations 1988
Tournament details
Host country	Morocco
Dates	13–27 March
Teams	8
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Cameroon (2nd title)
Runners-up	Nigeria
Third place	Algeria
Fourth place	Morocco
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	23 (1.44 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Lakhdar Belloumi Roger Milla Gamal Abdelhamid Abdoulaye Traoré (2 goals each)
Best player(s)	Roger Milla
Best goalkeeper	Joseph-Antoine Bell
← 1986 1990 →

The 1988 African Cup of Nations was the 16th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa (CAF). It was hosted by Morocco, who replaced original host Zambia. Just like in 1986, the field of eight teams was split into two groups of four. The tournament final was held in Casablanca at Stade Mohamed V. Cameroon won its second championship, beating Nigeria in the final 1−0.

This tournament has the fewest goals-per-game average in Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

The original host was Zambia but after their withdrawal in December 1986 due to financial issues, the Confederation of African Football approached Algeria which agreed to host the tournament. However, in February 1987 the CAF rescinded this decision following a dispute with Algeria which protested the CAF's decision to order a replay of the first leg match of the 1987 All-Africa Games qualification against Tunisia. CAF had made this decision following Tunisia's protest that Algeria had fielded two professional players. Morocco was chosen in the end to host the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations replacing Algeria.^{[1] [2]}

The 8 qualified teams are:

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament[a]
Morocco	Hosts		5 (1972, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1986)
Egypt	Holders	21 March 1986	10 (1957, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1970, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1986)
Algeria	2nd round winners	14 April 1987	5 (1968, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986)
Cameroon	2nd round winners	18 July 1987	5 (1970, 1972, 1982, 1984, 1986)
Kenya	2nd round winners	18 July 1987	1 (1972)
Nigeria	2nd round winners	18 July 1987	6 (1963, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984)
Ivory Coast	2nd round winners	19 July 1987	7 (1965, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1980, 1984, 1986)
Zaire	2nd round winners	19 July 1987	6 (1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976)

Notes

The competition was played in two venues in Casablanca and Rabat.

Casablanca	Casablanca Rabat
Stade Mohamed V
Capacity: 80,000
Rabat
Stade Moulay Abdellah
Capacity: 52,000

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:

1. Goal difference in all group matches
2. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
3. Drawing of lots

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Morocco (H)	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	4	Advance to Knockout stage
2	Algeria	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	3
3	Ivory Coast	3	0	3	0	2	2	0	3
4	Zaire	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2

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Note: Algeria qualified by drawing of lots.^[3]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Nigeria	3	1	2	0	4	1	+3	4	Advance to Knockout stage
2	Cameroon	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	4
3	Egypt	3	1	1	1	3	1	+2	3
4	Kenya	3	0	1	2	0	6	−6	1

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	Semi-finals				Final
	23 March – Rabat
	Nigeria (p)	1 (9)
					27 March – Casablanca
	Algeria	1 (8)
					Nigeria	0
	23 March – Casablanca
					Cameroon	1
	Morocco	0
	Cameroon	1
					Third place
					26 March – Casablanca
					Algeria (p)	1 (4)
					Morocco	1 (3)

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There were 23 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 1.44 goals per match.

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Goalkeeper

• Joseph-Antoine Bell

Defenders

• Tijani El Maataoui
• Emmanuel Kundé
• John Buana
• Stephen Tataw

Midfielders

• Jacques Kinkomba Kingambo
• Emile Mbouh
• Henry Nwosu
• Paul Mfede

Forwards

• Roger Milla
• Aziz Bouderbala

• Details at RSSSF