2004 African Cup of Nations

2004 African Cup of Nations
كأس الأمم الإفريقية 2004; Coupe d'Afrique des Nations 2004;
Tournament details
Host country	Tunisia
Dates	24 January – 14 February
Teams	16
Venues	6 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Tunisia (1st title)
Runners-up	Morocco
Third place	Nigeria
Fourth place	Mali
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	88 (2.75 per match)
Attendance	617,500 (19,297 per match)
Top scorers	Patrick Mboma; Frédéric Kanouté; Jay-Jay Okocha; Francileudo Santos; (4 goals each)
Best player	Jay-Jay Okocha
	← 2002 2006 →

The 2004 African Cup of Nations, known as the Nokia 2004 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes, was the 24th edition of the African Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football championship of Africa organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament was played between 24 January and 14 February 2004 in Tunisia, taking place in the country for the third time following the 1965 and 1994 editions. The organization of the 2004 edition was awarded to Tunisia on 4 September 2000.

The defending champions were Cameroon from the 2002 edition. A total of 32 matches were played, in which 88 goals were scored, at an average of 2.75 goals per match. Attendance at all stages of the tournament reached 617,500, averaging 19,297 viewers per match. Qualification took place from 7 September 2002 to 6 July 2003. Cameroon as title holder and Tunisia as host country automatically qualified for the final phase of the tournament. As in the 2002 edition, sixteen teams, divided into four groups each comprising four teams, took part in the competition. The defending champions Cameroon were eliminated in the quarter-finals after losing 1–2 against Nigeria's Super eagles. Tunisia won the title for the first time in their history, after beating one-time champions Morocco in the final match with a score of 2–1, so the Eagles of Carthage are the 13th selection in history to be crowned African champions. Nigeria secured third place after beating Mali in the third place match, which placed them fourth.

Four players scored the most goals at the end of the tournament: Tunisian Francileudo Santos, Cameroonian Patrick Mboma, Malian Frédéric Kanouté and Nigerian Jay-Jay Okocha, however the top scorer title was given to Tunisia's Santos as he was the player of the champion team and did not receive any cards throughout the tournament, while Nigeria's Okocha won the best player award. As champions, Tunisia qualified for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany, as a representative of African continent.

Host selection

The organization of the 2004 edition was awarded to Tunisia on 4 September 2000 by the CAF Executive Committee meeting in Cairo, Egypt.^[1] Voters had a choice between four countries : Malawi and Zambia (joint bid), Tunisia and Zimbabwe.^[2] Benin and Togo were both also candidates at the start (joint bid) but withdrew on 4 September 2000 before the meeting.^[3] This edition was awarded to Tunisia which represented Africa in the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France by taking the majority of the votes of the CAF Executive Committee members which are 13 after its impressive success in the 1994 edition.^[4] This is the third time that Tunisia has hosted the African Cup after 1965 and 1994 editions. Two years before the start of the tournament, an organizing committee (Comité d'organisation de la Coupe d'Afrique des Nations; COCAN) was established, headed by Slim Chiboub (who was the head of the organizing committee in 1994).^[5]

Voting results
Country	Votes
Tunisia	9
Zimbabwe	3
Malawi / Zambia	1
Benin / Togo	Withdrew
Total votes	13

Prize money

Each of the four teams eliminated in the quarter-finals received a bonus of 61,000 euros for reaching this level of competition. The semi-finalists received 122,600 euros, the finalists 245,200 euros and the winner 280,000 euros. Compensation was also provided to help the various federations, calculated according to the length of each team's stay in Tunisia and based on a daily lump sum of 6 euros per player and coach.^[6]

Final position	Prize money
Champions	280,000 euros
Runners-up	245,200 euros
Semi-finalists	122,600 euros
Quarter-finalists	61,000 euros

Marketing

Sponsorship

On 20 September 2003, in Tunis, Nokia acquired from CAF the right to be the "title sponsor" of the 24th edition,^[7] which is therefore officially called Nokia Africa Cup of Nations, Tunisia 2004.^[8]^[9]

Title sponsor

Official sponsors

Regional sponsors

AGIL
Délice Danone

Mascot

To choose the tournament mascot, the organizing committee is launching a competition open to the entire Tunisian population. The only rules imposed, this mascot must be an eagle and must represent football, Africa and Tunisia. Of the fifty or so proposals submitted to the committee, it is the work of Malek Khalfallah that is retained. It is an eagle, which the author baptized Nçayir. The colors of its equipment, red and white, refer to the colors of the Tunisian flag.^[10]

Match ball

The official ball for the 2004 African Cup of Nations is the Adidas Fevernova. Designed two years earlier by Adidas for the 2002 FIFA World Cup held in South Korea and Japan and 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup held in United States, the ball was reused during the 2004 African Cup of Nations.^[11]

Venues

120km
75miles

5

4

3

2

1

Location of the Tunisian host cities of the 2004 African Cup of Nations

1

Tunis

2

Sousse

3

Sfax

4

Monastir

5

Bizerte

The main host cities are concentrated on the country's coastal strip: Bizerte, Monastir, Sousse, Sfax and Tunis. The 7 November Stadium is the largest stadium in the country with a capacity of 60,000 spectators, located in city of Radès, in the southern suburb of the city Tunis, it was built to host the 2001 Mediterranean Games and opened on 6 July 2001.^[12] The stadium obtains the Class 1 Certificate from the World Athletics,^[13] which means that it reaches the best standards and specifications in its field.^[14]

El Menzah Stadium in Tunis and Sousse Olympic Stadium in Sousse hosted matches of the 1994 African Cup of Nations.^[15]^[16] Taieb Mhiri Stadium in Sfax was one of the stadiums of the 1965 African Cup of Nations.^[17] Mustapha Ben Jannet Stadium in Monastir and 15 October Stadium in Bizerte have also been added to host the event.^[18]^[19] All stadiums were renovated before the start of the tournament.^[20]

Stadiums

List of candidate host cities
City	Stadium	Capacity
Bizerte	15 October Stadium	20,000^[21]
Monastir	Mustapha Ben Jannet Stadium	22,000^[22]
Sfax	Taieb Mhiri Stadium	22,000^[23]
Sousse	Sousse Olympic Stadium	28,000^[24]
Tunis	7 November Stadium	60,000^[25]
Tunis	El Menzah Stadium	45,000^[26]

Qualification

Qualification took place from 7 September 2002 to 6 July 2003. The 49 nations registered for the competition are divided into thirteen groups: ten groups of four teams and three groups of three teams. The selections of Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe and Djibouti forfeit before the start of qualifying. The first of each group qualify for the final tournament in Tunisia, as well as the best of the second. Cameroon, as defending champion, and Tunisia, as host country, are automatically qualified for the final phase of the competition. Benin, Rwanda and Zimbabwe managed to qualify for the African Cup of Nations for the first final phase of their history, after finishing at the top of their group in the qualifiers in front of two former African champions, Sudan and Ghana.

Qualified teams

The following sixteen teams qualified for the tournament.

Team	Qualification method	Appearance(s)				Previous best performance	WR
Team	Qualification method	Total	First	Last	Streak	Previous best performance	WR
Tunisia	Hosts	11th	1962	2002	6	Runners-up (1965, 1996)	45
Cameroon	Holders	13th	1970	2002	5	Winners (1984, 1988, 2000, 2002)	14
Nigeria	Group A winners	13th	1963	2002	3	Winners (1980, 1994)	35
Guinea	Group B winners	7th	1970	1998	1	Runners-up (1976)	102
Benin	Group C winners	1st	Debut				123
Burkina Faso	Group D winners	6th	1978	2002	5	Fourth place (1998)	72
Kenya	Group E winners	5th	1972	1992	1	Group stage (1972, 1988, 1990, 1992)	76
Mali	Group F winners	4th	1972	2002	2	Runners-up (1972)	51
Morocco	Group G winners	12th	1972	2002	4	Winners (1976)	38
Senegal	Group H winners	9th	1965	2002	3	Runners-up (2002)	33
DR Congo	Group I winners	14th	1965	2002	7	Winners (1968, 1974)	54
Egypt	Group J winners	19th	1957	2002	11	Winners (1957, 1959, 1986, 1998)	32
South Africa	Group K winners	5th	1996	2002	5	Winners (1996)	36
Algeria	Group L winners	13th	1968	2002	5	Winners (1990)	63
Rwanda	Group M winners	1st	Debut				109
Zimbabwe	Group F runner-up	1st	Debut				49

Squads

As is the case in all versions of the African Cup of Nations, each team participating in the tournament must consist of 23 players (including three goalkeepers). Participating national teams must confirm the final list of 23 players no later than ten days before the start of the tournament. In the event that a player suffers an injury which prevents him from participating in the tournament, his team has the right to replace him with another player at any time up to 24 hours before the team's first game.

Match officials

The following referees were chosen for the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations.

Draw

The draw was held on 20 September 2003 at 16:00 GMT at the Hotel Renaissance in Gammarth.^[27] The sixteen teams were divided into four pots according to their performances in past Cup of Nations tournaments.^[28] The January 2004 FIFA World Rankings (shown in parentheses).^[29]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Tunisia (hosts) Cameroon (title holders) Nigeria Senegal	Algeria South Africa Egypt DR Congo	Morocco Burkina Faso Mali Guinea	Kenya Rwanda Benin Zimbabwe

Group stage

Teams highlighted in green progress to the quarter-finals.^[30]

All times local: CET (UTC+1)

Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 74):^[31]

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Drawing of lots.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tunisia (H)	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Guinea	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5	Advance to knockout stage
3	Rwanda	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
4	DR Congo	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	0

Source: Soccerway
(H) Hosts

24 January 2004

19:30

Tunisia	2–1	Rwanda
Jaziri 27' Santos 57'	Report	Elias 31'

7 November Stadium, Tunis

Attendance: 60,000^[32]

Referee: Raphaël Evehe Divine (Cameroon)

25 January 2004