The AFCON in numbers
The always-fascinating CAF Africa Cup of Nations begins Saturday, and FIFA.com marks the 29th continental showdown with some equally interesting statistics about the tournament.
5 stadiums will be used for the 2013 finals in South Africa, all of them built or renovated for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. Soccer City in Johannesburg hosts the two matches on opening day plus the final on 10 February, but the rest of the action is being played in Durban, Nelspruit, Port Elizabeth and Rustenburg.
7 is the record number of AFCONs won, held by Egypt, who are not in South Africa. The Pharaohs won the event three times on the trot from 2006 to 2010 but failed to reach the last and the current finals. They were shockingly eliminated in qualifying by Central African Republic but will not fear losing their record as Ghana’s Black Stars are the closest qualified team with four continental triumphs.
7 is the number of tournaments that veteran French coach Claude Le Roy will now have coached in. He will lead the Democratic Republic of Congo to the 2013 finals after having done the same for Cameroon (1986, 1988), Senegal (1990, 1992), DR Congo previously (2006) and Ghana in 2008. He has never failed to get past the first round and won the event with the Indomitable Lions in 1988.
Read more on FIFA.com
