Qualification took place from 7 September 2002 to 6 July 2003.[2]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 to Nigeria.
Tunisia won their first title after defeating one-time champions Morocco 2–1 in the final,[3] and Nigeria finished third after beating Mali 2–1 in the third place play-off. As champions, Tunisia qualified for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany, as a representative of CAF.
Host selection
Bids :
Benin / Togo (withdrew)
Malawi / Zambia (joint bid)
Tunisia (selected as hosts)
Zimbabwe
The organization of the 2004 edition was awarded to Tunisia on 4 September 2000 by the CAF Executive Committee meeting in Cairo, Egypt.[3] Voters had a choice between four countries : Malawi and Zambia (joint bid), Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
Benin and Togo were both also candidates at the start (joint bid) but withdrew on 4 September 2000 before the meeting.
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.
On 20 September 2003, in Tunis, Nokia acquired from CAF the right to be the "title sponsor" of the 24th edition,[4] which is therefore officially called Nokia Africa Cup of Nations, Tunisia 2004.[5]
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.[7]
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, the ball was reused during 2004 African Cup of Nations.[8]
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, Sao Tome and Principe 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.[9]
First participation
Benin, Rwanda and Zimbabwe managed to qualify for the AFCON 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.[10]
Qualified teams
The following sixteen teams qualified for the tournament.
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.
Format
Only the hosts received an automatic qualification spot; the other 15 teams qualified through a qualification tournament. At the finals, the 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams each. The teams in each group played a single round robin. After the group stage, the top two teams from each group advanced to the quarter-finals. The quarter-final winners advanced to the semi-finals. The semi-final losers played in a third place match, while the semi-final winners played in the final.
Draw
The draw took place on 20 September 2003 in Tunis.[18][19][20] The sixteen teams were divided into four pots according to their performances in past Cup of Nations tournaments.
The 16 national teams participating in the tournament together played a total of 32 matches ranging from group stage and progression matches to knockout matches, with teams eliminated through the various progressive stages. Rest days are set aside during the different stages to allow players to recover during the tournament.
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):[22]
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;
Notes: The 2021 and 2023 tournaments were actually held in 2022 and 2024 respectively. • There were no 1957 and 1959 qualifications as places were given by invitation only. • The "finals" articles for 1959 and 1976 are about the decisive matches of final group stages. Football in Africa portal
Tunisia (1st title)
Morocco
Nigeria
Mali
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