The Libya national football team has participated in three Africa Cup of Nations competitions in its history: 1982, 2006, and 2012.^[1]

Libya is an infrequent AFCON participant as it is one of the weaker sides in Africa, coming from the strong North African region that includes the national teams of Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria. Therefore, in spite of being a member of one of the stronger African federations, UNAF, Libya's accomplishments are limited compared to its neighbors. Nevertheless, Libya still has had some success at AFCON: as host of 1982 edition, Libya almost won the tournament but fell to Ghana in a penalty shoot-out.^[2] In the 2006 and 2012 tournaments, Libya exited both in the group stage.

Libya has been seeded in Group A in all three of its AFCON appearances.

Overall record

Africa Cup of Nations record
Appearances: 3
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1957	Did not enter
1959
1962
1963
1965
1968	Did not qualify
1970	Did not enter
1972	Did not qualify
1974	Withdrew
1976	Did not enter
1978
1980
1982	Runners-up	2nd	5	2	3	0	7	4
1984	Did not qualify
1986
1988	Withdrew
1990
1992	Did not enter
1994
1996
1998
2000	Did not qualify
2002
2004
2006	Group stage	14th	3	0	1	2	1	5
2008	Did not enter
2010
2012	Group stage	10th	3	1	1	1	4	4
2013	Did not qualify
2015
2017
2019
2021
2023
2025	To be determined
2027
Total	Runners-up	3/36	11	3	5	3	12	13

List of matches

Libya 1982

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Libya	3	1	2	0	4	2	+2	5
Ghana	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5
Cameroon	3	0	3	0	1	1	0	3
Tunisia	3	0	1	2	1	4	−3	1

5 March 1982

Libya	2–2	Ghana
Jaranah 58' Al-Issawi 76'	Report	Alhassan 28' Opoku Nti 89'

11 June Stadium, Tripoli

Attendance: 45,200

Referee: Sohan Ramlochun (Mauritius)

9 March 1982

Libya	2–0	Tunisia
Seddik 42' (o.g.) Al-Bor'osi 89'	Report

11 June Stadium, Tripoli

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Kambaji Kabongo (Zaire)

12 March 1982

Libya	0–0	Cameroon
	Report

11 June Stadium, Tripoli

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Babacar Fall (Senegal)

Knockout stage

16 March 1982

Libya	2–1	Zambia
Al-Beshari 38', 84'	Report	29' Kaumba

11 June Stadium, Tripoli

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Bakary Sarr (Senegal)

19 March 1982

Ghana	1–1	Libya
Alhassan 35'	Report	Al-Beshari 70'
Penalties
Lamptey Alhassan Paha Asaase Abbrey Mensah Quarshie Afriyie	7–6	Al-Beshari Sola Al-Ajeli Ben-Suleiman Al-Farjani Ghonaïm Jaranah Zeiyu

11 June Stadium, Tripoli

Attendance: 42,500

Referee: Sohan Ramlochun (Mauritius)

Egypt 2006

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Egypt	3	2	1	0	6	1	+5	7
Ivory Coast	3	2	0	1	4	4	0	6
Morocco	3	0	2	1	0	1	−1	2
Libya	3	0	1	2	1	5	−4	1

20 January 2006

19:00

Egypt	3–0	Libya
Mido 18' Aboutrika 22' A. Hassan 78'

Cairo International Stadium, Cairo

Attendance: 65,000

Referee: Lassina Paré (Burkina Faso)

24 January 2006

17:15

Libya	1–2	Ivory Coast
Kames 42'		Drogba 10' Y. Touré 74'

Cairo International Stadium, Cairo

Attendance: 42,000

Referee: Shamsul Maidin (Singapore)

28 January 2006

19:00

Libya	0–0	Morocco

Cairo Military Academy Stadium, Cairo

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Mourad Daami (Tunisia)

Equatorial Guinea/Gabon 2012

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Zambia	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7
Equatorial Guinea	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	6
Libya	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
Senegal	3	0	0	3	3	6	−3	0

21 January 2012

19:30

Equatorial Guinea	1–0	Libya
Balboa 87'	Report

Estadio de Bata, Bata

Attendance: 35,000^[3]

Referee: Noumandiez Doué (Ivory Coast)

25 January 2012

18:15^{[note 1]}

Libya	2–2	Zambia
Saad 5', 48'	Report	Mayuka 29' C. Katongo 54'

Estadio de Bata, Bata

Attendance: 1,500^[3]

Referee: Koman Coulibaly (Mali)

29 January 2012

19:00

Libya	2–1	Senegal
Boussefi 5', 84'	Report	D. N'Diaye 10'

Estadio de Bata, Bata

Attendance: 10,000^[3]

Referee: Rajindraparsad Seechurn (Mauritius)