The Total Energies CAF Africa Cup of Nations started out with only three entrants in the opening edition in Sudan in 1957 with the hosts, Egypt and Ethiopia competing.
The fourth founder member of the Confédération Africaine de Football was South Africa, but they did not compete, leaving Egypt to play Sudan in Khartoum in the first game and then advance to play Ethiopia in the deciding match, which they won 4-0
It was a humble beginning for a tournament that will celebrate its 35th edition when 24 team gather in Morocco in December to contest for the top prize in African sport.
The draw for the finals is being conducted in Rabat on Monday.
From three teams to 24 has been a remarkable progression, testimony to appeal of the continent’s premium sports event and the advancements African football has made.
The third edition of the finals in 1962 saw qualifying introduced for the first time and the size of the final tournament, hosted in Ethiopia, increased to four teams, with two semi-finals, a third place play-off match and the final.
The next year in 1963, the size of the finals in Ghana went up to six competitors, divided into two groups of three with the two group winners (Ghana and Sudan) going onto contest the final. The same format was kept for the 1965 edition, following a much more expansive qualifying competition.
The 1968 finals in Ethiopia featured eight teams, divided into two groups of four and with a semi-final stage as the top two finishers in the groups advanced to the last four.
The Cup of Nations would stay as an eight-team tournament for a total of 12 editions, until the 1992 finals in Senegal when the number of finalists increased to 12.
They were divided into four groups of three teams with the top two advancing. It meant that only four countries were eliminated after the first round and for the first time the tournament had a quarter-final stage.
Only two editions later, CAF again increased the size of the tournament to 16 sides but the first of the new-look editions in South Africa in 1996 only had 15 competitors because Nigeria failed to travel.
It was supposed to be four groups of four teams each with the top two going onto the quarter-finals but one of the groups had only three competitors.
The 16-team tournament was the format for 12 successive editions until the Cup of Nations was expanded again for the 2019 finals in Egypt.
With 24 teams, the tournament has a total of 52 matches, with six groups initially, then a last-16 knockout round which means many more decisive matches. It proved a thrill a minute in 2019 with several shock results, equally exciting at the next finals in Cameroon and such was the quality of football in almost every game at the last tournament in the Cote d’Ivoire that it was a riveting spectacle from start to finish.
