This tournament has been run since 1957 with the 2002 edition being the 23^rd time it has been held. This tournament is bi-annual and is held in the early part of the year when most European countries are in winter break. The tournament was hosted in 2002 by Mali.

Ghana and Egypt have won the tournament the most, both with four triumphs. The other tournament winners have been spread over a wide amount of countries as shown below.

One African World Cup qualifier  Tunisia was eliminated in the group stage and another South Africa was eliminated in the quarter-finals with neither team performing well. Most of the other big name countries performed reasonably with Morocco and Ghana making the quarter-finals. The semi-finals were made up of three World Cup qualifiers who had not conceded a goal up until that stage, and the hosts Mali. Cameroon and Senegal won their semi-finals and could not score against each other in the final and for the second straight tournament Cameroon won on penalties.

Group Stage

Group A

19/1 Mali              1-1 Liberia

21/1 Algeria          0-1 Nigeria

24/1 Mali              0-0 Nigeria

25/1 Algeria          2-2 Liberia

28/1 Mali              2-0 Algeria

28/1 Liberia          0-1 Nigeria

Group B

20/1 Burkina Faso 0-0 South Africa

21/1 Ghana            0-0 Morocco

24/1 Ghana            0-0 South Africa

26/1 Burkina Faso 1-2 Morocco

30/1 Morocco       1-3 South Africa

30/1 Burkina Faso 1-2 Ghana

Group C

20/1 Cameroon     1-0 DR Congo

21/1 Cote d'Ivoire 0-0 Togo

25/1 Cameroon     1-0 Cote D'Ivoire

26/1 DR Congo     0-0 Togo 

29/1 Cameroon     3-0 Togo

29/1 DR Congo     3-1 Cote D'Ivoire

Group D

20/1 Egypt          0-1 Senegal

21/1 Tunisia        0-0 Zambia

25/1 Egypt          1-0 Tunisia

26/1 Senegal       1-0 Zambia

31/1 Egypt          2-1 Zambia

31/1 Senegal       0-0 Tunisia

Quarter-Finals

  3/2 Nigeria         1-0 Ghana

  3/2 South Africa 0-2 Mali

  4/2 Cameroon    2-0 Egypt

  4/2 Senegal        2-0 DR Congo

Semi-Finals

   7/2 Senegal        2-1 Nigeria

   7/2 Cameroon    3-0 Mali

3rd-Place Play-Off 

12/2 Nigeria         0-1 Mali          

Final                                            PENALTIES

13/2 Senegal        0-0 Cameroon       2-3

Cameroon became the first team since Ghana in the 1960s to win back to back titles and also joined Egypt and Ghana on four triumphs in the African Nations Cup. The tournament was uninspiring with boring play and many scoreless matches. The African World Cup qualifiers did not perform well, apart from Cameroon who showed they are easily the best African team at the present time, and Senegal who reached their first ever final.

Best XI

Tony Sylva (Senegal)

Sibusiso Zuma (South Africa)

Taribo West (Nigeria)

Rigobert Song (Cameroon)

Ifeanyi Udeze (Nigeria)

Hany Ramzy (Egypt)

Seydou Keita (Mali)

Rafik Saifi (Algeria)

Patrick Mboma (Cameroon)

Julius Aghahowa (Nigeria)

El Hadji Diouf (Senegal)

Top Goalscorer

3 - Patrick Mboma        - Cameroon

3 - Saloman Olembe      - Cameroon

3 - Julius Aghahowa      - Nigeria

2 - Hazem Emam          - Egypt

2 - Isaac Boakye           - Ghana

2 - Bassale Toure          - Mali

2 - Hicham Zerouali       - Morocco

2 - Salif Diao                 - Senegal

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