2010 African Nations Cup

2010 Africa Cup of Nations

Taça de África das Nações de 2010
Africa Cup of Nations 2010 official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Angola
Dates	10–31 January
Teams	15 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Egypt (7th title)
Runners-up	Ghana
Third place	Nigeria
Fourth place	Algeria
Tournament statistics
Matches played	29
Goals scored	71 (2.45 per match)
Attendance	543,500 (18,741 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Gedo (5 goals)
Best player	Ahmed Hassan
Best goalkeeper	Essam El-Hadary
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The 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 27th Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football championship of Africa (CAF). It was held in Angola, where it began on 10 January 2010 and concluded on 31 January.

In the tournament, the hosts Angola were to be joined by 15 nations who advanced from the qualification process that began in October 2007 and involved 53 African national teams. The withdrawal of Togo after a terrorist attack on their bus upon arriving for the tournament reduced the number of participating nations to 15. A total of 29 games were played, instead of the scheduled 32 games. Egypt won the tournament, their seventh ACN title and an unprecedented third in a row, beating Ghana 1–0 in the final.

Angola was awarded the right to host the tournament by CAF in a decision to rotate the hosting of the Cup and allow new nations like Angola, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea a chance to host the tournament. Bids from Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Senegal were rejected. Gabon and Equatorial Guinea were also awarded the hosting rights to the 2012 Nations Cup, while Libya would be hosting the event for the second time in 2014. Two-time former host Nigeria is the reserve host for the 2010, 2012 and 2014 Nations Cups, in the event that any of the host countries fails to meet the requirements established by CAF.

The Confederation of African Football announced that the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification would also be the qualification for this tournament. Despite the fact Angola are the host of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, they also needed to participate in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification. A similar situation was true for South Africa. Although they will be the hosts for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, they still needed to compete in the qualification tournament in order to qualify for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.