Sports

Five football legends without AFCON gold medals

Nwankwo Kanu retired with silver and bronze medals, but no Afcon winner’s medal.

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3 weeks ago

December 18, 2025

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2022 afcon gold winners/ al Jazeera

The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is the flagship international men’s football tournament in Africa.

Organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), it determines the continent’s national champion and is one of the most watched football competitions in the world.

So far, the most successful teams in the history of the competition are Egypt, the most successful nation, with seven titles. Cameroon follows with five, Ghana have won four, while Nigeria have claimed three.

With the 35th Africa Cup of Nations scheduled to hold in Morocco from 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026, BBC Sport Africa looks at five iconic players who never managed to get their hands on the coveted trophy.

1. Mohamed Salah (Egypt)
At 33, time may be running out for Egypt’s captain. Salah has already experienced Afcon heartbreak twice, finishing runner-up in 2017 and again in 2021…
Injured at Afcon 2023, he watched from the sidelines as Egypt were eliminated in the last 16. Afcon 2025 may represent his final opportunity to complete his international legacy.
2. Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast)
Few players relished big occasions like Didier Drogba. A master of finals at Chelsea, he was decisive time and again in England and Europe.
But at Afcon, the script was cruelly different.Drogba captained Ivory Coast in two finals – in 2006 and 2012 – and penalties proved his undoing on both occasions.
Against Egypt in 2006, he missed in the shootout as the hosts triumphed. Six years later, facing Zambia, he blazed a late penalty over the bar in normal time before the Ivorians again lost on spot kicks. Despite multiple semi-final and quarter-final appearances, Afcon glory always slipped away. In a bitter twist, Ivory Coast finally won the tournament in 2015 – just months after Drogba had retired from international football.
3. George Weah (Liberia)
George Weah stands alone as Africa’s only Ballon d’Or winner, claiming football’s most prestigious individual award in 1995.
At the club level, he dazzled for Paris St-Germain and AC Milan, but international success was limited by Liberia’s modest footballing stature.
Liberia qualified for Afcon only twice during Weah’s career, in 1996 and 2002. On both occasions, they failed to progress beyond the group stage.
Weah scored just once at the tournament, in a 2002 draw with Mali.While Afcon success never came, Weah would later lead his country in another way – serving as Liberia’s president between 2018 and 2024.
4. Nwankwo Kanu (Nigeria)
Elegant and intelligent, Nwankwo Kanu enjoyed a glittering club career, winning the Champions League with Ajax and domestic honours with Arsenal. Internationally, he tasted success with Nigeria at youth level and famously won Olympic gold in 1996.
Afcon, however, proved less kind. His closest brush with the trophy came in 2000, when Nigeria reached the final on home soil. Against Cameroon, the match went to penalties, and Kanu’s miss proved costly as the Super Eagles were beaten.
Nigeria would reach four semi-finals during Kanu’s career but never return to the final.
Nwankwo Kanu retired with silver and bronze medals, but no Afcon winner’s medal.
5. Michael Essien (Ghana)
Michael Essien was the heartbeat of a gifted Ghana generation that followed the country’s last Afcon triumph in 1982.
Powerful, disciplined and technically superb, he mirrored his club success with Chelsea by becoming a leader for the Black Stars…
Persistent fitness problems curtailed his international career, leaving Essien as another African great whose brilliance was never rewarded with Afcon gold.
Source: The PUNCH

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WAFCON 2026 final draw holds Jan 15 in Rabat

Voting for the CAF Women’s Interclub Player of the Year involves members of the media, as well as captains and coaches from teams participating in the CAF Women’s Champions League.

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5 hours ago

January 9, 2026

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The Final Draw for the CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) Morocco 2026 will take place in Rabat on Thursday, 15 January 2025, the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) has confirmed.

The qualified teams for the competition are hosts Morocco, alongside Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.

The event will also feature the announcement of the remaining winners in the CAF Awards 2025 Women’s Categories, including the CAF Women’s Coach of the Year and other top honours in women’s football.

The draw will mark a milestone for the continental tournament, which will feature an expanded 16-team field for the first time in its history.

Ahead of the draw, CAF will announce the winners of three outstanding women’s football awards: CAF Women’s Coach of the Year, CAF Women’s Interclub Player of the Year, and CAF Women’s Club of the Year.

The awards were initially scheduled to be presented during the CAF Awards 2025 ceremony but were postponed as the women’s football season had not concluded, owing to the ongoing CAF Women’s Champions League. CAF earlier this week officially reopened voting for the three categories.

CAF has reiterated that while it does not participate in the voting process, it oversees and coordinates the exercise.

Voting for the CAF Women’s Interclub Player of the Year involves members of the media, as well as captains and coaches from teams participating in the CAF Women’s Champions League.

Sports

Ndidi builds up team’s moral , offers to pay outstanding bonuses

“I’ve now made a commitment to the staff and players that I’ll personally pay the bonuses if the authorities fail to before Saturday. I don’t want these unpaid bonuses to affect our preparations.”

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18 hours ago

January 8, 2026

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Photo: Super Eagles captain Wilfred Ndidi

Super Eagles captain Wilfred Ndidi has pledged to pay all outstanding winning bonuses at the ongoing 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco if the Federal Government and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) fail to settle the payments before Saturday.

Despite assurances from the Federal Government and the National Sports Commission (NSC), the three-time African champions are yet to receive winning bonuses for their first four matches at AFCON 2025.

“I’ve been pushing the team to train and play the game vs Algeria. I’ve been doing this since the second game,” Ndidi was quoted by BBC journalist Oluwashina Okeleji on Thursday in a post on X.

Recall that the Super Eagles on Wednesday threatened to boycott training and delay travel to Marrakech over unpaid bonuses for their three group-stage matches and the round of 16 at the tournament.

The team is owed win bonuses for victories over Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Mozambique. Reports indicated that the players warned they would not train or travel unless the issue was resolved.