The Black Stars of Ghana begin their quest for their fifth TotalEnergies CAF Cup of Nations title when they play Cape Verde in their Group B on Sunday at the tournament in Cote d’Ivoire.
Ghana is yet to lift the trophy since 1982. They defeated Libya 7-6 on penalty shootout in the finals of the 13th edition of the AFCON in Tripoli.
Below are some interesting facts and figures about Ghana and Cape Verde:
● Ghana and Cape Verde are facing each other for the second time at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations. Their only previous meeting saw Ghana win 2-0 in the quarter-finals of the 2013 edition.
● This is Ghana’s 24th appearance in the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations, the most after Egypt (26) and Côte d’Ivoire (25). The Black Stars won the Africa Cup of Nations in four of their first seven appearances (1963, 1965, 1978, 1982) but have won none of their subsequent 16.
● Ghana have won only one of their last nine matches at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (D4 L4), a 2-0 group stage victory against Guinea-Bissau in 2019. They were knocked out in the group stages of the last AFCON.
● This is Cape Verde’s fourth appearance at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations, with all four taking place since 2013. Six of their 11 matches at the tournament so far have ended in a draw, with their two wins taking place against Angola in 2013 (2-1) and Ethiopia in 2022 (1-0), both in the group stages.
● Cape Verde have qualified from the AFCON group stages on two previous occasions (2013, 2021) but have never won a game in the knockout phase of the competition. In fact, they have lost only one of their nine group matches (W2 D6), it was against Burkina Faso in January 2022 (0-1).
● Cape Verde have never lost their opening match at a CAF Africa Cup of Nations (W1 D2).
● Only one of Cape Verde’s 11 previous games at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations has produced more than two goals.
● Cape Verde’s eight goals in the qualifiers for this year’s CAF Africa Cup of Nations were all scored by eight different players.
● Mohammed Kudus was directly involved in 50% of Ghana’s goals in the qualifiers for this year’s tournament, scoring three times and assisting one (4/8).
● If he plays, this will be André Ayew’s eighth CAF Africa Cup of Nations, which will equal the record held by Cameroon’s Rigobert Song and Egypt’s Ahmed Hassan. Meanwhile, if he scores for Ghana, he will set a new record of having found the net in seven different AFCON tournaments.