1982 African Cup of Nations

1982 African Cup of Nations
كأس أمم إفريقيا 1982
	ACN 1982 official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Libya
Dates	5–19 March
Teams	8
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Ghana (4th title)
Runners-up	Libya
Third place	Zambia
Fourth place	Algeria
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	32 (2 per match)
Top scorer(s)	George Alhassan ; (4 goals)
Best player(s)	Fawzi Al-Issawi
	← 1980 1984 →

Last updated March 25, 2025

The 1982 African Cup of Nations was the 13th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of African nations run by the CAF. It was hosted by Libya. Just like in 1980, there were eight teams, which were split into two groups of four. Ghana won its fourth championship, beating Libya on penalties 7−6 after a 1–1 draw.^[1]

Qualified teams

The 8 qualified teams are:

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament^[a]
Libya	Hosts		0 (debut)
Nigeria	Holders	22 March 1980	4 (1963, 1976, 1978, 1980 )
Ghana	2nd round winners	2 August 1981	6 ( 1963 , 1965 , 1968, 1970, 1978 , 1980)
Cameroon	2nd round winners	30 August 1981	2 (1970, 1972 )
Zambia	2nd round winners	30 August 1981	2 (1974, 1978)
Algeria	2nd round winners	20 September 1981	2 (1968, 1980)
Ethiopia	2nd round winners	4 October 1981	8 (1957, 1959, 1962 , 1963, 1965, 1968 , 1970, 1976 )
Tunisia	2nd round winners	1981	4 (1962, 1963, 1965 , 1978)

Notes

↑ Bold indicates champion for that year, Italic indicates host.

Squads

Venues

The competition was played in two venues in Tripoli and Benghazi.

	Benghazi
Tripoli Benghazi	Tripoli
	11 June Stadium
	Capacity: 88,000

	28 March Stadium
	Capacity: 55,000

Group stage

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tie-breakers were used to determine the final ranking:

Goal difference in all group matches
Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
Drawing of lots

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Libya (H)	3	1	2	0	4	2	+2	4	Advance to Knockout stage
2	Ghana	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	4	Advance to Knockout stage
3	Cameroon	3	0	3	0	1	1	0	3
4	Tunisia	3	0	1	2	1	4	−3	1

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

5 March 1982

Libya	2–2	Ghana
Jaranah 58' Al-Issawi 76'	Report	Alhassan 28' Opoku Nti 89'

11 June Stadium, Tripoli

Attendance: 45,200

Referee: Sohan Ramlochun (Mauritius)

5 March 1982

Cameroon	1–1	Tunisia
M'Bida 61'	Report	Gabsi 60'

11 June Stadium, Tripoli

Attendance: 45,000

Referee: Bakary Sarr (Senegal)

9 March 1982

Cameroon	0–0	Ghana
	Report

11 June Stadium, Tripoli

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Mohamed Larache (Morocco)

9 March 1982

Libya	2–0	Tunisia
Seddik 42' (o.g.) Al-Bor'osi 89'	Report

11 June Stadium, Tripoli

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Kambaji Kabongo (Zaire)

12 March 1982

Ghana	1–0	Tunisia
John Ebow Essien 28'	Report

11 June Stadium, Tripoli

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Idrissa Traoré (Mali)

12 March 1982

Libya	0–0	Cameroon
	Report

11 June Stadium, Tripoli

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Babacar Fall (Senegal)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Algeria	3	2	1	0	3	1	+2	5	Advance to Knockout stage
2	Zambia	3	2	0	1	4	1	+3	4	Advance to Knockout stage
3	Nigeria	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	2
4	Ethiopia	3	0	1	2	0	4	−4	1

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

7 March 1982

Nigeria	3–0	Ethiopia
Keshi 27', 84' Adeshina 40'	Report

28 March Stadium, Benghazi

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Bester Kalombo (Malawi)

7 March 1982

Algeria	1–0	Zambia
Merzekane 85'	Report

28 March Stadium, Benghazi

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Dodou N'Jie (Gambia)

10 March 1982

Zambia	1–0	Ethiopia
Munshya 68'	Report

28 March Stadium, Benghazi

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Bashir Mahamed Jama

10 March 1982

Algeria	2–1	Nigeria
Isima 44' (o.g.) Assad 65'	Report	Osigwe 40'

28 March Stadium, Benghazi

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Cheikh Djibril MBaye (Senegal)

13 March 1982

Algeria	0–0	Ethiopia
	Report

28 March Stadium, Benghazi

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Hugues Opangault

13 March 1982

Zambia	3–0	Nigeria
Kaumba 25' Njovu 80' Fregene 81' (o.g.)	Report

28 March Stadium, Benghazi

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Edwin Picon-Ackong (Mauritius)

Knockout stage

Semi-finals		Final

16 March – Benghazi

Ghana (a.e.t.)	3
		19 March – Tripoli
Algeria	2
		Ghana (pen.)	1 (7)
16 March – Tripoli
		Libya	1 (6)
Libya	2

Zambia	1
		Third place

		18 March – Tripoli

		Algeria	0

		Zambia	2

Semifinals

16 March 1982

Ghana	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Algeria
Alhassan 4', 103' Opoku Nti 90'	Report	Zidane 29' Assad 62'

28 March Stadium, Benghazi

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Bester Kalombo (Malawi)

16 March 1982

Libya	2–1	Zambia
Al-Beshari 38', 84'	Report	29' Kaumba

11 June Stadium, Tripoli

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Bakary Sarr (Senegal)

Third place match

18 March 1982

Zambia	2–0	Algeria
Kaumba 2' Munshya 25'	Report

11 June Stadium, Tripoli

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Cheikh Djibril MBaye (Senegal)

Final

19 March 1982

Ghana	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Libya
Alhassan 35'	Report	Al-Beshari 70'
Penalties
Lamptey Alhassan Paha Asaase Abbrey Mensah Quarshie Afriyie	7–6	Al-Beshari Sola Al-Ajeli Ben-Suleiman Al-Farjani Ghonaïm Jaranah Zeiyu

11 June Stadium, Tripoli

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Sohan Ramlochun (Mauritius)

Goalscorers

There were 32 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 2 goals per match.

4 goals

George Alhassan

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Peter Fregene (against Zambia)
Okey Isima (against Algeria)
Kamel Seddik (against Libya)

CAF Team of the Tournament

Goalkeepers	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Thomas Nkono	Chaabane Merzekane Sampson Lamptey Haruna Yusif Ali Al-Beshari	George Alhassan Samuel Opoku Nti Emmanuel Quarshie Fawzi Al-Issawi	Salah Assad Rabah Madjer

References

↑ Anaman, Fiifi (19 March 2017). "The Last Time: How Ghana managed an unlikely ascension unto the African football throne" . Retrieved 10 July 2017.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[2] Bold indicates champion for that year, Italic indicates host.

[1] Anaman, Fiifi (19 March 2017). "The Last Time: How Ghana managed an unlikely ascension unto the African football throne" . Retrieved 10 July 2017.

[1]

[a]

v t e Africa Cup of Nations
Editions	Sudan 1957 United Arab Republic 1959 Ethiopia 1962 Ghana 1963 Tunisia 1965 Ethiopia 1968 Sudan 1970 Cameroon 1972 Egypt 1974 Ethiopia 1976 Ghana 1978 Nigeria 1980 Libya 1982 Ivory Coast 1984 Egypt 1986 Morocco 1988 Algeria 1990 Senegal 1992 Tunisia 1994 South Africa 1996 Burkina Faso 1998 Ghana/Nigeria 2000 Mali 2002 Tunisia 2004 Egypt 2006 Ghana 2008 Angola 2010 Gabon/Equatorial Guinea 2012 South Africa 2013 Equatorial Guinea 2015 Gabon 2017 Egypt 2019 Cameroon 2021 Ivory Coast 2023 Morocco 2025 Kenya/Tanzania/Uganda 2027 TBD 2029
Qualification	1957 1959 1962 1963 1965 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025
Finals	1957 1959 1962 1963 1965 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023
Bids	2027 2029
Squads	1957 1959 1962 1963 1965 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023
Statistics	Finals Appearances Awards Records and statistics Hat-tricks
Miscellaneous	Balls Mascots Music Trophy
Notes The 2021 and 2023 tournaments were actually held in 2022 and 2024 respectively. There were no 1957 and 1959 qualifications as places were given by invitation only. The "finals" articles for 1959 and 1976 are about the decisive matches of final group stages. Football in Africaportal

1982 African Cup of Nations

Contents

Qualified teams

Squads

Venues

Group stage

Tiebreakers

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

Semifinals

Third place match

Final

Goalscorers

CAF Team of the Tournament

References

External links