The 2004 African Cup of Nations, known as the Nokia2004 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes, was the 24th edition of the African Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football championship of Africa organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament was played between 24 January and 14 February 2004 in Tunisia, taking place in the country for the third time following the 1965 and 1994 editions. The organization of the 2004 edition was awarded to Tunisia on 4 September 2000.
The defending champions were Cameroon from the 2002 edition. A total of 32 matches were played, in which 88 goals were scored, at an average of 2.75 goals per match. Attendance at all stages of the tournament reached 617,500, averaging 19,297 viewers per match. Qualification took place from 7 September 2002 to 6 July 2003. Cameroon as title holder and Tunisia as host country automatically qualified for the final phase of the tournament. As in the 2002 edition, sixteen teams, divided into four groups each comprising four teams, took part in the competition. The defending champions Cameroon were eliminated in the quarter-finals after losing 1–2 against Nigeria's Super eagles. Tunisia won the title for the first time in their history, after beating one-time champions Morocco in the final match with a score of 2–1, so the Eagles of Carthage are the 13th selection in history to be crowned African champions. Nigeria secured third place after beating Mali in the third place match, which placed them fourth.
Four players scored the most goals at the end of the tournament: Tunisian Francileudo Santos, Cameroonian Patrick Mboma, Malian Frédéric Kanouté and Nigerian Jay-Jay Okocha, however the top scorer title was given to Tunisia's Santos as he was the player of the champion team and did not receive any cards throughout the tournament, while Nigeria's Okocha won the best player award. As champions, Tunisia qualified for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany, as a representative of African continent.
The organization of the 2004 edition was awarded to Tunisia on 4 September 2000 by the CAF Executive Committee meeting in Cairo, Egypt.[1] Voters had a choice between four countries: Malawi and Zambia (joint bid), Tunisia and Zimbabwe.[2] Benin and Togo were both also candidates at the start (joint bid) but withdrew on 4 September 2000 before the meeting.[3] This edition was awarded to Tunisia which represented Africa in the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France by taking the majority of the votes of the CAF Executive Committee members which are 13 after its impressive success in the 1994 edition.[4] This is the third time that Tunisia has hosted the African Cup after 1965 and 1994 editions. Two years before the start of the tournament, an organizing committee (Comité d'organisation de la Coupe d'Afrique des Nations; COCAN) was established, headed by Slim Chiboub (who was the head of the organizing committee in 1994).[5]
Qualification took place from 7 September 2002 to 6 July 2003. The 49 nations registered for the competition are divided into thirteen groups: ten groups of four teams and three groups of three teams. The selections of Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe and Djibouti forfeit before the start of qualifying.
The first of each group qualify for the final tournament in Tunisia, as well as the best of the second. Cameroon, as defending champion, and Tunisia, as host country, are automatically qualified for the final phase of the competition. Benin, Rwanda and Zimbabwe managed to qualify for the African Cup of Nations for the first final phase of their history, after finishing at the top of their group in the qualifiers in front of two former African champions, Sudan and Ghana.
Qualified teams
The following sixteen teams qualified for the tournament.
The draw took place on 20 September 2003 in Tunis.[22] The sixteen teams were divided into four pots according to their performances in past Cup of Nations tournaments.[23] The January 2004 FIFA World Rankings (shown in parentheses).[24]
As is the case in all versions of the African Cup of Nations, each team participating in the tournament must consist of 23 players (including three goalkeepers). Participating national teams must confirm the final list of 23 players no later than ten days before the start of the tournament. In the event that a player suffers an injury which prevents him from participating in the tournament, his team has the right to replace him with another player at any time up to 24 hours before the team's first game.
Match officials
The following referees were chosen for the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations.
The 16 national teams participating in the tournament together played a total of 32 matches ranging from group stage and progression matches to knockout matches, with teams eliminated through the various progressive stages. Rest days are set aside during the different stages to allow players to recover during the tournament.
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 74):[26]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) selected the best players of the African Cup of Nations as part of the tournament's ideal team. This team was called the Ideal Team of the African Cup of Nations 2004 and consisted of:[70]
Each of the four teams eliminated in the quarter-finals received a bonus of 61,000 euros for reaching this level of competition. The semi-finalists received 122,600 euros, the finalists 245,200 euros and the winner 280,000 euros. Compensation was also provided to help the various federations, calculated according to the length of each team’s stay in Tunisia and based on a daily lump sum of 6 euros per player and coach.[71]
On 20 September 2003, in Tunis, Nokia acquired from CAF the right to be the "title sponsor" of the 24th edition,[72] which is therefore officially called Nokia Africa Cup of Nations, Tunisia 2004.[73][74]
To choose the tournament mascot, the organizing committee is launching a competition open to the entire Tunisian population. The only rules imposed, this mascot must be an eagle and must represent football, Africa and Tunisia. Of the fifty or so proposals submitted to the committee, it is the work of Malek Khalfallah that is retained. It is an eagle, which the author baptized Nçayir. The colors of its equipment, red and white, refer to the colors of the Tunisian flag.
I sent my proposal by post without even giving my phone number. I just wanted to participate. And one day someone knocked on the door telling me that I urgently needed to call a number. To my great surprise I learned that it was my first mascot proposal that won the contest! I then had to change a few details requested by the organizing committee.
The official ball for the 2004 African Cup of Nations is the Adidas Fevernova. Designed two years earlier by Adidas for the 2002 FIFA World Cup held in South Korea and Japan and 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup held in United States, the ball was reused during the 2004 African Cup of Nations.[76]
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Tunisia (1st title)
Morocco 
Nigeria 
Mali 
