All-time AFCON Table: How Nigeria Replaced Egypt in First Place

The 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations is over and Senegal were the big winners after beating Morocco 1-0 after extra time in a chaotic AFCON 2025 final.

However, FootballBlog.co.uk can reveal that the 2025 AFCON champions are only the sixth most successful team in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Despite losing in the semi-finals this time around, Nigeria did enough to replace Egypt at the top of the all-time AFCON table.

FootballBlog compiled its all-time AFCON table using the results from the first 35 tournaments, including group games and knockout matches.

Our table is based on three points for a win and one for a draw. We counted knockout games that went to extra time as draws.

All-time AFCON table

Team	MP	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1. Nigeria	111	64	24	23	63	216
2. Egypt	118	63	26	29	79	215
3. Ghana	105	54	23	28	45	185
4. Cameroon	100	50	32	18	55	182
5. Ivory Coast	111	51	29	31	45	182
6. Morocco	81	33	28	20	29	127
7. Senegal	78	35	20	23	39	125
8. Algeria	85	32	24	29	9	120
9. Tunisia	87	26	32	29	3	110
10. Zambia	73	26	24	23	8	102
11. Mali	64	21	25	18	1	88
12. South Africa	55	21	16	18	6	79
13. DR Congo	58	16	20	22	-8	68
14. Guinea	52	15	18	19	-7	63
15. Burkina Faso	56	12	16	28	-30	52
16. Angola	34	7	15	12	-5	36
17. Gabon	28	7	10	11	-9	31
18. Sudan	31	8	7	16	-19	31
19. Zaire	26	7	9	10	-3	30
20. Equatorial Guinea	22	8	5	9	-2	29
21. Congo	26	7	7	12	-13	28
22. Ethiopia	31	8	4	19	-34	28
23. Cape Verde	16	5	8	3	2	23
24. Togo	25	3	8	14	-23	17
25. Uganda	26	4	4	18	-21	16
26. Libya	11	3	5	3	-1	14
27. Zimbabwe	18	3	3	12	-17	12
28. Gambia	8	3	1	4	-4	10
29. Kenya	17	2	4	11	-20	10
30. Madagascar	5	2	2	1	0	8
31. Malawi	10	2	2	6	-6	8
32. Benin	18	1	5	12	-22	8
33. Mozambique	19	1	4	14	-30	7
34. Sierra Leone	8	1	3	4	-10	6
35. Namibia	13	1	3	9	-20	6
36. Liberia	5	1	2	2	-2	5
37. Comoros	7	1	2	4	-5	5
38. Mauritania	10	1	2	7	-12	5
39. Tanzania	13	0	5	8	-14	5
40. Rwanda	3	1	1	1	0	4
41. Guinea-Bissau	12	0	3	9	-15	3
42. Niger	6	0	1	5	-8	1
43. Burundi	3	0	0	3	-4	0
44. Mauritius	3	0	0	3	-6	0
45. Botswana	6	0	0	6	-14	0

Nigeria replace Egypt at the top of the AFCON table

Egypt started AFCON 2025 in first place in the all-time AFCON table.

The Pharaohs have won the tournament seven times. No other nation has won that many AFCONs. Cameroon are the second most successful team in terms of titles with five, while Ghana have four. Nigeria and Ivory Coast have three each.

Going into AFCON 2025, Egypt were five points above Nigeria in the all-time AFCON table. However, the tournament ended with Nigeria top of the pile by a single point.

Nigeria were one of only two teams, along with Algeria, to win all three group games at AFCON 2025. They overcame Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda in Group C, scoring eight goals in the process.

Meanwhile, Egypt dropped two points by drawing 0-0 with Angola, having beaten Zimbabwe and South Africa in their first two Group B fixtures.

Nigeria then beat Mozambique and Algeria inside 90 minutes, 4-0 and 2-0, in their opening two knockout matches, while Egypt needed extra time to get past Benin. We therefore counted the Benin game as a 1-1 draw, rather than a 3-1 win for Mo Salah’s team.

Nigeria and Egypt were both knocked out in the semi-finals. But the Super Eagles took Morocco all the way to penalties, earning a point in the all-time AFCON table, while Egypt were beaten 1-0 in normal time by Sadio Mane. That result extended Mane’s dominant head-to-head record over Salah to five victories and just one defeat.

The AFCON 2025 third-place play-off pitted Nigeria and Egypt against each other. That game ended 0-0 after 90 minutes, before Nigeria prevailed following Salah adding to his list of penalty misses by failing to score for a third shootout in a row.

For the purposes of the all-time AFCON table, we recorded the third-place play-off as a draw. That was enough to secure Nigeria’s status as top dogs until at least 2027, when Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will co-host the 36th AFCON.

Nigeria also have the best all-time points-per-game record in AFCON history

As well as being top of the all-time AFCON table based on overall points, Nigeria are the top-ranked nation in terms of points per game.

In fact, the Super Eagles already had the best points-per-game record before AFCON 2025, leading Egypt by 1.894 to 1.820.

Nigeria’s strong run of results in Morocco has since increased their average points haul to 1.946 per game over 111 matches, while Egypt’s has also increased slightly to 1.822 after 118 fixtures played.

Cameroon move ahead of Ghana when points per game becomes the main metric, while Ivory Coast remain fifth in both rankings.

The biggest movers are Madagascar, ranked 30th in the overall all-time AFCON table but up to seventh in the PPG standings, having reached the quarter-finals in their one and only AFCON appearance in 2019.

Top 20 AFCON nations based on all-time points per game

Rank	Team	MP	Pts	PPG
1	Nigeria	111	216	1.946
2	Egypt	118	215	1.822
3	Cameroon	100	182	1.820
4	Ghana	105	185	1.762
5	Ivory Coast	111	182	1.640
6	Senegal	78	125	1.603
7	Madagascar	5	8	1.600
8	Morocco	81	127	1.568
9	Cape Verde	16	23	1.438
10	South Africa	55	79	1.436
11	Algeria	85	120	1.412
12	Zambia	73	102	1.397
13	Mali	64	88	1.375
14	Rwanda	3	4	1.333
15	Equatorial Guinea	22	29	1.318
16	Libya	11	14	1.273
17	Tunisia	87	110	1.264
18	Gambia	8	10	1.250
19	Guinea	52	63	1.212
20	DR Congo	58	68	1.172

African nations at the World Cup

No African nation has ever won the FIFA World Cup. Indeed, there are no African teams in the top 30 of the all-time World Cup league table, which was compiled using a very similar method to the all-time AFCON table.

Cameroon are the most successful African side in World Cup history with five wins and eight draws from their 26 previous games at the biggest football tournament on the planet.

Morocco are just one point and one place behind in 32nd, while Nigeria are 33rd.

At least nine African teams will compete at the 2026 World Cup, 10 if DR Congo win their inter-confederation play-off against New Caledonia or Jamaica.

Nevertheless, the chances of an African winner remain very slim. AFCON champions Senegal are rated by the bookies as the most likely, but even they are 130/1 outsiders.

This lack of success at the World Cup is one of the reasons why AFCON is arguably better than the Euros, because Africa’s continental tournament is seen as the main event for the majority of its participants.

FootballBlog.co.uk recently simulated the entire 2026 World Cup. Six African nations made it out of the group phase, but none reached the quarter-finals.