CAF’s 2024: A year in review

FIFA looks back on the highlights, standout teams and star players of African football over the last 12 months.

• Côte d’Ivoire shone in World Cup qualifiers and at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations

• Tunisia and Sudan also impressed in 2024

• Ademola Lookman, Brahim Diaz and Serhou Guirassy all left their mark

For African men’s football, 2024 was all about the Olympic Football Tournaments, the FIFA World Cup 26™ qualifiers and, of course, the CAF Africa Cup of Nations. Côte d’Ivoire lifted their third Cup of Nations title on home soil against all the odds following a mid-tournament managerial change.

Emerse Fae’s squad weren’t the only ones to make their mark in 2024 though, as Sudan and Tunisia have excelled in recent months on the road to the World Cup. Meanwhile, Morocco won bronze at the Olympics, writing another marvellous chapter in their history less than two years after becoming the first African nation to reach the semi-finals of a FIFA World Cup™.

With 2025 set to be yet another enthralling year, FIFA takes a closer look at the African continent’s greatest success stories of the year across men’s and women’s football, futsal and beach soccer.

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There may have only been two matchdays in the qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 26 in 2024, but they allowed some teams to demonstrate their fine form.

Dark horses Sudan held firm at the top of Group B, ahead of Senegal in second place, while Tunisia remained unstoppable as leaders of Group H and did not concede a single goal in their first four matches. The Ivorians have also got off to a fine start, and they are the campaign’s top scorers with 12 goals, rounding off a fine year that began with their continental triumph at the start of 2024.

Although many groups will only start to take shape over the course of 2025, some players have been eager to put their teams in a strong position going into the new year. Jordan Ayew bagged a hat-trick in Ghana’s 4-3 victory over the Central African Republic, while Egypt’s Mohamed Salah and Trezeguet have been firing on all cylinders for the Pharaohs, sharing top spot in the individual scoring charts for the CAF qualifiers with five goals apiece.

Hosted in Côte d’Ivoire at the start of 2024, the 2023 CAF Africa Cup of Nations threw up a situation that nobody expected before the action got under way. The hosts struggled in the group stage but made it through by the skin of their teeth, unlike Algeria and Ghana, who both failed to progress to the knockout phase.

The Ivorians were given a new lease of life midway through the tournament when Fae replaced Jean-Louis Gasset at the helm. The Elephants overcame West African rivals Senegal in the round of 16, eventually winning 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out after the score had finished level at 1-1 after extra time, before coming from behind against Nigeria in the final to clinch the title with a 2-1 victory in front of over 57,000 fans in Abidjan. It’s no surprise – when you consider the excellent performances of surprise packages Cabo Verde, Mauritania and Equatorial Guinea – that the tournament has been dubbed the “AFCON of the century”.

2024 also saw a host of African teams rise up the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking. When the first 2024 update to the ranking took place in February, Angola were the biggest climbers. Thanks to their journey all the way to the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, the Palancas Negras jumped no fewer than 24 places.

In June, Liberia were the biggest climbers, moving up ten places, while Comoros and Sudan both achieved the same feat by gaining ten places in the October ranking, with Comoros securing their best-ever ranking (108th). In November, Niger were the biggest climbers – jumping nine places to 122nd.

Across the whole of 2024, Angola – who have contested more matches than anyone else in the ranking in 2024 (21) – have registered the biggest climb over the past 12 months, progressing a jaw-dropping 32 places to their current perch of 85th, better than Jordan (64th, up 23) and Fiji (148th, up 20).

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Although the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament had an all-European final, in which Spain overcame France in a thrilling 5-3 contest after extra time, the African teams did their continent proud, with the bronze-medal match contested by Morocco and Egypt. Led by the magnificent Soufiane Rahimi – the competition’s top scorer with eight goals – the Atlas Lions cruised to their first-ever Olympic football medal with a 6-0 romp, further reiterating their progress on the international stage.

Having been crowned champions of African futsal for the third time running, Morocco cemented their domination on the continent, But at the FIFA Futsal World Cup Uzbekistan 2024™, despite Soufian Charraoui declaring beforehand that his team would “fight for the cup”, the Atlas Lions were eliminated by eventual champions Brazil in the quarter-finals after a 3-1 defeat. Neither Angola nor Libya, the two other African teams at the tournament, were able to progress beyond the group stage.

It was a similar story at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup UAE 2024 Dubai™ as neither of the two African teams – Senegal and Egypt – progressed to the knockout phase. Nevertheless, thanks to their triumph at the 2024 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations, the Lions of Teranga will soon have the opportunity to go one better at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Seychelles 2025™.

The showpiece event for women’s football this year was undoubtedly the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament. Unfortunately, both Nigeria and Zambia – two qualifiers for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ – finished at the foot of their respective groups. On the upside, Zambia’s star player, Barbra Banda, lit up the Games with a memorable hat-trick in her side’s 6-5 defeat at the hands of Australia. It was the Orlando Pride star’s third hat-trick at the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament (following two at Tokyo 2020), making her the first female footballer to achieve the feat.

The next generation of female African footballers also has designs on joining Banda at the summit of women’s football. At the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Colombia 2024™, no African team progressed further than the round of 16, but Cameroon’s Naomi Eto showed all of her rich promise by bagging four goals in four matches. A few weeks later, 16-year-old Nigerian Shakirat Moshood scored a hat-trick at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Dominican Republic 2024™ and led her team all the way to the quarter-finals, where they lost 2-0 to the USA. Kenya’s youngsters also left a strong impression with a 2-1 victory over Mexico, the nation’s first-ever win at a FIFA tournament.

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