Madagascar defy odds to reach Cup of Nations last eight

Cairo (AFP) – Africa Cup of Nations debutants Madagascar have defied the odds by reaching the quarter-finals of the 2019 tournament in Egypt, where they will play Tunisia Thursday.   

Twenty-seven of the other 41 newcomers bowed out after the first round, including Burundi and Mauritania last month with neither managing a win in their three group matches. 

Only three debutants — Egypt, Ghana and South Africa — have lifted the trophy that symbolises African national team supremacy at the first attempt.

Here, AFP Sport lists how countries fared when they debuted in a competition first staged 62 years ago in Sudan.

Champions

Egypt (1957), Ghana, hosts (1963), South Africa, hosts (1996)

Runners-up

Ethiopia (1957), Mali (1972), Zambia (1974), Libya, hosts (1982) 

Semi-finalists

Sudan, hosts (1957), Tunisia, Uganda (both 1962), Ivory Coast, Senegal (both 1965)

Quarter-finalists

Equatorial Guinea, co-hosts (2012), Cape Verde (2013)

First round

Nigeria (1963), Democratic Republic of Congo (1965), Algeria, Congo Brazzaville (both 1968), Cameroon, Guinea (both 1970), Kenya, Morocco, Togo (all 1972), Mauritius (1974), Burkina Faso (1978), Tanzania (1980), Malawi (1984), Mozambique (1986), Gabon, Sierra Leone (both 1994), Angola, Liberia (both 1996), Namibia (1998), Benin, Rwanda, Zimbabwe (all 2004), Botswana, Niger (both 2012), Guinea-Bissau (2017), Burundi, Mauritania (both 2019)

To be decided

Madagascar (2019)

Non-qualifiers

Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, eSwatini (formerly Swaziland), Gambia, Lesotho, Sao Tome e Principe, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan