TUT FOR CAF

One week the Copa America and now the African Cup of Nations, organised by the Confederation of African Football. The 32nd tournament takes place in Egypt  from June 21st until July 19th at Alexandria, Cairo, Ismailia and Suez, cities to the north of the country, chosen to host the game. The first tournament was held in Khartoum, Sudan in February 1957, which Egypt won..

The mascot is the friendly child TUT, based on Tutankhamun, overseeing a tournament with 24 nations for the first time. Tut, a Pharoah, wears Egypt's colours and carries the African map on his shirt.

Cameroon, the holders, was originally chosen to host but the safety of visitors was compromised by  a lack of infrastructure affected by the Boko Haram Insurgency and the Anglophone Crisis. Look them up if you are fascinated.

Egypt had to ask for the competition to be delayed to a later date due to Ramadan. They have won the title 7 times, but this year they are ranked 58th by FIFA, maybe a bit of an outsider to claim the cup again?
Top African nations ranked  by FIFA are top ranked Senegal at 22, Tunisia ranked 25th, with Mauritania at the other end ranked 103 and debut nation Burundi 134th.

Nigeria 3 times, Ghana 4, and Cameroon 5 times are most winners behind Egypt.
So far group toppings are:
Egypt, Madagascar (surprise), Algeria, Morocco, Mali and Ghana.
Runners-up are :Uganda, Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Cameroon,
Top ranked third place are: DR Congo, South Africa, Benin and Guinea who go through to the last 16. The final is on July 19th in Cairo.

Various other complications have interrupted the cup; In 1957 South Africa was disqualified through Apartheid leaving only 3 teams to compete.
In 1959 there was no official final but a round robin of three countries; United Arab Republic, Sudan and Ethiopia.
There was no final again in 1976 with the best of four nations, Guinea, being regarded as champions.
In 1978 Tunisia withdrew from a match when losing 0-2 to Nigeria complaining about the officials in the 42nd minute.
Nigeria withdrew from the 1996 tournament in and Guinea were offered the place but declined because of a lack of preparation time.
The Togolese bus was attacked by terrorists in Cabinda, Angola in 2010.