# 1986 African Cup of Nations

The 1986 African Cup of Nations was the 15th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, a football championship of Africa (CAF). It was hosted by Egypt. Just like in 1984, the field of eight teams was split into two groups of four. Egypt won its third championship, beating Cameroon on penalty kicks 5–4 after a goalless draw.

## Qualified teams

The 8 qualified teams are:
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in tournament |
| Egypt | Hosts | | 7 (1962, 1963, 1970, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1984) |
| Cameroon | Holders | 18 March 1984 | 4 (1970, 1972, 1982, 1984) |
| Algeria | 2nd round winners | 13 August 1985 | 4 (1968, 1980, 1982, 1984) |
| Zambia | 2nd round winners | 18 August 1985 | 3 (1974, 1978, 1982) |
| Ivory Coast | 2nd round winners | 1 September 1985 | 6 (1965, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1980, 1984) |
| Senegal | 2nd round winners | 1 September 1985 | 2 (1965, 1968) |
| Morocco | 2nd round winners | 8 September 1985 | 4 (1972, 1976, 1978, 1980) |
| Mozambique | 2nd round winners | 15 September 1985 | 0 (debut) |

### Notes

* ↑ Bold indicates champion for that year, Italic indicates host.

## Venues

The competition was played in two venues in Cairo and Alexandria.
| Cairo | CairoAlexandria |
| Cairo International Stadium | CairoAlexandria |
| Capacity: 90,000 | CairoAlexandria |
| Alexandria | CairoAlexandria |
| Alexandria Stadium | CairoAlexandria |
| Capacity: 15,000 | CairoAlexandria |

## Group stage
### Tiebreakers

If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tie-breakers were used to determine the final ranking:
* Goal difference in all group matches
* Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
* Drawing of lots

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Egypt (H) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 4 | Advance to Knockout stage |
| 2 | Ivory Coast | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 4 | Advance to Knockout stage |
| 3 | Senegal | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 4 | |
| 4 | Mozambique | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | −7 | 0 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Cameroon | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 5 | Advance to Knockout stage |
| 2 | Morocco | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 4 | Advance to Knockout stage |
| 3 | Algeria | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 | |
| 4 | Zambia | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 1 | |

## Knockout stage

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 17 March – Alexandria | 17 March – Alexandria |
| Cameroon | 1 |
| Cameroon | 1 | 21 March – Cairo | 21 March – Cairo |
| Ivory Coast | 0 | 21 March – Cairo | 21 March – Cairo |
| Ivory Coast | 0 | Cameroon | 0 (4) |
| 17 March – Cairo | 17 March – Cairo | | Cameroon | 0 (4) |
| 17 March – Cairo | 17 March – Cairo | Egypt (pen.) | 0 (5) |
| Egypt | 1 | Egypt (pen.) | 0 (5) |
| Morocco | 0 | | |
| Morocco | 0 | Third place | Third place |
| | | 20 March – Cairo | 20 March – Cairo |
| | | Ivory Coast | 3 |
| | | Morocco | 2 |

### Final
## Goalscorers

There were 31 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 1.94 goals per match.
4 goals
* Roger Milla
3 goals
* Taher Abouzaid
* Abdoulaye Traoré
2 goals
* André Kana-Biyik
* Louis-Paul M'Fédé
* Lucien Kassi-Kouadio
1 goal
* Rabah Madjer
* Karim Maroc
* Shawky Gharib
* Gamal Abdelhamid
* Kouassi N'Dri
* Oumar Ben Salah
* Abdelkrim Merry "Krimau"
* Abdelfettah Rhiati
* Mohammed Sahil
* Jules Bocandé
* Pape Fall
* Thierno Youm
* Kalusha Bwalya
* Michael Chabala
1 own goal
* Jones Chilengi (against Morocco)

## CAF Team of the Tournament

| Goalkeepers | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards |
| Thomas N'Kono | André Kana-Biyik Ali Shehata Roger Mendy Rabei Yassin | Emile Mbouh Magdi Abdelghani Moustafa Abdou Taher Abouzaid | Roger Milla Kalusha Bwalya |