# 1988 African Cup of Nations

The 1988 African Cup of Nations was the 16th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa (CAF). It was hosted by Morocco, who replaced original host Zambia. Just like in 1986, the field of eight teams was split into two groups of four. The tournament final was held in Casablanca at Stade Mohamed V. Cameroon won its second championship, beating Nigeria in the final 1−0.
This tournament has the fewest goals-per-game average in Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

## Host selection

The original host was Zambia but after their withdrawal in December 1986 due to financial issues, the Confederation of African Football approached Algeria which agreed to host the tournament. However, in February 1987 the CAF rescinded this decision following a dispute with Algeria which protested the CAF's decision to order a replay of the first leg match of the 1987 All-Africa Games qualification against Tunisia. CAF had made this decision following Tunisia's protest that Algeria had fielded two professional players. Morocco was chosen in the end to host the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations replacing Algeria.

## Qualified teams

The 8 qualified teams are:
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in tournament |
| Morocco | Hosts | | 5 (1972, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1986) |
| Egypt | Holders | 21 March 1986 | 10 (1957, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1970, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1986) |
| Algeria | 2nd round winners | 14 April 1987 | 5 (1968, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986) |
| Cameroon | 2nd round winners | 18 July 1987 | 5 (1970, 1972, 1982, 1984, 1986) |
| Kenya | 2nd round winners | 18 July 1987 | 1 (1972) |
| Nigeria | 2nd round winners | 18 July 1987 | 6 (1963, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984) |
| Ivory Coast | 2nd round winners | 19 July 1987 | 7 (1965, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1980, 1984, 1986) |
| Zaire | 2nd round winners | 19 July 1987 | 6 (1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976) |

### Notes

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

## Venues

The competition was played in two venues in Casablanca and Rabat.
| Casablanca | CasablancaRabat |
| Stade Mohamed V | CasablancaRabat |
| Capacity: 80,000 | CasablancaRabat |
| Rabat | CasablancaRabat |
| Stade Moulay Abdellah | CasablancaRabat |
| Capacity: 52,000 | CasablancaRabat |

## 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 | Morocco (H) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 4 | Advance to Knockout stage |
| 2 | Algeria | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | Advance to Knockout stage |
| 3 | Ivory Coast | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4 | Zaire | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 | |
Note: Algeria qualified by drawing of lots.

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Nigeria | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 4 | Advance to Knockout stage |
| 2 | Cameroon | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 4 | Advance to Knockout stage |
| 3 | Egypt | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 3 | |
| 4 | Kenya | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | −6 | 1 | |

## Knockout stage

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 23 March – Rabat | 23 March – Rabat |
| Nigeria (p) | 1 (9) |
| Nigeria (p) | 1 (9) | 27 March – Casablanca | 27 March – Casablanca |
| Algeria | 1 (8) | 27 March – Casablanca | 27 March – Casablanca |
| Algeria | 1 (8) | Nigeria | 0 |
| 23 March – Casablanca | 23 March – Casablanca | | Nigeria | 0 |
| 23 March – Casablanca | 23 March – Casablanca | Cameroon | 1 |
| Morocco | 0 | Cameroon | 1 |
| Cameroon | 1 | | |
| Cameroon | 1 | Third place | Third place |
| | | 26 March – Casablanca | 26 March – Casablanca |
| | | Algeria (p) | 1 (4) |
| | | Morocco | 1 (3) |

### Final
## Goalscorers

There were 23 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 1.44 goals per match.
2 goals
* Lakhdar Belloumi
* Roger Milla
* Abdoulaye Traoré
* Gamal Abdelhamid
1 goal
* Abdelkader Ferhaoui
* Rachid Maâtar
* Emmanuel Kundé
* Cyrille Makanaky
* Ayman Younes
* Mustafa El Haddaoui
* Abdelkrim Merry
* Hassan Nader
* Humphrey Edobor
* Ndubuisi Okosieme
* Samuel Okwaraji
* Rashidi Yekini
* Eugène Kabongo
* Lutonadio
1 own goal
* Abderrazak Belgherbi (against Nigeria)

## CAF Team of the Tournament

Goalkeeper
* Joseph-Antoine Bell
Defenders
* Tijani El Maataoui
* Emmanuel Kundé
* John Buana
* Stephen Tataw
Midfielders
* Jacques Kinkomba Kingambo
* Emile Mbouh
* Henry Nwosu
* Paul Mfede
Forwards
* Roger Milla
* Aziz Bouderbala