# 1980 African Cup of Nations

The 1980 African Cup of Nations was the 12th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa (CAF). It was hosted by Nigeria. Just like in 1978, the field of eight teams was split into two groups of four. Nigeria won its first championship, beating Algeria in the final 3−0.

## Qualified teams

The 8 qualified teams are:
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in tournament |
| Nigeria | Hosts | | 3 (1963, 1976, 1978) |
| Ghana | Holders | 16 March 1978 | 5 (1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1978) |
| Ivory Coast | 2nd round winners | 6 July 1979 | 4 (1965, 1968, 1970, 1974) |
| Morocco | 2nd round winners | 6 July 1979 | 3 (1972, 1976, 1978) |
| Algeria | 2nd round winners | 8 July 1979 | 1 (1968) |
| Egypt | 2nd round winners | 13 July 1979 | 7 (1957, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1970, 1974, 1976) |
| Guinea | 2nd round winners | 19 August 1979 | 3 (1970, 1974, 1976) |
| Tanzania | 2nd round winners | 26 August 1979 | 0 (debut) |

### Notes

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

## Venues

The competition was played in two venues in Lagos and Ibadan.
| Lagos | LagosIbadan |
| Surulere Stadium | LagosIbadan |
| Capacity: 80,000 | LagosIbadan |
| Ibadan | LagosIbadan |
| Liberty Stadium | LagosIbadan |
| Capacity: 35,000 | LagosIbadan |

## 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 | Nigeria (H) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 5 | Advance to Knockout stage |
| 2 | Egypt | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 4 | Advance to Knockout stage |
| 3 | Ivory Coast | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 | |
| 4 | Tanzania | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 1 | |

### Group B

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

## Knockout stage

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 19 March – Lagos | 19 March – Lagos |
| Nigeria | 1 |
| Nigeria | 1 | 22 March – Lagos | 22 March – Lagos |
| Morocco | 0 | 22 March – Lagos | 22 March – Lagos |
| Morocco | 0 | Nigeria | 3 |
| 19 March – Ibadan | 19 March – Ibadan | | Nigeria | 3 |
| 19 March – Ibadan | 19 March – Ibadan | Algeria | 0 |
| Algeria (pen.) | 2 (4) | Algeria | 0 |
| Egypt | 2 (2) | | |
| Egypt | 2 (2) | Third place | Third place |
| | | 21 March – Lagos | 21 March – Lagos |
| | | Morocco | 2 |
| | | Egypt | 0 |

### Final
## CAF Team of the Tournament

| Goalkeepers | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards |
| Best Ogedegbe | Mustapha Kouici Mohamed Salah El-Din Moussa Camara Christian Chukwu | Lakhdar Belloumi Ali Fergani Mahmoud El Khatib Shawky Gharieb | Salah Assad Segun Odegbami |

## Goalscorers

There were 33 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 2.06 goals per match.
3 goals
* Khalid Labied
* Segun Odegbami
2 goals
* Lakhdar Belloumi
* Tedj Bensaoula
* Muda Lawal
* Thuwein Waziri
1 goal
* Salah Assad
* Hocine Benmiloudi
* Mahmoud El Khatib
* Ramadan El Sayed
* Maher Hammam
* Mokhtar Mokhtar
* Mosaad Nour
* Hassan Shehata
* Willie Klutse
* Moussa Camara
* Ibrahima Diawara
* Sidouba Bangoura.
* Ani Gome
* Kouman Kobenan
* Tahir Mustapha
* Okey Isima
* Ifeanyi Onyedika
* Felix Owolabi
* Juma Mkambi