5 biggest upsets in AFCON history

#3 Malawi vs Algeria 2010

Gabadinho Mhango celebrates scoring for Malawi at the 2021 AFCON

A team with zero AFCON credibility thrashing a team that had qualified for the FIFA World Cup? Yes, please. The year was 2010, and the venue was the November 11 Stadium in Angola. In their first AFCON appearance since 1984, Malawi thrashed Algeria 3-0 to stun the entire African continent.

The Flames of Malawi have never won a single AFCON game in their history, and have made only one appearance in the competition, in 1984. In that edition of the tournament, Malawi were walloped 3-0 by Algeria as they exited the group stage with one point from three games.

Coming into the 2010 AFCON, Malawi had no key players of note and were seen as not being a threat in a group that also contained Angola, Mali and Algeria. A bit of comical defending saw the Flames take the lead in their opening match through Russell Mwafulirwa. More soon followed through Elvis Kafoteka as the Algerians struggled to play in the mid-day heat in Angola. Davi Banda rounded off the scoring in the second half as Malawi completed a famous win.

To add to the importance of the win to their football history, they did not make it out of the group stage. Only in 2022 did they manage another win in the competition after a 2-1 defeat of Zimbabwe in Cameroon.

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#2 Madagascar vs Nigeria 2019

Madagascar enjoyed a fairytale run in 2019

Nigeria are back in AFCON after a six-year hiatus; the Super Eagles had not played in the competition since winning it in 2013. They had Burundi, Guinea and Madagascar in their group and were expected to stroll through.

Small Indian Ocean nation Madagascar was making its tournament debut after 49 failed qualification attempts. After managing to pick up four points from their first two games in the group, Madagascar were up against Nigeria in the final match of the group phase.

The Super Eagles had a good number of stars, including Alex Iwobi, Wilfred Ndidi, Ahmed Musa, John Obi Mikel, Odion Ighalo and many others.

Madagascar took an early lead through Lalaina Nomenjanahary to silence the Nigerians before a second-half strike from Carolus Andriamatsinoro sealed the win.

Nigeria's Super Eagles could only muster one shot on target all game despite having more than 60% of the ball. Despite being ranked 108th in the world, 63 places below the Super Eagles, Madagascar managed to finish on top of the group with the result.

They would go on to lose 3-0 to Tunisia in the quarterfinals, bringing their terrific run to an end.

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#1 Zambia vs Ivory Coast 2012

The Chipolopolo of Zambia celebrating after their AFCON win

Before Zambia took on Ivory Coast in the final of the 2012 AFCON, the entire team received the motivation that this was more than just a match. National icon Kalusha Bwalya took the team to the resting place of the squad which had perished in an airplane accident in 1994 to pay their respects. Eighteen years later, the Chipolopolo had reached the final of AFCON in the same country that so many of their compatriots had died.

Led by the Katongo brothers, goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene and a number of other national stars, Zambia were set to take on the greatest Ivory Coast team in the final.

Despite having most of their players plying their trade in the Zambian League, the difference in quality was not all that apparent against the Ivorians. Ivory Coast had Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Cheikh Tiote, Yaya Toure, Gervinho, Kolo Toure and many other stars on their side.

Drogba missed a 70th minute penalty for the Elephants, and they missed a string of chances to win the game. The match went to penalties, and Gervinho missed the deciding kick for the Ivorians, while Stophira Sunzu scored the deciding penalty for the Zambians.

Zambia had defeated arguably the greatest generation of Ivorian players on the biggest stage of all, making this the biggest upset in AFCON history.