Africa Cup of Nations

Napoli president says he won't sign Africans unless they skip AFCON, Koulibaly issues classy response

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The newly-signed Chelsea center-back gave an eloquent response after the president of his former club aired his frustrations with the Africa Cup of Nations.

The Africa Cup of Nations (French: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations) is the men's football tournament contested by the member associations of the Confederation of African Football (CAN). Often referred to as AFCON or CAN, the competition was created in 1957 and has been held every two years since 1968.

Sudan hosted the first-ever edition of the Africa Cup of Nations where Egypt emerged as the winner. The Pharaohs, Cameroon's Indomitable Lions and Ghana's Black Stars are the giants of the competition.

The Africa Cup of Nations has undergone expansions over the years having originally started with just three participants in 1957. Nowadays, 24 teams - including the host nation - are eligible to feature in the finals. Six groups of four are created and teams in each group play a single round-robin (three matches in all). A win merits three points while a single point is awarded for a draw. After the group stage, the two highest-ranking teams and four best third-placed teams in each group advance to the Round of 16.

The winners of the first knock-out game progress to the quarter-finals and in the same order, the semi-finals and finals. Losers of the semi-finals contest in the Third Place final.