National Teams with the Most Finals Lost in the Africa Cup of Nations
Full list of national soccer teams that played finals in the Africa Cup of Nations, ordered from those who lost the most to those who didn't lost any finals.
* Note: in 1976 the champion was not defined with a final match. That year is not included in the statistics shown on this page.
Which national team has lost the most finals?
Nigeria and Ghana are the national teams with the most finals lost in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations, having been the lossers 5 times each in definitions with final game format. That means that each of them have been the team that lost in the 15.2% of a total of 33 finals.
Most Finals Lost
5 finals
2 national teams
Nigeria and Ghana
A total of 20 national teams at least once played the final of of the Africa Cup of Nations in one of the 33 editions that were decided with this format. Most of them (18), lost at least once, 8 of them lost 2 or more times and only 2 of them lost 5 finals or more in this type of definition. Here you can see the full list of these national teams ordered by finals lost.
National Teams with the Most Finals Lost - Full List
| National Team | Finals Lost | Years | % of Total Finals | Finals Played | Finals Won | % of Finals Won | ||
| 1. |  | Nigeria | 5 | 1984, 1988, 1990, 2000, 2023 | 15.2% | 8 | 3 | 37.5% |
 | Ghana | 5 | 1968, 1970, 1992, 2010, 2015 | 15.2% | 9 | 4 | 44.4% | |
| 3. |  | Egypt | 3 | 1962, 2017, 2021 | 9.1% | 10 | 7 | 70.0% |
| 4. |  | Senegal | 2 | 2002, 2019 | 6.1% | 3 | 1 | 33.3% |
 | Sudan | 2 | 1959, 1963 | 6.1% | 3 | 1 | 33.3% | |
 | Zambia | 2 | 1974, 1994 | 6.1% | 3 | 1 | 33.3% | |
 | Ivory Coast | 2 | 2006, 2012 | 6.1% | 5 | 3 | 60.0% | |
 | Cameroon | 2 | 1986, 2008 | 6.1% | 7 | 5 | 71.4% | |
| National Team | Finals Lost | Years | % of Total Finals | Finals Played | Finals Won | % of Finals Won | ||
| 9. |  | Burkina Faso | 1 | 2013 | 3.0% | 1 | - | 0.0% |
 | Libya | 1 | 1982 | 3.0% | 1 | - | 0.0% | |
 | Mali | 1 | 1972 | 3.0% | 1 | - | 0.0% | |
 | Morocco | 1 | 2004 | 3.0% | 1 | - | 0.0% | |
 | Turkey | 1 | 1996 | 3.0% | 1 | - | 0.0% | |
 | Uganda | 1 | 1978 | 3.0% | 1 | - | 0.0% | |
 | Ethiopia | 1 | 1957 | 3.0% | 2 | 1 | 50.0% | |
 | South Africa | 1 | 1998 | 3.0% | 2 | 1 | 50.0% | |
 | Tunisia | 1 | 1965 | 3.0% | 2 | 1 | 50.0% | |
 | Algeria | 1 | 1980 | 3.0% | 3 | 2 | 66.7% | |
| National Team | Finals Lost | Years | % of Total Finals | Finals Played | Finals Won | % of Finals Won | ||
| 19. |  | Congo | 0 | - | 0.0% | 1 | 1 | 100.0% |
 | RD Congo | 0 | - | 0.0% | 2 | 2 | 100.0% | |