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In the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, the Guinea national team is looking forward to repeating the achievement of the 1976 edition when it reached the final of the tournament held in Ethiopia.
The 2023 edition, postponed from last June and July, to the period between January 13 and February 11 next year, will be held in 6 different ivory cities.
The National Elephants team plays in Group C, alongside Senegal, Cameroon, Guinea and Gambia.
The Guinean national team ranked 80th in the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) rankings for the month of November.
Establishment
The Guinean Football Federation was founded in 1960 and joined FIFA and the Confederation of African Football only two years later.
He played his first international match in 1960, defeating the Nigerian national team 4-1. His biggest victory was in 1972 over the Mauritania national team, with a score of 14 unanswered goals, and the harshest loss he received was in 1972 at the hands of the Zaire national team, with a score of 6-0.
The National Elephants team never qualified for the World Cup finals, and its best result in the African Cup of Nations was in 1976 when it won the runner-up title.
African Nations Contributions
The 1976 edition was held in Ethiopia, and the Guinean team was able to advance to the final match, but lost it to Morocco by two unanswered goals.
Championship 10
1976 Ethiopia
Difference/8
Final/Morocco (group system) 5 points
Champion/Morocco
Top scorer: Newelia (Guinea): 4 goals pic.twitter.com/h66S5DoqI0– Ibrahim 🇸🇦 (@ibrahim66e) January 11, 2017
The Guinean national team played 47 matches in the African Cup, winning 13 of them, drawing 17 matches, and losing the same. Guinea scored 61 goals and conceded 66 goals in the history of its participation in the tournament.
– 🇬🇳 Guinea national team in the opening matches in its last 5 participations in the African Nations:
• 2004, Congo 1-2 Guinea ✅
• 2006, South Africa 0-2 Guinea ✅
• 2008, Guinea 1-2 Ghana ❌
• 2012, Mali 1-0 Guinea ❌
• 2015, Ivory Coast 1-1 Guinea ➖ pic.twitter.com/irQx2B5gUV– Football News (@OnSideAr) June 22, 2019
Guinean participation in the continental finals was sporadic. After participating for the first time in 1970 in Sudan, it missed the 1972 tournament in Cameroon. Then it returned in 1974 and 1976 in Egypt and Ethiopia, respectively, and failed to qualify for the 1978 tournament in Ghana, and returned in 1980 in Nigeria.
After that, she fell into a deep slumber and failed to secure her ticket to the finals 6 times in a row. She waited until 1994 in Tunisia to renew her relationship with the African Cup, but she was eliminated in the first round.
Guinea missed the 1996 tournament in South Africa, and returned in 1998 in Burkina Faso and was eliminated in the first round, then failed to qualify in 2000 in Ghana and Nigeria and 2002 in Mali.
In 2004, it qualified for the finals and was eliminated in the quarter-finals, losing to Mali 1-2 in time.
February 2 – 7, 2004
Quarter of the CAN, Guinea qualified by standing up to the future winner Tunisia and faces Mali.
Our Feindouno-Titi-Youla-Mansare quartet did poorly, we opened the scoring, we dominated the match then the defense sketch arrived. Return to Conakry pic.twitter.com/o9snEWq4IH— alim (@alim_fh) May 15, 2020
Guinea again reached the quarter-finals in the 2006 African Nations Championship, where it advanced ahead of Senegal before losing 3-2.
📸Senegal🇸🇳 vs. Guinea🇬🇳 (3-2) in the 1/4 final of CAN 2006 played on Friday, February 3. pic.twitter.com/bOc3GSmQi2
— Stades Football Club (@StadesC) January 14, 2022
The year 2008 witnessed Guinea reaching the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations for the third consecutive tournament, and lost to the Ivory Coast national team this time by 5-0.
72′ ⚽
81′ ⚽Only 9 minutes were enough for Salomon Kalou, the Côte d’Ivoire star, to score a brace against Guinea in the quarter-finals of the 2008 African Cup of Nations 🎯
Do you remember the final score of that match? #TotalEnergiesAFCON pic.twitter.com/cDzOdBNui8
— CAF – Arabic (@caf_online_AR) October 26, 2021
In 2012, the tournament was eliminated in the group stage. In 2016, the Confederation of African Football lifted the ban on Guinea hosting its international matches after the United Nations World Health Organization declared it free of Ebola in December 2015.
Guinea opens the scoring#Africa_Nations_Cup_qualifiers#AFCON pic.twitter.com/C7r8lhIbj9
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) June 14, 2023
In the last edition in Cameroon, Guinea reserved a place in the round of 16, but exited the tournament after losing to Gambia with a clean goal.
Team coach
Kaba Diawara, the former Guinean national team player, was appointed coach of the national team in October 2021. This is the first coaching experience for Diawara, who played for several French clubs, most notably Paris Saint-Germain, Marseille and Nice. He also had experiences in the Premier League with Arsenal and West Ham and played with the Qatari teams Al Kharaitiyat and Al Wakrah.
The most prominent stars of the current team
- Naby Keita (team captain and former player for Liverpool and current player for Werder Bremen).
- Sedouba Cisse (Leganés, Spain).
- Amadou Diaura (Anderlecht, Belgium).
- Alex Moriba (Leipzig, Germany).
Most prominent former stars
- Ibrahima Kandia Diallo (1960-1973), the all-time top scorer for the Guinea national team, with 33 goals.
- Sherif Soliman, who was chosen as the best player on the African continent in 1970.
- Mohamedou Diarra.
- Pascal Fendouno (the player who played the most for the Guinean national team, with 85 matches).
Guinea matches in Group C of the African Nations 2023
- Monday 15 January 2024: Cameroon x Guinea (Charles Konan Bane Stadium).
- Thursday 18 January: Guinea x Gambia (Charles Conan Bane Stadium).
- Monday 22 January: Guinea x Senegal (Charles Conan Bane Stadium).
