AFCON 2023: Tunisia v Namibia; Facts & figures behind the fixture

By CAF Online

Tunisia will begin their TotalEnergies CAF Cup of Nations campaign on Tuesday when they play Namibia in their Group E on Wednesday at the tournament in Cote d’Ivoire.

Ahead of the match, CafOnline.com takes a look at some interesting facts and figures of the two sides below:

• This will be the first encounter between Tunisia and Namibia at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations. They last faced each other in November 2007, in a friendly – Tunisia won 2-0 at home. 

• This is Tunisia’s 21^st participation in the CAF Africa Cup of Nations, and their 16^th in a row, the latter being a record in the history of the tournament. Their only AFCON title dates back to 2004, as hosts; since then, they’ve progressed past the quarter-finals only once, in 2019, losing in the third-place match.

• Tunisia have failed to win any of their last four opening matches at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (D2 L2). The last time they were victorious in their first game at an edition of the tournament was in 2013 against Algeria (1-0).

• None of Tunisia’s last eight matches at the Africa Cup of Nations has ended in a draw (W3 L5) – their last stalemate was against Ghana in the round of 16 in the 2019 edition.

• Tunisia conceded only one goal in six games in qualification for this year’s CAF Africa Cup of Nations, fewer than any other team. 

• This is Namibia’s fourth appearance at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations, their first since 2019. They have finished bottom of their group in each of their three previous participations.

• Namibia have lost seven of their nine matches at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (D2). Coming into this year’s tournament, only Benin (14) and Mozambique (12) have played more AFCON games than Namibia (9) without ever winning one.

• Namibia have conceded 2.7 goals per game at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (24 in 9 games), that’s more than any other team to have taken part in more than one edition of the tournament.

• Tunisia’s Youssef Msakni will attempt to score in a record-equaling sixth CAF Africa Cup of Nations tournament (currently held by four players including André Ayew). He found the net on average every 22 minutes during the group stage of the qualifiers for this year’s tournament (5 goals in 110 minutes), the best ratio of any player with 2+ goals.

• Peter Shalulile scored four of Namibia’s six goals in the group stage of the qualifiers for this year’s CAF Africa Cup of Nations. He was the only player alongside Victor Osimhen and Patson Daka to score in four different matches.