Ghana and Tunisia captains, Andre Ayew, 34, and Youssef Msakni, 34, respectively made history for their countries after appearing for a record eighth time at the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations in the ongoing 2023 edition in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
The appearance meant the two have now equalled the record held by Cameroonian, Rigobert Song and the Egyptian Ahmed Hassan, a feat held since 2010.
André Ayew had his first TotalEnergies CAF AFCON in 2008, hosted in his country, Ghana when he was just 18 years old and has since then only missed the 2013 edition due to injury.
Currently at Le Havre in France, the Ghanaian captain has 118 caps for his country, including 35 in the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON.
On the other hand, Youssef Msakni has worn the colours of the Tunisian National team since 2009, and has since 2010, taken part in all editions of the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON with the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia.
His game against Namibia on Tuesday in the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON Côte d’Ivoire 2023 was his 100th cap for Tunisia.
The Record
Rigobert Song and Ahmed Hassan both played in eight TotalEnergies CAF AFCON between 1996 and 2010 respectively.
The Cameroonian won two titles, in 2000 and 2002 while the Egyptian won three trophies (2006, 2008 and 2010).
Ayew and Msakni on the other hand, despite this long experience in the competition, have still not won the ultimate title yet.
The Ghanaian has often come so close to winning, having played and lost two finals in 2010 against Egypt and in 2015 against Cote D’Ivoire.
Msakni’s best performance for Tunisia remains the fourth place obtained in 2019 in Egypt.
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