Records that were broken at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations

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Emerse Faè’s Ivory Coast were crowned champions of Africa at the Stade Olympique Alssane Ouatarra on Sunday night.

A competition featuring twenty-four teams, hundreds of footballers in and away from the continent, unprecedented drama over a month long of action.

ALSO READ: Ivory Coast complete football’s beautiful story to be crowned continental champions

As records in football are always subject to being broken and reset, here are the ones that were circled around in the 2023 Afcon.

Host nation triumph

Ivory Coast’s tournament glory saw the side become the first team to retain the title on home soil since the Pharoahs of Egypt’s continental triumph in 2006.

The Elephants finally eclipsed the record that’s spanned over eight editions and over 17+ years to sit in elite company becoming just the 9th nation to retain the trophy in front of their own fans.

Highest scoring defender

Troost-Ekong equalled country man Stephen Keshi’s record of four tournament goals in the semi-final with his penalty versus South Africa.

ALSO READ: Afcon 2023 team of the tournament

The vice-captain of the Nigerian national team rose highest in the 38th minute of the final to plant a header past Yahia Fofana.

Taking his total to 5 goals across three editions to become the highest scoring defender. Goals against Ivory Coast in both encounters and the third vs South Africa took him to three for the tournament. The most by a defender in a single tournament.

Most runner-up finishes

The Nigerian national team are the most decorated team in Afcon history Afcon history with eight bronze medals, five in terms of silver and three continental triumphs.

The final loss to Ivory Coast saw them tie with the Black Stars of Ghana as the teams to have lost the most Afcon finals (5). Remarkably, three of those defeats came to the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.

Most goals scored in a 24 team tournament

The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations saw a grand total of 119 goals scored across the entirety of the competition. The highest ever recorded in the history of the tourney.

Most semi-final berths

Nigeria played in her 16th Africa Cup of Nations semi-final against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa. In the country’s 20th appearance, Ademola Lookman’s goal against Angola sent Nigeria to the semi-final stage.

Necessitating they joined Egypt atop an isolated list of countries to have reached this mark. The Egyptian national team in more appearances however (26).