Africa Cup of Nations 2024

The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations already began and we are seeing the continent’s top teams fighting to win the tournament, this time, in the Ivory Coast. This tournament is as important as the Copa America and the Euro, but this one is a little bit more difficult to predict than the other because we can see heavyweights often falling by the wayside early. So, we are going to rank the best African national teams in 2024. As we said before, this will be a little bit harder than previous ranks. Also, we also will be taking into account the performance of the teams in the current Africa Cup of Nations and previous performances in other tournaments. Without any more preamble, let’s begin!

Honorable Mention

Ghana

Ghana is a team with a lot of good players, but somehow, they don’t play as good as we usually expect. West Ham United’s Mohammed Kudus is playing incredibly well right now for the club and is considered the best footballer in the Ghana national team.

Despite having great African players like Kudus, Iñaki Williams, and Jordan Ayew, they weren’t able to qualify from the tournament’s group stage and the head coach, the English Chris Hughton, was sacked because of this.

Top 10 African National Teams

10. Tunisia

Despite being low starters, Tunisia is a very consistent team; they were able to reach knockouts in eight of the previous tournaments and also, they surprised some powerful teams before thanks to players like Youssef Msakni and Ellyes Skhiri.

This time they weren’t able to accomplish this and they were beaten in the group stage, ending in the fourth position. Without their star player, Wahbi Khazri, it was difficult for them to advance.

9. Mali 

The Mali national team is driven by young amazing players, and that is the reason why they deserve this spot and why they deserve to be considered one of the best.

This team are excelling at youth level like Yves Bissouma, Mohamed Camara, and Moussa Diarra, and the progression from the junior team to the senior squad is amazing to be honest. Is Mali right now one of the best African national teams because of this? Yes, they are. In the future we will see a lot of footballers from Mali. 

8. Egypt

No team knows how to navigate the Nations Cup like Egypt. They are a good team that has very good players like Mohammed Salah, Trezeguet, and Mohamed Elneny, but despite that, the team always relies on Salah.

Despite being one of the best football soccer players in the world, he can’t do everything and that is one of the main reasons why they were eliminated. Despite that, they are a very balanced team.

7. Cameroon

Cameroon has always been considered as one of Africa best teams, and although they aren’t as good now as before, they are still one of the top teams to defeat.

The stars of this team are Vincent Aboubakar, André-Frank Zambo Anguissa, André Onana, and Karl Toko Ekambi, and while they play for very good clubs, they were eliminated in the round of 16 by Nigeria in a very acclaimed match.

6. South Africa

South Africa is a national team that looked extremely healthy during the time prior the tournament and thanks to that, they are right now in the semifinals.

Their team is unique because almost everybody is playing in a South African team, and that is the reason why they are playing well. Players like Percy Tau, Teboho Mokoena, and Ronwen Williams are the stars of the team.

5. DR Congo

DR Congo is probably the team with the best defense on this African National Teams list. They are very rock solid when we talk about defensive approach and that is one of the reasons why they are playing very nice lately.

With players like Cedric Bakambu, Gael Kakuta, Chancel Mbemba, and Arthur Masuaku, they fought throughout the tournament and they will play against Ivory Coast in the semifinals. They are the dark horse of the tournament,

4. Nigeria

Currently, Nigeria has a lot of talent in the team: Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Alex Iwobi, and others, and if they click, they can defeat anyone not only in this tournament, but in the world.

Right now, they have already defeated Angola, and Cameroon, and will play against South Africa to reach the finals. They won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, and if they win this year’s tournament, this would be their fourth time winning it.

3. Ivory Coast

Throughout the history, Ivory Coast has been usually considered one of the top teams in Africa thanks to players like the legendary Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure, Kolo Toure, and many more. They are right now the hosts of the tournament and this could help them too.

The Ivory Coastwere able to beat Senegal, and Mali in the knockout stages and if they defeat DR Congo, they will reach the finals. They count with great players like Nicolas Pépé, Franck Kessié, Sebastian Haller, and Serge Aurier.

2. Senegal

Senegal have been great since the 2022 World Cup and also, since the arrival of the legendary Aliou Cissé as their head coach.

They won the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, and they were also considered one of the favorites to win the 2023 tournament due to players like the acclaimed Sadio Mané, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Edouard Mendy, but they were beaten by Ivory Coast in the quarter finals and couldn’t retain the trophy.

1. Morocco

Morocco has been playing incredible since the 2022 World Cup, and right now is widely considered the best national team in African football thanks to players like Yassine Bounou, Ashraf Hakimi, and Hakim Ziyech.

They have a lot of talented players and they are led by the genius Walid Regragui. They have a bad history in the African cup, and sadly they were eliminated by South African in the round of 16, but despite that, they are widely considered the strongest team in Africa.