Ghana captain, Andre Ayew and Tunisian captain, Youssef Msakni made history after playing for their respective countries In the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Côte d’Ivoire 2023.
The appearance meant the two have participated In a record of 8 times in the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON and equalled the record held by Cameroonian, Rigobert Song and the Egyptian Ahmed Hassan.
The feat held since 2010 by the former Cameroonian international Rigobert Song and the Egyptian Ahmed Hassan is now equalled by the Ghanaian André Ayew and the Tunisian Youssef Msakni who are both present in Côte d’Ivoire for the 34th edition, at 34 and 33 years old respectively.
André Ayew had his first TotalEnergies CAF AFCON in 2008, hosted in his country, Ghana when he was just 18 years old.
Since then, he has only missed the 2013 edition, following an exclusion from coach James Kwesi Appiah’s team due to injury.
The Le Havre player has 118 caps with Ghana, including 35 in the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON and Msakni has worn the colours of the Tunisian National team since 2009.
Since 2010, Youssef Msakni has taken part in all editions of the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON with the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia.
His game against Namibia in the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON Côte d’Ivoire 2023 is his 100th cap for Tunisia.
Rigobert Song and Ahmed Hassan both played in eight TotalEnergies CAF AFCON competitions between 1996 and 2010. The Cameroonian won two titles, in 2000 and 2002 while the Egyptian won four trophies (1998, 2006, 2008 and 2010).
Ayew and Msakni on the other hand, despite this long experience in the competition, have still not won the ultimate 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.
