Cameroon named African side of the century

Cameroon were named African national side of the century by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Cairo on Saturday.

Cameroon finished top of a poll conducted by the African soccer body wich took into consideration their achievements in both African Nations' Cup and World Cup tournaments. The African champions pushed Nigeria into second place with Egypt third.

The CAF awarded points for performance in both tournaments but did not include the Olympic Games where Nigeria won at under-23 level in Atlanta four years ago and Cameroon in Sydney in September.

Cameroon also achieved the best performance by an African country at the World Cup finals, reaching the quarter-finals in Italy in 1990 before losing to England in extra time. The Indomitable Lions also share with Morocco an African record four World Cup appearances.

Four-times African champions Ghana were surprisingly only sixth behind Algeria and Morocco who have been continental champions only once.

Earlier this month the CAF named Egyptian club Al Ahli the best club side of the century.

Top 10
1. Cameroon
2. Nigeria
3. Egypt
4. Morocco
5. Algeria
6. Ghana
7. Tunisia
8. Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly known as Zaire)
9. South Africa
10. Ivory Coast


The system of awarded points: * The African Cup of Nations - For the 1957 to 1959 editions (3 teams in the final tournament): Winner: 2 points, runner-up: 1 point - For the 1962 to 1965 editions (4 then 6 teams in the final tournaments): Winner: 3, runner-up: 2, third: 1

- For the 1968 to 1990 editions (8 teams in the final tournament): Winner: 4, runner-up: 3, third: 2.5, fourth: 2

- For the 1992 to 1994 editions (12 teams in the final tournament): Winner: 4, runner-up: 3, third: 2.5, fourth: 2, 1/4 finalist: 1

- For the 1996 to 2000 editions (16 teams in the final tournament): Winner: 5, runner-up: 4, third: 3, fourth: 2.5. 1?4 finalist: 1

* For the World Cup Qualification for the World Cup finals: 5 points

Each round crossed in the World Cup final tournament: 2 points

N.B: The Olympic football tournament was not taken into account due to the various changes in the criteria of the players’ qualification in this tournament.