1963 African Cup of Nations

The 1963 African Cup of Nations was the fourth edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa (CAF). For the third consecutive time the hosts won the African Cup. The format was changed to two groups of 3 teams each, with the group winners playing the final, and the runners-up playing the third place playoff. The final in Accra on 1 December saw the hosts beating Sudan 3–0 to win the title.^[1]

1963 African Cup of Nations

Tournament details
Host country	Ghana
Dates	24 November – 1 December
Teams	6
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Ghana (1st title)
Runners-up	Sudan
Third place	United Arab Republic
Fourth place	Ethiopia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	8
Goals scored	33 (4.13 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Hassan El-Shazly (6 goals)
Best player(s)	Hassan El-Shazly
← 1962 1965 →

This tournament, and the previous one, are the only Africa Cup of Nations tournaments with more than four goals-per-game average.

Qualified teams

Main article: 1963 African Cup of Nations qualification

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament[a]
Ghana	Hosts		0 (debut)
Ethiopia	Holders	21 January 1962	3 (1957, 1959, 1962)
United Arab Republic	1st round winners	25 January 1963	3 (1957, 1959, 1962)
Sudan	1st round winners	30 June 1963	2 (1957, 1959)
Tunisia	1st round winners	2 July 1963	1 (1962)
Nigeria	1st round winners	6 October 1963	0 (debut)

Notes

1. Bold indicates champion for that year, Italic indicates host.

Squads

Main article: 1963 African Cup of Nations squads

Venues

The competition was played in two venues in Accra and Kumasi.

Accra	Accra Kumasi
Accra Sports Stadium
Capacity: 40,000
Kumasi
Kumasi Sports Stadium
Capacity: 40,500

Group stage

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tie-breakers were used to determine the final ranking:

1. Goal average in all group matches
2. Drawing of lots

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Qualification
1	Ghana (H)	2	1	1	0	3	1	3.000	3	Advance to final
2	Ethiopia	2	1	0	1	4	4	1.000	2	Advance to third place play-off
3	Tunisia	2	0	1	1	3	5	0.600	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

24 November 1963 (1963-11-24)

Ghana	1–1	Tunisia
Mfum 9'		Jedidi 36'

Accra Sports Stadium, Accra

Referee: Mahmoud Hussein Imam (United Arab Republic)

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26 November 1963 (1963-11-26)

Ghana	2–0	Ethiopia
Acquah

Accra Sports Stadium, Accra

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28 November 1963 (1963-11-28)

Ethiopia	4–2	Tunisia
Worku Zeleke Tesfaye [a]		Chetali 15' Jedidi 67'[a]

Accra Sports Stadium, Accra

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Qualification
1	Sudan	2	1	1	0	6	2	3.000	3[b]	Advance to final
2	United Arab Republic	2	1	1	0	8	5	1.600	3[b]	Advance to third place play-off
3	Nigeria	2	0	0	2	3	10	0.300	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Notes:

1. The sources differ in recording the scorers in that match. Other alternatives were that Ethiopian scorers were Worku, Getachew Wolde, and a brace by Luciano Vassalo, or Italo Vassalo, L. Vassalo and a brace by Worku. Meanwhile, Tunisian scorers were also given as Jedidi and Raouf Ben Amor, or Chetali and Hammadi Henia, or a brace for Henia.^[2]
2. Sudan progress on goal average.

24 November 1963 (1963-11-24)

United Arab Republic	6–3	Nigeria
Riza 30', 32', 82' El-Shazly 42', 44', 81'		Ekpe 78' Bassey 82' Onyeawuna 89'

Kumasi Sports Stadium, Kumasi

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26 November 1963 (1963-11-26)

United Arab Republic	2–2	Sudan
El-Shazly 5' Riza 7'		Jaksa 60', 75'

Kumasi Sports Stadium, Kumasi

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28 November 1963 (1963-11-28)

Sudan	4–0	Nigeria
Jaksa El-Kawarty Adam

Kumasi Sports Stadium, Kumasi

Knockout stage

Third place match

30 November 1963 (1963-11-30)

United Arab Republic	3–0	Ethiopia
El-Shazly 6', 9' Yaqoub 56'

Accra Sports Stadium, Accra

Final

Main article: 1963 African Cup of Nations final

1 December 1963 (1963-12-01)

Ghana	3–0	Sudan
Aggrey-Fynn 62' (pen.) Acquah 72', 82'

Accra Sports Stadium, Accra

Referee: Hédi Ben Abdelkader (Tunisia)

Goalscorers

There were 33 goals scored in 8 matches, for an average of 4.12 goals per match.

6 goals

• Hassan El-Shazly

4 goals

• Edward Acquah
• Nasr Eddin "Jaksa" Abbas
• Reda

2 goals

• Mengistu Worku
• Mohamed Salah Jedidi

1 goal

• Edward Aggrey-Fynn
• Wilberforce Mfum
• Ibrahim Yahia El-Kawarty
• Abdelaziz Ibrahim Adam
• Ezz El-Din Yaqoub
• Gebremedhin Tesfaye
• Girma Zeleke
• Abdelmajid Chetali
• Joseph Bassey
• Asuquo Ekpe
• Albert Onyeawuna

Notes