AFCON 2023: Andre Ayew, Youssef Msakni make record eight continental appearance
Andre Ayew of Ghana and Youssef Msakni of Tunisia, the captains of their respective nations created history during the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations in Côte d'Ivoire in 2023, Nigeriasoccernet.com reports.
With their appearance, the two tied the records held by Egyptian Ahmed Hassan and Cameroonian Rigobert Song, having competed in the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON a record eight times between them.
The record held since 2010 by the Egyptian Ahmed Hassan and the former Cameroonian international Rigobert Song has now been matched by the Tunisian Youssef Msakni and the Ghanaian André Ayew, who are both 34 and 33 years old and competing in the 34th edition in Côte d'Ivoire.
At the age of eighteen, André Ayew participated in his first TotalEnergies CAF AFCON, which was held in his native Ghana in 2008.
Since then, he has only missed the 2013 competition as a result of being injured and being left off of coach James Kwesi Appiah's squad.
The Le Havre player has played for Ghana with 118 caps, including 35 in the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON. Msakni has represented Tunisia since 2009.
Youssef Msakni has represented the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia in every edition of the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON from 2010.
His 100th cap for Tunisia came in the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON Côte d'Ivoire 2023 matchup against Namibia.
On the other side, despite their extensive competitive experience, Ayew and Msakni have yet to win the championship.
Having competed and lost two finals—in 2010 against Egypt and in 2015 against Cote D'Ivoire—the Ghanaian has frequently been this close to victory.
Msakni's best finish for Tunisia is still his fourth-place finish in Egypt in 2019.
By Olaleye Oluwadamilola
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