Nigeria are through to the last four at an Africa Cup of Nations for the 17th time in their last 20 appearances at the finals.
It is a remarkable record of consistency that is better than the other three protagonists who will be playing in Wednesday’s semifinals at the tournament in Morocco.
Egypt, who have been to more Cup of Nations finals than any other country plus won the tournament more times, have had 16 past semifinal appearances, but that has come in 27 separate editions since the first tournament in 1957, which they won.
This will be the seventh time that Senegal are in a Cup of Nations semifinaI while for host Morocco, it is a sixth time.
Getting through the semifinal appearances to the final is harder, with Morocco featuring in only two finals, Senegal in three, Nigeria in eight and Egypt in 10.
The first of Wednesday’s semifinals in Tangier sees Egypt and Senegal continue their recent tussles.
They played against each other in Yaounde, Cameroon, in the 2021 Cup of Nations final, which ended goalless after extra time and then saw Sadio Mane convert the winning kick in the post-match penalty shootout to hand Senegal their first continental title.
