[ad_1]
Egypt captain Ahmed Hassan holds the Nations Cup after winning the 2010 final
The Egyptian Federation (EFA) launched an investigation after it discovered that several trophies had disappeared from its headquarters in Cairo, with an original African Cup of Nations among them.
Egypt received the award after winning the 2010 edition of the tournament, winning that particular incarnation of the trophy for the third time.
The trophy, the style of which was first used in 2002 after Cameroon received the previous cup after winning it for the third time in 2000, was awarded after Egyptian triumphs in 2006, 2008 and 2010.
On Friday, the EFA said it had opened an investigation into the loss of several trophies.
“As the Egyptian FA is currently developing the main headquarters, including changing the entrance to a small museum of Egyptian football, the management was surprised by the disappearance of some old trophies from the warehouse,” the EFA said in a statement.
A former EFA vice president has claimed that the 2010 trophy is among the missing.
“The EFA was surprised to find that the AFCON trophy had been lost and decided to open an investigation,” Ahmed Shobier told a major Egyptian soccer website. “Nobody knows where the trophy is.”
After the EFA headquarters was attacked in 2013, several trophies, including the Nations Cup, were moved to a warehouse.
However, they were only recently sought out by local officials after the decision to renew the EFA entry so that Egypt’s multiple soccer cups could be displayed there.
In 2013, the EFA was assaulted by angry fans during the violence in Cairo and investigators are assessing whether that may have been when the trophies were taken.
“The EFA is now investigating the disappearance of the trophies to determine if those old trophies were salvaged after the building burned down … or if they were lost when the building was exposed during this incident,” the EFA added.
The regulations of the Confederation of African Football (Caf) state that a team that wins a particular incarnation of the African Cup of Nations trophy three times can win it.
Ghana was the first team to win the trophy three times, in 1978, while Cameroon received the second version of the Nations Cup trophy after becoming the first country to win it three times.
Under Caf rules, teams that win the Nations Cup receive a replica of the trophy permanently while they are allowed to keep the trophy for two years between tournaments before returning it.
The current trophy, the style of which remains the same as the one won by Egypt, is held by Algeria, who won the last Nations Cup (in Cairo) last year.
Credit: The BBC https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/54034164
[ad_2]
