Back in 1957 football was different [round of applause]: players wore boots made of clay and wicker, every centre-forward in the world had a double-barrelled English surname, Sepp Blatter was a nice bloke and the African Cup of Nations was the biggest tournament in world football.
Just pause for a second though, because none of that first sentence is true. Players wore boots that weren't too disimilar to Doc Martens, every centre-forward had a different surname dependant on their specific ancestry, Sepp Blatter was a c*** (probably) and the African Cup of Nations was truly in its infancy.
In fact, in 1957 the very first African Cup of Nations was inaugurated. It was hosted by Sudan, and three teams participated: Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia. South Africa had also been invited to take part, but were disqualified after they refused to send a mixed-race squad.
A round-robin league style tournament was suggested after South Africa's removal, but Ethiopia complained successfully and received a bye straight to the final. However, it would matter not. Egypt beat the hosts 2-1 in Khartoum in their semi, and then strolled the final 4-0 against the Ethiopians.
All four goals in the final were scored by Ad-Diba ('El Diba' - Mohammed Dhiab Attar), who finished the tournament as top scorer with five goals, actually netting 71% of the goals from the entire tournament. A record that will never be broken.
With many African nations still colonised and most of them too poor to field a team, the tournament took a while to grow. The same three teams took part in 1959, with the same victors. And Ethiopia gained revenge in 1962 with a 4-2 victory over Egypt on home soil.
Thanks, in part, to the exciting Ghanaian and Tunisian teams of the 60s, the tournament began to proliferate and, by 1969, 15 nations were vying for the title, and the need for pre-qualification was born.
The biggest football tournment of a continent had at last signalled its arrival.
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