West African teams dominate African Cup of Nations. All four semi-finalists at the ongoing 2013 Nations Cup in South Africa are from West Africa: Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Mali.
The West Africa teams made history by becoming the first sub-region, since the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament started in 1957, to have dominate in the semi-finals.
West Africa has produced three of the four semi-finalists at past competitions six times, in 1965 (Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal); 1992 (Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria); 1994 (Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire and Mali); 2002 (Senegal, Nigeria and Mali); 2006 (Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria and Senegal) and in 2012 (Cote d'Ivoire, Mali and Ghana).
However, North African teams have won the most titles at the continental football extravaganza (10), followed by West Africa and Central Africa (7 each).
East Africa and Southern Africa have won only two titles each.
With all the semi-finalists at the ongoing competition coming from West Africa, it is certain that the tournament trophy will return to the sub-region for the first time since 1994, when Nigeria beat Zambia 2-1 in Tunisia to win.
Nigerians are now favorite to win the competition following the elimination of title favorites Ivory Coast.
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