African Nations: Facts and stats

The 2010 Nations Cup marks the 27th edition of the continental championship, first played in 1957 in Sudan.

The opening match and final of the tournament will be played at Luanda's new November 11 stadium, opened just before Christmas.

Benguela, Cabinda and Lubango are the other three venues being used for the 16-team tournament

Angola are hosting the Nations Cup for the first time and have spent US$1 billion on stadiums, hotels and other infrastructure for the tournament, officials have said.

The tournament is played every two years and the next editions will be held in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea (2012) and Libya (2014)

Defending champions Egypt have won the tournament a record six times and are seeking to become the first country to win it three times in a row

Egypt will be taking part at a record-breaking 22nd Nations Cup and also hold the record for the most games played (84), most games won (45) and most goals scored (139)

Seven of the 16 competing countries have won previous Nations Cup tournaments

None of the 16 finalists in Angola are newcomers to the tournament but it is only the second time for Malawi, whose previous appearance was in 1984.

Benin, Malawi and Mozambique have never won a match at the finals before

Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o broke the all-time Nations Cup goal scoring record at the last tournament and is likely to extend it past 16 in Angola.

Cameroon defender Rigobert Song will set a new record for playing at eight Nations Cup tournaments, having competed at every final tournament since 1996. He already has a record number of 33 appearance in the finals.