The 1986 African Cup of Nations was the 15th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, a football championship of Africa (CAF). It was hosted by Egypt. Just like in 1984, the field of eight teams was split into two groups of four. Egypt won its third championship, beating Cameroon on penalty kicks 5–4 after a goalless draw.

The 8 qualified teams are:

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament[a]
Egypt	Hosts		7 (1962, 1963, 1970, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1984)
Cameroon	Holders	18 March 1984	4 (1970, 1972, 1982, 1984)
Algeria	2nd round winners	13 August 1985	4 (1968, 1980, 1982, 1984)
Zambia	2nd round winners	18 August 1985	3 (1974, 1978, 1982)
Ivory Coast	2nd round winners	1 September 1985	6 (1965, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1980, 1984)
Senegal	2nd round winners	1 September 1985	2 (1965, 1968)
Morocco	2nd round winners	8 September 1985	4 (1972, 1976, 1978, 1980)
Mozambique	2nd round winners	15 September 1985	0 (debut)

Notes

The competition was played in two venues in Cairo and Alexandria.

If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tie-breakers were used to determine the final ranking:

1. Goal difference in all group matches
2. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
3. Drawing of lots

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Egypt (H)	3	2	0	1	4	1	+3	4	Advance to Knockout stage
2	Ivory Coast	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	4
3	Senegal	3	2	0	1	3	1	+2	4
4	Mozambique	3	0	0	3	0	7	−7	0

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cameroon	3	2	1	0	7	5	+2	5	Advance to Knockout stage
2	Morocco	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	4
3	Algeria	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2
4	Zambia	3	0	1	2	2	4	−2	1

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	Semi-finals				Final
	17 March – Alexandria
	Cameroon	1
					21 March – Cairo
	Ivory Coast	0
					Cameroon	0 (4)
	17 March – Cairo
					Egypt (pen.)	0 (5)
	Egypt	1
	Morocco	0
					Third place
					20 March – Cairo
					Ivory Coast	3
					Morocco	2

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There were 31 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 1.94 goals per match.

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Goalkeepers	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Thomas N'Kono	André Kana-Biyik Ali Shehata Roger Mendy Rabei Yassin	Emile Mbouh Magdi Abdelghani Moustafa Abdou Taher Abouzaid	Roger Milla Kalusha Bwalya

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