Ivory Coast have won football's African Nations Cup after they edged neighbours Ghana 9-8 on penalties after a goalless draw in the final in Equatorial Guinea.
The Ivory Coast football team celebrates. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Goalkeeper Boubacar Barry converted the decisive spot kick to deliver the trophy for a country who had been heavily fancied for the previous five tournaments but flopped in all of them.
It was a second title for Ivory Coast whose only previous success came when they also beat Ghana in a similar post-match marathon shootout 11-10 in Dakar in 1992.
Their triumph came on a night when 22 people died outside an Egyptian match after security forces barred fans from entering the stadium, the public prosecutor's office says.
Most of the dead were suffocated when the crowd stampeded after police used teargas to clear the supporters trying to force their way into a league match between two Cairo clubs, Zamalek and Enppi, doctors and witnesses said.
The trouble highlighted the problems facing African football and overshadowed the thrilling climax to the Nations Cup tournament in Equatorial Guinea, who stepped in as hosts after Morocco was stripped of the hosting rights.
