Cameroon vs Nigeria: The making of Africa’s biggest football rivalry

Saturday’s game at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan will be a repeat of the 1984 Afcon final held at the same venue.

On that occasion Cameroon, with stars like Roger Milla, Joseph-Antoine Bell and Theophile Abega, won 3-1 against a young Super Eagles team led by the late Stephen Keshi.

Another painful defeat followed for Nigeria at the 1988 Afcon held in Morocco, with the Indomitable Lions sealing a second Nations Cup title at the expense of the West Africans courtesy of a goal scored from the penalty spot by Emmanuel Kunde.

The next high-profile encounter between the rivals was yet another final, held at the Lagos National Stadium for the Afcon 2000 tournament, co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria.

Playing on home soil, the Super Eagles had fervent fan support and pressure in equal measure as they sought to avenge the pains of the past.

“There was lot of anxiety in the camp before the final, because we knew Cameroon had many good players and history was on their side,” Benedict Akwuegbu, who was a member of the 2000 squad, told BBC Sport Africa.

“They had players like Patrick Mboma, Samuel Eto’o and Rigobert Song, but sadly for us, it went into penalties and we lost again.”

The 2000 Afcon final loss on home soil, 4-3 on spot-kicks after a 2-2 draw, effectively sealed Cameroon’s fate as Nigeria’s nemesis in African football.

That third final victory over their rivals earned Cameroon the opportunity to keep the Afcon trophy (then called the Trophy of African Unity) for keeps, and denied Nigeria what would have been their third title.