| Tourney Name: | African Cup of Nations |
| Year: | 1982 |
| Other Titles: | Arabic: كأس أمم إفريقيا 1982 |
| Size: | 200px |
| Country: | Libya |
| Dates: | 5–19 March |
| Num Teams: | 8 |
| Venues: | 2 |
| Cities: | 2 |
| Champion: | Ghana |
| Count: | 4 |
| Second: | Libya |
| Second-Flagvar: | 1977 |
| Third: | Zambia |
| Third-Flagvar: | 1964 |
| Fourth: | Algeria |
| Matches: | 16 |
| Goals: | 32 |
| Top Scorer: |  George Alhassan (4 goals) |
| Player: |  Fawzi Al-Issawi |
| Prevseason: | 1980 |
| Nextseason: | 1984 |
The 1982 African Cup of Nations was the 13th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of African nations run by the CAF. It was hosted by Libya. Just like in 1980, there were eight teams, which were split into two groups of four. Ghana won its fourth championship, beating Libya on penalties 7−6 after a 1–1 draw.[1]
See main article: 1982 African Cup of Nations qualification.
The 8 qualified teams are:
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in tournament | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hosts | (debut) | |||
| Holders | (1963, 1976, 1978, 1980) | |||
| 2nd round winners | (1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1978, 1980) | |||
| 2nd round winners | (1970, 1972) | |||
| 2nd round winners | (1974, 1978) | |||
| 2nd round winners | (1968, 1980) | |||
| 2nd round winners | (1957, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1976) | |||
| 2nd round winners | (1962, 1963, 1965, 1978) |
See main article: 1982 African Cup of Nations squads.
The competition was played in two venues in Tripoli and Benghazi.
| Tripoli | |
|---|---|
| 11 June Stadium | |
| Capacity: 88,000 | |
| Benghazi | |
| 28 March Stadium | |
| Capacity: 55,000 | |
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:
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See main article: 1982 African Cup of Nations Final.