The 1959 African Cup of Nations was the second edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship between the national teams of Africa, organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). It was hosted and won by the United Arab Republic, a sovereign union between Egypt and Syria. Only three teams participated: host team United Arab Republic, Sudan, and Ethiopia. All three matches took place in Cairo.

With only three teams, the format changed into a round robin group, but the results were the same, the United Arab Republic won over Ethiopia 4−0 and over Sudan 2−1. The Sudanese finished second, defeating Ethiopia 1−0.

Mahmoud El-Gohary, who would later become manager of the Egyptian team between 1988 and 2002, would be the top scorer of this edition of the tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament
United Arab Republic	Hosts	1957	1 (1957)
Ethiopia	Invitee	1957	1 (1957)
Sudan	Invitee	1957	1 (1957)

Notes

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Result
United Arab Republic (H)	2	2	0	0	6	1	+5	4	Champion
Sudan	2	1	0	1	2	2	0	2
Ethiopia	2	0	0	2	0	5	−5	0

Win=2 Points

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3 goals

• Mahmoud El-Gohary

2 goals

• Essam Baheeg

1 goal

• Mimi El-Sherbini
• Abdelmutaleb Nasir
• Siddiq Manzul

• Details at RSSSF

30°03′N 31°14′E / 30.050°N 31.233°E / 30.050; 31.233