Liberia participated in the African Cup of Nations twice, in 1996 and 2002. In the 1996 African Cup of Nations qualification, Liberia managed to register three wins (against Togo, Tunisia and Mauritania) and four draws, which saw them finish the group in second place and qualify for their first African Cup of Nations tournament. Following the withdrawal of Nigeria, Liberia was placed in a group with Gabon and Zaire. Liberia opened the tournament with a 2–1 victory over Gabon with goals from Kelvin Sebwe and Mass Sarr Jr. but lost 2–0 to Zaire.[1] [2] This meant that Liberia finished bottom of the group on goal difference and failed to progress to the knock-out stages.
In 2002 African Cup of Nations qualification, Liberia beat Cape Verde in the preliminary rounds, then they finished top of their group to qualify for the main tournament for the second time in their history. In the 2002 African Cup of Nations, Liberia drew their first game 1–1 with Mali (goal scored by George Weah)[3] and drew their second game 2–2 against Algeria (goals from Prince Daye and Kelvin Sebwe),[4] but in their final group game, needing a win against Nigeria, they lost 1–0.[5]
| Africa Cup of Nations record | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appearances: 2 | |||||||||
| Year | Round | Position | |||||||
 1957 −  1962 | Not affiliated to CAF | ||||||||
 1963 | Did not enter | ||||||||
 1965 − 1968 | Did not qualify | ||||||||
1970 −  1974 | Did not enter | ||||||||
| 1976 | Did not qualify | ||||||||
1978 −  1980 | Did not enter | ||||||||
 1982 | Did not qualify | ||||||||
| 1984 | Withdrew | ||||||||
1986 −  1990 | Did not qualify | ||||||||
 1992 | Withdrew | ||||||||
| 1994 | Did not qualify | ||||||||
 1996 | Group stage | 13th | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
 1998 − 2000 | Did not qualify | ||||||||
 2002 | Group stage | 9th | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| 2004 − 2023 | Did not qualify | ||||||||
 2025 | To be determined | ||||||||
  2027 | |||||||||
| 2029 | |||||||||
| Total | Group stage | 2/34 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | |
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