The Benin national football team (French: Équipe nationale de Football du Benin), nicknamed Les Guépards (The Cheetahs), represent Benin in men's international association football and are controlled by the Benin Football Federation. They were known as Dahomey until 1975, when the Republic of Dahomey became Benin. Benin have been affiliated with FIFA since 1962 and are a member of the Confederation of African Football since 1969. They have never qualified for the World Cup, but have participated at four Africa Cups of Nations in 2004, 2008, 2010 and 2019, never placing in the top two in the group stage at all of these occasions. However, Benin has a unique record as the country is the first national team to reach the quarter-finals of an AFCON edition without gaining a single win in their AFCON history. History Benin hosted its first official international match on 8 November 1959, a 1-0 loss to Nigeria. The match was played while the country was still a French dependency, prior to its independence on 1 August 1960. Benin qualified for the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations, their first AFCON in history. However, they lost all three matches to South Africa, Morocco and Nigeria. Benin's only goal was scored by Moussa Latoundji against Nigeria. History repeated itself again in 2008, when Benin lost to Mali, the Ivory Coast and Nigeria. Again, they scored only one goal through Razak Omotoyossi in the 4-1 defeat to the Ivory Coast. In 2010, Benin's football championship was suspended after the Benin Football Federation's president, Anjorin Moucharaf, was arrested. Members of the BFF decried the imprisonment, saying that Moucharaf had been unjustly accused of fraud, leading to 12 of the 15 board members resigning in protest. In the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, Benin topped their group in the second round. They started with a defeat to Angola but went on to win the next four matches and ensure their qualification before the final day. In the third round of the qualifiers, Benin finished second in their group, three points behind Ghana. Despite not qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Benin's second place finish ensured their qualification to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, where they drew against Mozambique to receive their first ever point at the AFCON. The Squirrels then lost their other two matches against Nigeria and defending champions Egypt to finish third in their group and fail to