The side that followed proved it could win away from home. Juan Micha took Equatorial Guinea to three tournaments in a row. At Cameroon 2021 they beat holders Algeria 1–0 and Mali on penalties to reach the quarter-finals; at Côte d’Ivoire 2023 they topped a group containing Nigeria, beat the hosts 4–0, and Emilio Nsue’s five goals won him the Golden Boot.
Morocco 2025 was harder: three defeats and an early exit. By the end of August 2026 Micha had left, Nsue — the national team’s record scorer and long-time captain — had retired, and the federation had appointed the Italian coach Vincenzo Alberto Annese.
Annese’s first campaign runs through Group E with DR Congo, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe, starting in Kinshasa on 24 September 2026. The top two in the group qualify for the finals.