Durosimi Thomas BBC Sport

Benin put heavy investment into their Tunisian campaign

Few countries have ever put so much effort and money into qualifying with so little success as the Squirrels.

For a decade the Benin league threw huge amounts of cash into attracting big African stars on professional contracts.

Benin's road to Tunisia

Among them was the former Ghanaian skipper, Abedi Pele, who began his professional career with Dragons - and who told the BBC he was not surpirsed that Benin had finally made the finals.

"Benin deserve to qualify because from what I saw in their game against Tanzania, they played good football and won 4-0," Abedi said.

"The authorities seemed committed and it is no surprise they have qualified.

Abedi is impressed with Benin

"I think it will really boost African football if the smaller nations organised themselves and produce good results like this."

Since the inception of the Nations Cup in 1957, the Squirrels have either ignored the qualifying series, withdrawn or failed to qualify.

But the campaign to reach next year's tournament in Tunisia has yielded dividend after the government and the football association invested enormous resources.

Before the start of the qualifiers, the government spent about $25,000 to send the team on a tour to Belgium.

Also, as part of the revival, last year they made a successful bid for the Under-20 African Nations Cup tournament in 2005.

And Abedi said that the difference between his days in Benin and now is that attention was mainly focussed on inter-club rivalry in the local scene.

"Now Benin have players overseas and even the local based footballers want to perform at the highest stage," Abedi explained.

"They used to have a French-born star Jean-Marc Adjovi-Bocco. I think he will be delighted that his country of origin, have made it to the highest competition of African football.

"I don't want to anticipate what will happen to them when they get to Tunisia, but what is important is that they show something different."

Benin was briefly banned by Fifa four years ago and the national league was suspended for almost three years.