"Not only do we want the national team to display attractive football and sporting values, we also want them to win the Cup," Obiang Nguema said Saturday at Malabo stadium during a ceremony to mark the country's co-hosting of the event with Gabon.

"The trophy must remain in Equatorial Guinea."

The tiny central African state, population 700,000, has had good reason to celebrate their football talents of late -- their women's national team is one of the strongest in Africa and won the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations.

Their men's team, however, face a far steeper struggle. They currently sit 165th in FIFA's national team rankings and are a lowly 44th in Africa.

Now coached by Frenchman Henri Michel, Equatorial have never qualified for a major football tournament, and owe their first ever participation in the 2012 showpiece to being one of the host countries.

Those statistics, however, have not blunted Obiang Nguema's aspirations.

"We have the same human qualities as everyone else. The women have won the Africa Cup of Nations, so why shouldn't our men," added the president.

Equatorial Guinea is sub-Saharan Africa's third-biggest producer of oil, although the vast majority of the country's population live in poverty.