The Africa Cup of Nations trophy. Picture: AFP

Egypt are struggling to come to terms with the loss of their most-prized asset -an original African Cup of Nations trophy -one of several accolades that reportedly disappeared from its headquarters in Cairo.

And according to reports in Cairo, an investigation has already been launched by the Egyptian FA (EFA) in a desperate attempt to trace all the coveted silverware.

The Egyptian national team -the Pharaohs -achieved unprecedented success between 2006 and 2010 when they lifted the Nations Cup title three times in a row -thus affording the opportunity to claim Africa's main football trophy for keeps.

Confederation of African Football (CAF) rules state that a team that wins the Africa Cup of Nations trophy three times, retains it.

The trophy, whose style was first used in 2002 after Cameroon received the previous cup after winning that for the third time in 2000, was awarded after Egyptian triumphs in 2006, 2008, and 2010.

But on Friday, the federation stated that it had opened investigations into the loss of that historic trophy that was among others 'stolen' from its main store.

"As the Egyptian FA is currently developing the main headquarters, including changing the entrance to a small museum of Egyptian football, the management was shocked by the disappearance of some old trophies from the storeroom," said the EFA in a statement.

The EFA are not sure when and where the coveted trophy could have been 'stolen' but suspect that it could have been just after 2013 when all trophies were relocated to a storeroom after angry fans raided the federation's offices during violence in Cairo.

Algeria are in possession of the current Africa Nations Cup trophy that they won last year following their 1-0 win over Senegal.