The African Bridge Federation was created in 1996 as a sub Zone of the "Bridge Federation of Asia, Africa & Middle East" and, in 2000, gained its autonomy by acquiring the current name.

 The ABF, which covers Zone 8 of the WBF, includes 8 countries for a total of less than 5,000 members, is based in Cairo and its President is the Egyptian Bernard Pascal.

 In the past, ABF has come to count about twenty affiliated countries and over 6000 members but the world crisis that has hit bridge has not spared even Africa.

 The first federation congress took place in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in May 2001. With only South Africa (4 players) and Kenya (10 players) participating, this couldn't be considered a legitimate Zonal qualification event.

 The second “official” African Zonal Championship was originally scheduled to be held in Botswana, but was eventually moved to South Africa. The event, held at The Links in Johannesburg in June, 2003, was the vehicle to select the Zone 8 representatives for the Monte Carlo Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup. There were eight teams in the Open Series and four in the Women’s, which was considered a reasonable turnout. South Africa and Egypt were the hot favorites in both events, but in the Women’s, Zimbabwe surprised Egypt to edge them out for second. As Zimbabwe was ineligible, South Africa went instead. None of the zonal representatives fared well at the World Bridge Team Championships in Monte Carlo later that year.

 The third congress, held in Casablanca, Morocco in May 2005, was the true start of African Zonal championships, complete with bulletins and multi-nation participation in each of the three events: 7 Bermuda Bowl teams, 5 Venice Cup tams, and three Senior Bowl entries. Egypt won all three Zonal Trials, with South Africa second in the Bermuda Bowl division, Morocco second in the Venice Cup and Senior divisions.

This time, our representatives made a better showing in Estoril, where the World Bridge Team Championships were held: Egypt finished seventh in the Bermuda Bowl round robin before losing convincingly to Sweden in the quarterfinals and South Africa was in contention at the end only to fall short. In the Venice Cup round robin, Egypt finished a creditable 10th.