The first ball of the AFCON 2024 will be kicked this weekended and there is no usually vibe that usually goes with tournaments of such magnitudes. Daily Times take a look on what to expect on the most prestigious African football fiesta with the only question ‘who will be the African Champion this year’? While there is no clear favorite, the question would be correctly answered after the final whistle of the last match on the 11th of February 2024.
In 37 editions, 15 different countries have lifted the trophy. Virtually every continental powerhouse has at least won it once and some smaller countries have also been able to go all the way, like Zambia in 2012. In recent years, AFCON has favored big teams like Algeria or Senegal, however history has shown that anything can happen during the tournament.
Didier Drogba, considered by many to be one of Africa’s best players, who never managed to lift the trophy despite being part of Ivory Coast’s so-called golden generation, with the likes of Yaya Toure and Gervinho, among others, in their ranks. Jay Jay Okocha of Nigeria retired without winning the cup as well and this alone confirms the complexity of the game. And even the latest edition promises to be more difficult to predict.
“This competition is going to be one of the toughest since I started playing in it because all the big countries are here and they all have their targets,” Sadio Mane, the former Bayern Munich forward told the Confederation of African Football portal cafonline.com.
However, Mane is perhaps trying to diffuse the pressure, since reigning AFCON champions Senegal are one of the most awaited teams this year — but that doesn’t mean he’s not on to something. On paper, and for the first time in years, Ivory Coast is not the overwhelming favorite with the defending Champions Senegal coming as favourites. Morocco. Buoyed by their 5 star and record breaking performance at the recent World Cup in Qatar, Morocco will want to confirm that they are now the big boys in football matters.
Egypt can count on a solid group of players from Al Ahly and Zamalek, two of the biggest clubs on the continent, and will try to bring Mohamed Salah his first AFCON. Algeria, winners of AFCON 2019, will try to make up for their surprise exit in the first round in Cameroon 2021. Nigeria, who have not won in 11 years, also has a good shot but their recent poor run is something to worry of. Lead by recently-crowned African Footballer of the Year, Victor Osimhen, the Super Eagles are blessed with a tremendous attack — Boniface, Lookman, Chukweze and Iheanacho — however, it might not be enough in such a dense tournament.
The Nigerian team is still “struggling a bit,” according to Jay Jay Okocha. “We are not consistent enough,” the former Eintracht Frankfurt player told DW. Other teams look like they can achieve something at this AFCON including Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Tunisia and of course host nation Ivory Coast. On a continent where disparities are big between the nations — climate, quality of the infrastructures and quality of the pitch, for example — playing at home has been an advantage for a long time. But playing on home soil is no longer a guarantee of success.
The last team that lifted the continental trophy at home was Egypt: It was in 2006, nine editions ago. No team managed to play a final in front of its own crowd since then.
Despite the home advantage, the Elephants are not seen as favorites, like Idriss Diallo, president of the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) confessed. “We’re building a new team. If you look at our squad now, I think 30% are very young, it’s their first competition,” Diallo told the magazine FourFourTwo. “But we’re going to try to bring in a very good squad so that we’re ready.” But Ivory Coast is working quite well. As the host team, the Elephants didn’t have to go through the qualifications.
In 2023, Ivory Coast lost only one out of nine games and just concluded its preparation to the AFCON with an impressive 5-1 win against Sierra Leone. “We wanted to be in AFCON conditions, we wanted to suffer from the work, the heat and see how the group reacted to the effort,” coach Jean-Louis Gasset told reporters. “And everything was extremely positive.” Ivory Coast might not have a golden generation this time, but the Elephants will count on the massive support of an orange wave around all the country.
Since this tournament has no clear favorite, there are plenty of stars who are going to do everything to help their team reach their target. Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen, Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, Senegal’s Sadio Mane, Ghana’s Mohammed Kudus or Guinea’s Serhou Guirassy all play in the most competitive leagues in Europe and around the world.
But even if they have played and lived abroad for years — and some of them have already won some prestigious titles, such as the Champions League — winning the AFCON is still their ultimate goal. When Sadio Mane lifted the trophy two years ago, he called it the “best day” of his life. “I won the Champions League and some [other] trophies but this is the special one for me. This is more important for me,” he said.
By Desmond Nleya, Daily Times Reporter
