CAF ANC2023: FIREWORKS BEGIN IN COTE D’IVOIRE

 

Today, the  13^th of January 2024, twenty-four African national teams are converged in Cote D’Ivoire for the commencement of the African Nations Football Cup tournament. It’s a culmination of over a year of rigorous planning and organization to highlight the best of African Football players to the global audience.

Two years ago, five nations (Morocco, Ghana, Algeria, Senegal, and Cameroon, represented Africa in the FIFA World Cup Competition in Qatar. Morocco surprised the world by becoming the first African nation to qualify for the semi-final stage, since the beginning of the FIFA World Cup. Over the years, the number of participating teams has increased, and so has the prize money for the participating teams and winners. The Confederation for African Football (CAF), has also signed bigger broadcast rights to further enhance the development of African football and as the competition kicks off today, planning and organization, will move from the board rooms to the football fields at the six-stadia accredited for this competition.

 

THE OPENING MATCH: COTE D’IVOIRE VS GUINEA BISSAU

This evening, Group A partners, and hosts, Cote D’Ivoire would lock horns with Guinea Bissau, at the Alassane Quattara Stadium, Abidjan, to start off the 34^th African Nations Cup Competition. Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea are the other teams in group A and they’d play the second match of the competition tomorrow afternoon. On paper, this group has strong teams with each having a fair chance of qualification. Cote D’Ivoire, looks like a team in transition, but could also ride on an overwhelming home support to progress to the next stage. They have won the competition in the past(1992, 2015) and once boasted of players such as Didier Drogba, Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure, Emmanuel Eboue, Salomon Kalou, et al. Presently, the team is short of such a caliber of stars. Their opponents, Guinea Bissau can be rightly categorized as one of Africa’s rising football nations enjoying the liberalization of international transfers through the Bosman Ruling. They have most of their players in the Portuguese league and have sprung some surprises in the recent past. It’s not their first participation at the African Nations Cup Competition.

The current dynamics of football make it difficult to predict a lesser opportunity for qualification for Guinea Bissau or any other team. A considerable amount of players participating in the competition ply their trade in the European leagues and the margins of their exposure and experience are very little. The beauty of this competition is its capability to showcase several hidden African football talents and inspire others in various local leagues across Africa. Football has become a veritable profession that has rescued several poor families in Africa from hunger, poverty, and the ineptitude of diverse African governments whose focus on building a workable social structure to support the people, has been underwhelming.

Beyond the razmatazzz of the sounds of vuvuzelas, the screaming of football fans, the dancing of supporters, and other excitements the football brings, the time has come for African football leagues to begin to make deliberate efforts towards attracting players from other continents and/or even their own kith and kin leaving Europe to develop their local leagues. The beauty of the African geographical landscape, its fauna, and flora must be used to attract others to build stronger football leagues in different African states. It is difficult but possible!