Your Guide to the 2024 African Nations Cup (AFCON)
In exactly a month from today (01/13/2024), 24 African nations will gather in the Ivory Coast in search of continental and diaspora bragging rights as the best footballing nation.
The tournament kicks off on Saturday, 13 January, with Ivory Coast against Guinea-Bissau at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan. The first eye-catching fixtures are record seven-time champions Egypt facing Mozambique. Reining champions Senegal will start the defense of their title against little brother The Gambia.
Groups
Group A: Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau.
Group B: Egypt, Ghana, Cape Verde, Mozambique.
Group C: Senegal, Cameroon, Guinea, The Gambia.
Group D: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Angola.
Group E: Tunisia, Mali, South Africa, Namibia.
Group F: Morocco, DR Congo, Zambia, Tanzania.
Favorites
The AFCON is a tricky competition in which no game is a foregone conclusion. Nonetheless, these teams are obliged to seek the ultimate glory based on their historical status and current form.
Senegal as the holders come into the tournament with no clear world-class players anymore. Their talismanic striker Saidou Mane is currently playing in the Saudi League. The core of their 2022 squad is old and maintained, as they seek to incorporate younger players like raising Tottenham star Pape Sarr. Whom might be too young to carry this team to glory. Nonetheless, coach Aliou Cisse and his men are favorites because of the overall team balance being a very good one.
Morocco made history in Qatar 2022, as the first African nation to progress into the semifinals of the FIFA Men’s World Cup. As a footballing nation, Morocco is growing exceptionally in by investing heavily in their domestic league and infrastructure, whilst scouting players all over the globe. The World Cup squad is still intact and will be adding a few key players like Marseille’s Amine Harit and Gent’s Tarik Tissoudali both missed during the World Cup. The main worry for Morocco is their no-love-lost relationship with the competition, having only won the AFCON once in 1976. They tend to underperform far beyond expectations based on the talent at hand.
Nigeria is a household name at the AFCON, the three-time winners and four-time runner-ups will be seeking their first win in more than a decade. Napoli forward and African Player of the Year 2023, Victor Osimhen is the main guy for a very imbalanced squad with most of the talent upfront and on the wings. Nigeria is missing the right balance in its midfield. With his recent form maybe Alex Iwobi, a long-time wunderkind might be the conductor they seek.
Egypt already has a record number of seven AFCON titles to show for, but they have yet to win an AFCON title in two decades. Having lost two finals in the last three editions of the tournament they will come into this year's AFCON with a much weaker team that plays with a lot of patience always hoping their talismanic forward Mohamed Salah has a genius moment. Do not expect Egypt to play Nollywood-entertaining soccer. They are a team you hate to play because it’s ugly, as they only seek to win.
Algeria, a team that won it in 2019 comes into this tournament with a terrific record, they have yet to lose a game in regular time (90 minutes of soccer) since 2022. Looking at their team it is the most balanced in terms of experience, talent, and confidence. I believe they will make the strongest case for the win this edition. A final between Algeria and Morocco would be a dream due to all the historical implications on and off the field.
Outsiders
These teams are usually the ones that end up giving us the most joy and upsets.
The Ivory Coast team will have an entire nation hyping them towards victory. Unfortunately, this Ivorian squad is a shambolic upcycled squad with no clear world-class players. This is exactly what makes them a scary team to face. The danger comes from various players who are all killers with experience. Ibrahim Sangare and Frank Kessie pulling the strings in midfield and Sebastien Haller who has beaten cancer will be there to add up his goal tally.
Burkina Faso is a very exciting team with a strong history of upsets in the competition. One always wonders how they get into the semifinals as they never really have prolific players. Yet it is the sum of them all that equals a great AFCON team. Dango Ouattara and Edmond Tapsoba will be the main players the team will lean on when the going gets tough.