The biggest winners of the 2023 AFCON are Cote D’Ivoire and South Africa undoubtedly. For South Africa, recording its best finish in the premier competition since 2000 with a team dominated by players playing in the Premier Soccer League is a major scoop to boost the image and revenue for the league.
Prior to this fine run by Bafana Bafana, the league’s glorious status on the continent largely due to its club sides top performances in competitions was somewhat undermined by the national team’s underwhelming campaigns in international tournaments.
Hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup but failing to progress from the group stage was perhaps the biggest knock on the South African top flight division as a platform only good because of the heavy influx of foreign players.
Showing the world that the league’s homegrown products can match up to some of the best teams in the world, is a great testament to the league’s prowess and firm mentality boost to the Bafana Bafana’s attempt to qualify to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
For Cote D’Ivoire, the wins are as clear and obvious with a prestigious trophy win and eye opening tournament being worthy a dividend for over a billion dollars investment to host what has been described as the best edition ever.
On the intangible benefits of hosting and winning the AFCON in dramatic fashion no less, has united Cote D’Ivoire.
A country that went through a civil war that displaced over a million people with Bouake as the flashpoint, picked up the fragments of peace in 2006 after the country sealed qualification to the World Cup for the first time.
After needing a long list of factors to go their way including Ghana goalkeeper Richard Ofori’s infamous “corner touch” to progress to the round of 16 stage, it is safe to say Cote D’Ivoire is united than ever in the post-civil war era. (Click highlighted text to read full story)
For CAF President Patrice Motsepe and his cohorts at the football body, the 2023 AFCON has been a resounding success and the next edition is sure to be great too considering host nation Morocco’s track record of hosting world class events.
However, how does CAF ensure the competition’s global reach continues to grow after seeing what panned out these past few weeks and what is likely to play out in 2025 in Morocco? Well, here are some items CAF needs to promote with the AFCON to score those marks.
Stick with January-February timetable
The arguments to host the competition in June and July during the offseason period for the major leagues in the world are very sound and momentum was strongly going against a January-February schedule.
However, the 2022 FIFA World Cup indirectly changed the dynamics as the shift to a November-December period of the mundial gave players the chance to enjoy uninterrupted holiday periods once the club season ended rather than enduring a truncated holiday period before and after an international competition.
All the major leagues in Europe have a winter break bar the English Premier League and the league’s powerful influence got many to believe that the AFCON would be best held after league campaign ended.
Times have changed and the EPL has changed too so much so, teams in the league enjoy at least 10 days off in January for rest purposes which minimizes the number of games players competing in the AFCON would miss for their clubs compared to previous years.
Maintaining the January-February schedule is also the loudest statement to stand against negative African narratives since the Asian Cup that is played in January and February doesn’t get this kind of pushback over the time period to host its continental showpiece.
If Asian countries can’t host the Asian Cup in June and July because it will be too hot, then African countries have the right to host the AFCON in January and February because it is too wet in June and July.
Encourage more diaspora players to switch to Africa
The 2023 AFCON final game had several players born and developed in football settings outside Nigeria and Cote D’Ivoire respectively. From Seko Fofana, Yahia Fofana and Sebastien Haller of Cote D’Ivoire to Will Troost-Ekong, Joe Aribo, Ademola Lookman, Calvin Bassey and Ola Aina of Nigeria, players from the diaspora who decided to join the countries of their parents was a big feature in the competition.
Ghana had its fair share of diaspora guys through Antoine Semenyo, Inaki Williams, Ransford-Yeboah Konigsdoffer, Elisha Owusu and Jojo Wollacott as did Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso and DR Congo. Other countries like Cape Verde, Mauritania, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau weren’t left out of the party either.
By having access to top level infrastructure and coaching at an early age, players from foreign backgrounds stymy the gap between well -endowed countries on the continent and those less-endowed.
As such, games are more competitive, less boring and the overall quality improves; this played a key role in the string of top games witnessed in Cote D’Ivoire.
Future AFCON editions must be held every three years not two
The AFCON has been a biannual competition for decades and though the switch has made the competition into a tourney held in odd numbered years to avoid clashing with FIFA World Cup years, the two year host module has stayed same.
However, for winning nations, having just the better part of a year with the tag as champions creates too many rotations of winners across a very short period of time. The lingering effects of the COVID pandemic haven’t helped either since the next AFCON in Morocco is already less than a year away from being held.
A four year wait period is too long a time to play a competition so beloved by the continent and as mentioned, a two year period is too early so a “middle belt period” of three years is the best option.
The two year point served its purpose when the competition had just eight teams in play and it did same with 16 teams in the mix but with 24 nations now contending for the title, hosting the tournament every two years is a bit too many editions.
With the Motsepe-led administration excelling and co-hosting set to be a big feature of the tournament due to the expanded roster of competing teams, the AFCON has a great future to be the inarguable best football competition behind only the FIFA Men’s World Cup. Adopting the aforementioned pointers will help with that growth immensely.