The Africa Cup of Nations will kick off this weekend and – as has been the case at previous editions – you can expect everything from soccer that’s totally nuts to players’ strikes. And we’re not talking about the ones on goal. By ANTOINETTE MULLER.
As far as soccer tournaments go, the Africa Cup of Nations is right up there with the maddest, most enthralling competitions around. From Zambia’s extraordinary effort in 2012 to the Ivory Coast finally winning the trophy at the last edition and many more crazy tales everywhere in-between, this is one sporting event worth following for the entertainment value.
What is it? The Africa Cup of Nations is the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF’s) answer to the European Championships. This year will be the tournament’s 31st edition and will also mark CAF’s 60th anniversary. It’s held every two years.
Wait, what? Why every two years? Honestly, nobody officially knows. The theory is that it’s to help CAF generate money. The governing body is estimated to earn around $10-million from the tournament, which is pretty good cash if you can get it every two years. The theory then is that this money will go towards development and that the tournament in general helps African teams grow the sport faster. However, that doesn’t always work out practically, especially when many of the continent’s big stars don’t play due to their commitments with their European clubs.
Where is it? This year’s edition will be held in Gabon. On the surface that might sound perfectly innocent (the country co-hosted the 2012 edition with Equatorial Guinea), but as with most things in soccer, things are never as they seem.
Gabon was up against Ghana and Algeria for the hosting rights, with the vote for rights taking place in Cairo back in 2015. At the time of the vote, Ghana officials were up in arms about the way the process was conducted. Randy Abbey, a member of Ghana? bid committee, told Joy Sport at the time that the votes weren’t properly audited. He said the voting happened, two non-voting members tallied the votes, handed them over to Issa Hayatou, and announced Gabon as winners. No auditing, no independent verification. Nada. Algerian officials backed these claims saying nobody knows exactly how many votes Gabon got and whether they even won by the majority. Soccer, transparency, eh? Who’d have it!
But that’s not all….
Gabon’s current political state is somewhat tumultuous. Following elections in the country last year wherein incumbent president Ali Bongo Ondimba beat off challenger Jean Ping, violence broke out amid accusations of vote rigging. The Gabonese Supreme Court investigated the election result and concluded that everything was hunky-dory. As things stand, things are clam, but as has long been the case with mega sporting events, there are some concerns that the tournament might be used as a way to stage protests.
Who is playing? A total of 16 teams divided into four groups will battle it out for the continental crown. They are: Gabon, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea Bissau (Group A); Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Zimbabwe (Group B); Ivory Coast, DR Congo, Morocco, Togo (Group C), and Ghana, Mali, Egypt and Uganda (Group D).
And South Africa, obviously? Nope, South Africa did not qualify.
Okay, what can we expect? Aside from not being disappointed by Bafana Bafana… African football is an eclectic mix of moments of astounding brilliance and moments so bad they are almost brilliant in their awfulness. Expect a few goalkeeping bungles and the most ambitious shots on goal you’ll ever see, all thrown together with some of the finest football you’ll see this side of the Premier League.
For a little context to show just how completely unpredictable this tournament is, consider this: the last five finals have seen no fewer than seven different nations try their luck. In 2015, the winners of the previous edition (Nigeria) did not even qualify and the team with the most titles (Egypt) have missed the last six tournaments.
Expect players who aren’t on European contracts to do a bit of show-ponying and some tactical genius from the likes of Algeria, all while trying to stay calm with the end-to-end madness by almost every other team.
Oh, and expect players’ strikes. Like transparency, players’ strikes have become pretty much synonymous with tournaments. And don’t come here with your stereotypes, thinking “that’s so African”. Remember the French revolting during the 2010 Soccer World Cup? We’ve already had our first HR matter with Guinea-Bissau downing boots over unpaid wages. That was all resolved on Tuesday this week and the West African country is set to take its bow at the tournament. The news was met with thousands of fans lining the streets for a parade.
When are all the fixtures?
Kick-off times are 18:00 and 21:00 on days where there are fixtures.
GROUP A:
Gabon, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau
Jan 14: Gabon vs Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso vs Cameroon
Jan 18: Gabon vs Burkina Faso, Cameroon vs Guniea-Bissau
Jan 22: Cameroon vs Gabon, Guinea-Bissau vs Burkina Faso.
Group B:
Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Zimbabwe
Jan 15: Algeria vs Zimbabwe, Tunisia vs Senegal
Jan 19: Algeria vs Tunisia, Senegal vs Zimbabwe
Jan 23: Senegal vs Algeria, Zimbabwe vs Tunisia
Group C:
Ivory Coast, DR Congo, Morocco, Togo
Jan 16: Ivory Coast vs Togo, DR Congo vs Morocco
Jan 20: Ivory Coast vs DR Congo, Morocco vs Togo
Jan 24: Morocco vs Ivory Coast, Togo vs DR Congo
Group D:
Ghana, Mali, Egypt, Uganda
Jan 17: Ghana vs Uganda, Mali vs Egypt
Jan 21: Ghana vs Mali, Egypt vs Uganda
Jan 25: Egypt vs Ghana, Uganda vs Mali
Quarter-finals: January 28, 29.
Semi-finals: February 1, 2.
Third place play-off: February 4
Final: February 5. DM
Photo: Christopher Katongo of Zambia poses with the 2012 AFCON trophy during the Africa Cup of Nations Final between Zambia and Ivory Coast in Libreville, Gabon, 12 February 2012. EPA/STR
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