The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) or Coupe d’Afrique des Nations (CAN) is upon us! For one month the best football teams of the African continent will face each other in Côte d’Ivoire. This is the second time in the country’s history to host the tournament. Abidjan est doux deh! (Abidjan is sweet!). The cup will start tomorrow, Saturday January 13, 2024 at the new Alassane Ouattara stadium of Abidjan, one of the six arenas for this year’s African Cup of Nations. The Africa Cup of Nations will kick off with a game between the host nation Côte d’Ivoire and Guinee Bissau.

This year promises to be hot! Will Senegal, the last CAN winners, renew the feat, thus winning back-to back cups? Will Morocco, the first African team to ever get to the semi-final of the World Cup, win this year’s CAN? Will the country with the most cups, seven-time champions Egypt, take this one home? Will the usual heavy contenders like Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Cameroon, or Ghana take it home? Or will a newcomer upset the balance? It will be hot. A record 7 million dollars will go to the winners of this year’s cup; it is a 40% increase from the last tournament won by Senegal in 2022. The runners-up will pocket 4 million dollars.

The 24 teams have been split into six groups of four teams, with the hosts in Group A alongside three-time champions Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. The teams will face each other in 5 cities: Abidjan, Yamoussoukro, San Pedro, Bouake, and Korhogo. The tournament was scheduled to be held in June-July 2023, but it has been moved (back to the original timeframe) to avoid a clash with the West African rainy season – it used to always take place during even-numbered years from January-February, until the European clubs asked for it to be moved to June-July to favor their off-season given that a lot of African players play in European leagues, but that time frame has always been detrimental to most countries in Africa, as it is either the rainy season or winter; our elders were wise enough to place the tournament at a time that suited most African nations! I prefer to call it CAN 2024 or AFCON2024; it makes more sense, and it is taking place in 2024!

Already, several teams have arrived in Côte d’Ivoire opening up with players displaying an assembly of colors and traditions, proudly showcasing their nations’ cultural diversity. We cannot wait to see their football prowess on the field. As expected, this year’s mascot is an elephant which is Cote d’Ivoire’s animal symbol named “Akwaba“, which means “Welcome” in Baoulé language. So everyone is Akwaba in Côte d’Ivoire and may the best team win! Who do you think will win?