Elephants triumph: Côte d’Ivoire wins the title of three-time champion of AFCON

BY KRISHNA MISTRY

Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) wins the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) making them the three-time champion. The African Cup of Nations is an international men’s football tournament held once every two years, where African countries come together and compete.

This year’s AFCON host was Côte d’Ivoire, where it was held from January 13^th to February 11^th.  AFCON celebrated its fifty-sixth anniversary with twenty-four African countries competing at the tournament. Some countries include Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The tournament was approximately a month-long, where countries were competing for the AFCON winner title and a cash reward corresponding to the standing of each country.

Since Côte d’Ivoire won AFCON, they were rewarded seven million dollars, along with Nigeria being the runner-up and receiving four and a half million dollars, and the semi-finalists, which where South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Cong, receiving two and a half million dollars.

This tournament was a rollercoaster as it was extremely hard to make inferences about teams. Côte d’Ivoire was on the verge of elimination during this tournament and now they are the winner. During the tournament, Côte d’Ivoire did not win many of their games and had less than a one percent chance of advancing to round sixteen, as they lost four to zero against Equatorial Guinea, which was said to be one of the worst teams in their group.

After seeing the Elephants on the verge of elimination, Côte d’Ivoire’s coach, Jean-Louis Gasset, resigned while Côte d’Ivoire was losing. They were now relying on some of the best teams to drop points in the final group stage match for them to proceed to the next round. Jean-Louis Gasset’s assistant coach, Emerse Faé, stepped up and took the position of interim coach for the remainder of AFCON, where he led the Elephants to victory.

The AFCON finals were held on February 11^th at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria went head-to-head to win the title of AFCON, surrounded by many fans thrilled to watch this long-awaited game.

The match began with Ivory Coast pushing up toward Nigeria’s side, with spectacular offence. Nigeria was able to control Côte d’Ivoire, with their incredible defence. Nigerian defenders and their goalkeeper played an essential role during this match. Stanley Nwabali, Nigeria’s goalkeeper, and did a phenomenal job defending and saving many kicks thrown his way.

While Côte d’Ivoire prioritized to score a point, Nigeria’s captain, William Troost-Ekong, managed to score a point within the first thirty-seven minutes of the game. The game was now zero to one, with Côte d’Ivoire trying their best to score a point.

Due to Nigeria’s incredible defence, it took Côte d’Ivoire approximately thirty minutes to score a point. Franck Kessié scored their first point with a strong headbutt while his teammate was corner-kicking. It was a mind-blowing scene to watch.

The game was now tied with both teams having one point. The match continued with both teams trying to score a point and get the upper hand in the game. Things were going smoothly until the eighty-minute mark when Sébastien Haller scored another point, which put Côte d’Ivoire in the lead. It was a memorable point, as Haller had taken a break from football after getting diagnosed with testicular cancer back in 2020. But luckily, he was treated in time to compete at AFCON.

The question every viewer had was, would Nigeria score another point within ten minutes, or would Côte d’Ivoire take the win?

Unfortunately, Nigeria could not score a point within ten minutes, which made Côte d’Ivoire the winner of the AFCON and recipient of the seven million dollars. Many fans were disappointed as Nigeria lost, but Côte d’Ivoire fans were ecstatic about their comeback in AFCON.