Africa’s most prestigious football tournament kicks off tomorrow, and all eyes are on Ivory Coast, the host nation of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Despite being held in 2024, the competition is known as AFCON 2023. The tournament was originally scheduled to be played during the summer, but the Confederation of African Football postponed it due to weather concerns in the host nation. It was rescheduled from January 13 to February 11, 2024.
Participating countries include Ivory Coast, Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Mali.
Others are Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Zambia.
There will be six groups of four teams each playing against each other. The knockout stage will feature the winners and runners-up in each group and the best four third-placed teams.
The final will take place at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Ivory Coast’s largest city, Abidjan.
Hosts Ivory Coast, defending champions Senegal, last edition’s finalists Egypt, World Cup semifinalists Morocco, Algeria, Nigeria, and Ghana are among the teams tipped to be the favourites to win this year’s AFCON trophy.
The winner of the tournament will pocket $7,000,000 (Shs27 billion). The runner-up will now get $4,000,000 (Shs20 billion). Each of the two semi-finalists will receive $2,500,000 (Shs9.5 billion), and each of the four quarter-finalists will take home $1,300,000 (Shs4.9 billion).
Both StarTimes and DSTV have the exclusive broadcast rights for all 52 matches.
The hosts start the tournament on Saturday with a match against Guinea-Bissau.