By Batsirai Sango.
From Cape to Cairo, Nairobi to Accra the peoples of the great continent of Africa, our motherland shares symbiotic relationships and ties and the foremost of all in modern times has been sport, football to be exact.
As the rest of the great continent of Africa is still celebrating and giving thanks to the heavens for the advent of yet another year, to the football gods of the continent we also give thanks and appreciation for the talent set to go toe to toe for African football’s ultimate accolade.
As the late Legendary footballer Pele of Brazil christened the sport “the world’s most beautiful game”, beautiful it is as Africa is set to congregate and celebrate its football talent and heritage in the spirit of Pan-Africanism which the continent’s founding fathers birthed decades ago.
The setting for Africa’s football carnival is the place where the continent’s sun sets in the western hemisphere and Abidjan and other cities across the nation of the Cote d’Ivoire will play host to the continent’s biggest football showcase.
With 6 stadia across 5 major cities in the Ivory Coast namely the capital Abidjan, Yamoussoukro, Bouake, Korhogo, San-Pedro the stage is set for the 24 teams’ tournament that will run from the 13th of January to the 11th of February 2024. The following on the table below are the venues set to host the games and with the Alassane Ouattara stadium set to host the final in the capital Abidjan.
Not being political but naming a football stadium after a seating president is cheap politics, and a bad precedence, you go to Europe and anywhere else across the globe where is they a football stadium named after a seating president. My memory serves me well there is not a stadium that was named after President Vladimir Putin in Russia when they hosted the 2018 world cup, neither has they been a football venue in recent times that has been named as such.
Why not name it after any of the football luminaries, Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure to invoke inspiration to upcoming footballers that you scale such heights as the later, such respect will be afforded you. If Napoli football club in Italy based in Rome could name their stadium after their most foremost talents in the late Diego Armando DIOS Maradona in the aftermath of his tragic demise, so can authorities on not only in Ivory Coast do the same but authorities across the continent.
| Stadium | City | Capacity |
| Alassane Ouattara Stadium | Abidjan | 60,000 |
| Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium | Abidjan | 33,000 |
| Stade de la Paix | Bouake | 40,000 |
| Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium | Korhogo | 20,000 |
| Laurent Pokou Stadium | San Pedro | 20,000 |
| Charles Konan Banny Stadium | Yamoussoukro | 20,000 |
The tournament was scheduled for June-July 2023 however considering the period in time would be the peak period of the rainy season in the Ivory Coast the tournament had to be moved and shifted to January 2024, a situation that has put African football exports to Europe at loggerheads with either their clubs or national teams, as it will be the peak season in European football.
With strides continuously being made in sports architecture the continental body the Confederation of African Football ought to spearhead and call for the erection of stadia that can withstand any adverse weather conditions, such that a tournament of the magnitude of the Africa Cup of Nations does not have to be shortchanged because of weather phenomena.
The land where yester year African club football giants ASEC Mimosa hails from, the land of former Chelsea stalwarts Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou, the most famous of African brothers in European football circles in recent times Kolo and Yaya Toure, the Ivory Coast has a rich modern football heritage and could not have made better hosts.
The first whistle of the opening match on January 13, 2024, fast approaching football mad fans across the continent are bracing for what will be an enthralling contest as football heavyweights lock horns for the continent’s ultimate football price.
The opening ceremony is surely another episode to lookout for as it will be a show of the motherland’s diverse, dynamic yet symbiotic cultures and with such host cities as Yamoussoukro playing host to the biggest church in the world the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace (Basilique Notre-Dame de la Paix).
It’s another occasion to look forward to the opening ceremony as in African culture there can be no celebration of anything without music and dance, and the continent’s music stalwarts are billed to set the tournament alight.
