The most jammin’ AFCON that I’ve been to

19 December 2024

A dismal start, a managerial dismissal, a dramatic turnaround and a cancer survivor scoring in the final: Cote d’Ivoire didn’t just play one of the most incredible Afcon campaigns, they won it and they hosted it! The 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations was a tournament whose script was written in the stars.

Natalie Sawyer sat down with Gary Al-Smith to discuss an event that made international sporting headlines at the start of 2024. The Ghanaian sports journalist, who’s attended this competition 8 times, offered deep insights as well as powerfully expressing the incredible atmosphere in Abidjan.

Just 13 years after the end of Cote d’Ivoire’s second civil war, the nation played host to the best attended Afcon of all time. It was, said Gary, “a wonderful, wonderful spectacle.”

And the competition lived up to the hype.

Initially, though, Cote d’Ivoire themselves failed to deliver. Performances were so poor that the Ivorian Federation made the brave decision to sack Jean-Louis Gasset and install Emerse Faé, who, according to Gary, coached outside himself. “He didn't have that sort of experience in the past. And he just got it done: game after game, they just seemed to get better and better and better. They went on to win the Afcon title.” And, as for the match-winning goal, that was “the feel-good story every tournament needs.” Sebastien Haller, just 18 months after being diagnosed with testicular cancer, completed his own and his team’s comeback in fairytale fashion.

That sparked a night of absolute joy in Abidjan and beyond. Al-Smith, almost overwhelmed by his memories of the passionate, colourful celebrations which he described as a beautiful chaos, described the scene: “The streets were filled with people, there was orange everywhere… And everybody from the president to the kids on the street to even the neutrals, you know, it was like a party atmosphere across the country.”

The Elephants’ tale stands out, but Gary claimed that something crazily unexpected was happening every single day of the competition that ran from January 13th to the 11th of February 2024: it was a dream event for journalists and broadcasters. Part of the reason, according to Al-Smith, is “the democratization of football”. To find out more about his views on that and to hear some of the other stories from the Africa Cup of Nations.

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