The Africa Cup of Nations sometimes referred to as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, or simply AFCON or CAN, is the main international men’s association football competition in Africa.
It is sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and was first held in1957 Since 1968, it has been held every two years, switching to odd-numbered years in 2013 and returned back to even-numbered years in 2022.
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Each AFCON edition is a moment for participating countries to prove themselves by parading their best players to fight for the coveted title. It is also an opportunity for a talent hunt by Europe and other countries.
However, some editions of the competition organised for the men’s senior national team by member associations have suffered setbacks, leading to either a change of venue or time for the tournament.
Since 2012, there have been changes to five AFCON tournaments because of epidemics, civil unrest in the host nation, poor infrastructure and poor weather conditions.
AFCON 2023 hosted in 2024
The AFCON 2023 was initially billed to kick off between June and July 2023, but to avoid a rainy season in Ivory Coast, it was shifted to hold from 13 January to 11 February 2024.
This forced CAF’s president Patrice Motsepe to announce the postponement of the 2023 edition to 2024.
“We cannot take the risk. January is not the ideal time because of the European clubs, but it is the only choice we have,” he said.
The postponement of the continental football competition to 2024 made it the first time since 2012 that the biennial tournament held in the same year as the Olympic Games.
Cameroon is the only African country to win the men’s senior AFCON and the Olympic men’s under-23 gold medal in the same year, achieving the feat in 2000. Nigeria has won both titles but in different years – AFCON in 1994 and Olympic gold in 1996.
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