The Truth Behind AFCON (African Cup Of Nations)

The African Cup Of Nations has come under lots of scrutiny over the past few years for many reasons. They are usually justified as to the footballing culture it's seen as a laughing stock.

If you are unaware of what AFCON actually is, this is a breif rundown (of this year's tournaments setup). It's a football knockout based competition where African teams take each other on in groups of four. This year there were 24 teams who took part. AFCON made the decision after 2010 to hold the competition every odd year to not clash with the world cup. The top two in the group progress straight to the knockouts, third place takes on other third place teams to see who gets into the knockouts and then last place gets eliminated. Then like any tournament the teams who earned their place go through the round of 16, followed by the quarter finals, then the semi finals and finally the finals. 

There has been more eyes than ever on AFCON as more teams get introduced the more players are taken from their respective leagues. Its popularisation means players are now more willing to play for their nation, leaving clubs without some of their best players. This has caused fans to be outraged as their teams are left incomplete and make them easier to defeat to teams who do not have any African players.

Injuries have been a strong debate in recent years as players keep having to play more games for their club or country. The average number of games played by a player can be around 50-60 games depending on international or cup runs. The introduction of AFCON and the increase of participants means even more games. Ultimately players are easier get injured and miss more important games for their clubs or nations.

One of the main problems people have with AFCON is simply to corruption aspect. Either players, fourth officials, VAR or referees have been known to in some way mess with the game. Some corruption is more obvious than others but it's hard to deny that it doesn't happen. Seen in any competition like the world cup, the champions league and other prestigious competitions none of what is seen there co pares to its African counterparts. Referees blowing the whistle five minutes before full time? Again later in the game two minutes before full time? One example of a hilarious act of supposed corruption the world laughed at. Players blaming AFCON for corruption by booting their team out the competition? AFCON has it all but there is no solid evidence to say the higher ups have anything to do with the problems on the pitch.

As you dig deeper you can start to realise how much flaws and deceptiveness come out around this tournament. In 2021 DR Congo failed to qualify for AFCON by one point. Instead of being fair losers like a professional team should be, they called the committee to explain how a player named Canga was actually born in DR Congo and not Gabon. they said they had proof of this but nothing ever came of the verdict. It was discovered they planned to disqualify Gabon from the competition so they could leapfrog them in the league. A player playing for Gabon was investigated for his birth records as his papers claimed he was born after his mother died 4 years prior.  Stories like this make you think just how many times teams or players lie to the CAF committee, creating an unfair and unsportsmanlike atmosphere in African football culture.

Overall AFCON is still a very competitive competition, more in the later stages, but it gives the fans entertainment and boosts the economy in certain areas in Africa which is much needed. CAF need to figure out a way to make the competion more serious by implementing stricture rules or improving facilitiesand employees. If CAF can run AFCON in a serious manner it could become a very sought after tournament that competes in competitiveness with the likes of the Euros, Asian cup or Copa America.