Africa’s biggest sporting event, the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), kicks off on January 13 in Ivory Coast for the first time in 40 years. The opening game Alassane Ouattara, a newly constructed stadium in the southern port city of Abidjan, will host the inaugural match. However, the newly constructed fields are only the start of the country’s transformation in West Africa in advance of the month-long competition, which will feature 52 matches spread across five cities and feature 24 countries competing.
Four new stadiums have been built from scratch and two others renovated; roads that connect the cities have been developed, hospitals built or upgraded and airports refurbished. According to Idriss Diallo, president of the Ivorian Football Federation, the country has invested more than $1 billion in infrastructure related to the competition.
The organizers anticipate that the developments will have a lasting impact and herald a new chapter in the country’s history, which has seen civil wars for the previous 20 years. Ivory Coast already has a soccer pedigree, having won the cup twice before and produced stars like former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba and ex-Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure. But Diallo hopes that the new infrastructure will cement the nation’s global reputation as a soccer powerhouse.
Soccer-playing nations that have found success are those that began by establishing the fundamentals: local pitches, training pitches, and competition pitches. It’s an important first step. It’s going to give a boost to Ivorian soccer.”
Ivory Coast has hosted AFCON once before, in 1984, but back then only eight nations participated, and the host country was eliminated in the group stages. For the 2024 tournament, which was originally scheduled for June 2023 but postponed due to concerns over holding the competition during the country’s rainy season, Ivory Coast is one of the favorites.
