AFCON 2024: Ivory Coast spent over $1 billion on tournament preparation
The quest to host the Total Energies African Cup of Nations by Ivory Coast originally began in 2021. The Republic of Ivory Coast was scheduled to host the tournament in 2021 while the previous edition in 2019 would be hosted in Cameroon. However, due to the unreadiness of Cameroon to host the tournament in 2019, the Confederation of African Football later awarded the 2021 edition to Cameroon while the 2023 edition to Ivory Coast.
The tournament, which was later moved from June to July of this year to January 2023 to avoid Ivory Coast’s rainy season, will be staged in five different cities. It is estimated that the country had invested more than $1 billion in roads, stadiums, hospitals, and other infrastructure ahead of Africa’s most prestigious football competition.
The West African country, which last hosted the tournament in 1984, has built and renovated six stadiums ahead of the competition which includes the 60,000-capacity Alassane Ouattara national stadium in Ebimpe, as well as a 40,000-seater Stade de la Paix in the central city of Bouake, the 20,000-capacity Charles Konan Banny Stadium in Yamoussoukro.
The 20,000-capacity venues — in the coastal port city of San Pedro and the northern city of Korhogo are ready ahead of the Total Energies AFCON 2024.
24 teams that book qualification to the AFCON tournament have been divided into six groups of four teams facing each other, where qualifications will be based on head-to-head outcomes between countries.
The four teams with the most points in every group as well as the champions and runners-up will advance to the knockout round.
Story by David Kwaku Dzaku
