The 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations final will get underway in Ivory Coast on Saturday with the host playing minnows Guinea Bissau at 11PM EAT.
Group A in this year’s edition comprise of Ivory Coast,Guinea Bissau,Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea.
Ivory Coast-The Elephants
Africa Cup of Nations record:
Previous appearances in finals: (24) 1965, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021
Best performance: Winners 1992, 2015.
The home team is coached by a 70 year old frenchman Jean-Louis Gasset, who initially served as Laurent Blanc’s assistant for two years with France after the 2010 World Cup and took over as the Ivorian coach in May 2022.
Sebastien Haller, a 29-year-old striker born in France, began his career at AJ Auxerre before spending spells at FC Utrecht in the Netherlands, Eintracht Frankfurt, and West Ham United.
The elephants is ranked 49th according to December 2023 FIFA ranking and qualified directly as host although they played qualifier matches finishing 2nd in group H behind Zambia.
NIGERIA – The Super Eagles
Previous appearances in finals: (19) 1963, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2019, 2021
Best performance: Winners 1980, 1994, 2013
Nigeria, who will be chasing glory for the fourth time, is led by Jose Peserio, a 63-year-old Portuguese tactician who took over in May 2022 after serving as the head coach for the Saudi Arabia and Venezuela national teams and home clubs FC Porto, Sporting, and Braga.
2023 African Footballer of the Year Victor Osimhen is among the key players for the Super Eagles.
Nigeria is ranked 42 in the FIFA world ranking and booked their spot in Ivory Coast after winning Group A ahead of Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Sao Tome and Principe.
EQUATORIAL GUINEA– Nzalang Nacional
Guinea Bissau will be making their 4th appearance at the AFCON 2023 although they have finished bottom of their groups in the last 3 editions.
Previous appearances in finals: (3) 2017, 2019, 2021
They are under the tutelage of the 56 year old home-born coach Baciro Cande who brags of engineering four successive qualifications for the Cup of Nations finals .
29 yearl old Mama Balde is both the key striker and player for the Nzalang Nacional and made his debut in the 2019 AFCON in Egypt before appearing again in the 2021 tournament in Cameroon.
The National Thunder, as they are called in English, is ranked 103 in the December FIFA ranking and qualified for this year’s edition after finishing 2nd in Group A behind Nigeria.
GUINEA BISSAU, Djurtus
Djurtus means an African wild dog.
Africa Cup of Nations record:
Previous appearances in finals: (3) 2012, 2015, 2021
Best performance: Semi-finalists 2015
Djurtus is coached by former international Juan Micha, a 48 year old tactician who had also coached the women team and the U 17 side.
Defender Saul Coco aged 24 is their key player and played a pivotal role for side in last edition in Cameron where they were eliminated at the quarter finals.
Guinea Bissau is ranked 88 and qualified to this year’s edition after finishing 2nd in group J behind Tunisia.
Remember to catch all the action live and exclusively on KBC Channel 1 ,Y254 and all the 14 KBC affiliate radio stations.
