Former Côte d’Ivoire and Manchester City legend Legendary Yaya Toure has named his favourites for the AFCON 2023 title.
Côte d’Ivoire will stage next year’s tournament which will run from January 13 to February 11, 2024.
This is the second time they will host the tournament after first staging it in 1984.
Looking forward to next year’s edition Toure, who captained his country to win the AFCON in 2015, made a shock list of the countries he feels are favourites.
Surprisingly, he left out former winners like Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia.
Among favourites he listed are South Africa, Guinea-Bissau, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco and reigning champions Senegal.
Côte d’Ivoire were champions in 1992 and 2015, South Africa win as hosts in 1996, Morocco’s only success was in 1976 while Senegal claimed their first-ever title at the 2021 edition in Cameroon.
Also Read: CAF Snubs Nigerian Referees For 2023 AFCON
“It’s normal to have a preference for your own country,” Toure, current Saudi Arabia assistant coach, told Forbes Afrique.
“Côte d’Ivoire has a strong team and many talented and experienced players. But if I had to choose the teams I think are favourites, I’d say Senegal, Morocco, Guinea-Bissau and South Africa. They had an impressive qualifying campaign,” he concluded.“
South Africa’s Bafana Bafana are in the same group with the Eagles in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
While Guinea-Bissau are in Group A with the Eagles alongside Côte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea.
Côte d’Ivoire will face Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau in Group A.
The last time the Eagles and Côte d’Ivoire clashed at the AFCON was in the quarter-finals in 2013.
The Eagles, under late Stephen Keshi, won 2-1 thanks to goals from Emmanuel Emenike and Sunday Mba.
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Publish date : 2023-12-22 08:00:00
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