This year’s Africa Cup was wild, unexpected and exciting. The tournament was hosted by the Ivory Coast and was thus held in the Ivory Coast. “It’s the best Africa Cup in history” is a phrase that was constantly heard during these weeks in Côte d’Ivoire.
Usually the tournament has its top contenders for the title, but awaits exciting games with the respective teams to see who will win. However, this year everything was different and nothing was predictable. The two top tournament favorites, defending champion Senegal and World Cup semi-finalist Morocco, said goodbye, as did record winner Egypt, in the round of eight. As a result, none of the eight quarter-finalists of the 2022 tournament made it back to the final eight round in 2024 – unimaginable in just about any other major competition.
But what would a tournament be without surprises? Among the biggest surprises were Equatorial, who prevailed in the group stage against Nigeria and Ivory Coast and performed well up to the final eight. Cape Verde also made life difficult for Egypt and Ghana and made it to the quarterfinals. It was also a big shock that Algeria was eliminated after the group stage. Later, other unexpected moments followed; Congo beating Egypt, the goalkeeper from South Africa saving four penalties in a shootout and the underdog Ivory Coast winning against favorite Senegal.
But who will win the tournament when all the supposed title favorites are already out? While it was very unexpected, it really happened, Ivory Coast wong the title in its own country. Not without a very curious way to the final. After the group stage they were lucky to qualify for the eighth spot as the best third place finishers.They even fired their coach directly after a group stage loss during the tournament, and hired a youth coach with zero professional experience.
The following games were also rather uncertain, but they were always able to get the win. This became uncertain when they met Nigeria in the final, who did not lose a single game in the tournament. It was a sure win for Nigeria, at least one thought, but thanks to the goal scorers for Ivory Coast, Yannick Kessie and Sebastian Haller, they won the tournament 2-1 and thus won the title in their own country.
The football world was especially happy for Sebastian Haller, who had to give up playing football in 2021 due to cancer. In the spring of 2023 he celebrated his return to the football field with his then new club Borussia Dortmund. He went through a very tough time, but he never gave up and now he wins the Africa Cup 2024 with his decisive goal in the final. CONGRATULATIONS!
