Saturday | January 13, 2024

The 56-year-old biannual African Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2023 gets underway in Ivory Coast/Côde d’Ivoire on Saturday,  Jan. 13, 2024.

Playing hosts in the biggest football competition in Africa are Ivory Coast in a battle with Guinea-Bissau at Olympic Stadium in the northern sphere of Abidjan tonight.

This Group A encounter is scheduled to start at 22h00 under the auspices of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the continent’s custodian of the beautiful game. In it, there is Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea playing on Sunday, Jan. 14 at 16h00.

Guinea-Bissau are not known for football as for their farming prowess, and are beginning their quest for a AFCON cup win against one-off the fancied squads.

However, they are facing a star-studded Côde d’Ivoire side that is going for a third cup acclaim. For their part, the hosts won it in 1992 and 2015 respectively. 

Overall, Egypt are record winners with seven titles and are in Group B (Cape Verde, GhanaandMozambique) to add the eight silverware to their enviable tally.

The current holders are Senegal who begged it in 2021.