AFCON 2023 Recap: Ivory Coast are Champions of Africa!

The 2023 AFCON was a thrilling tournament with twists and turns that would make your head spin. After countless upsets, Ivory Coast has claimed the mantle of champions of Africa! Let’s take a look back at the final, and tournament as a whole!

AFCON Final Recap

Nigeria 1 – 2 Ivory Coast

Coming into the final both Nigeria and Ivory Coast had dealt with adversity. Nigeria was not counted as one of the greats at this tournament, but their stellar play and defensive structure propelled them to the pantheon of Africa’s footballing nations. Ivory Coast was down badly in the group stage. They lost two of three matches, and fired their coach, but still were able to go on a run to the final as hosts! The meeting of these two sides showcased the bonkers nature that happens at most AFCONs

The match opened up and began to play out like many thought it would. Nigeria loves to stay in their structured defensive shape, dispossess the opponent, and then spring on a counterattack. Ivory Coast has recently been a team that loves to keep the ball and move it wide to create chances, they did this in the AFCON final. Ivory Coast took 18 shots, eight of which were on target, which generated their xG of 1.45. While it seemed like Ivory Coast would be the team to score first, Nigeria was actually able to swing the momentum in the first half.

Seven minutes before halftime, Nigeria’s captain, William Troost-Ekong, rose above all on a Nigerian corner kick to cushion a lovely header into the net. Nigeria had the lead heading into halftime. This late first-half goal could have done one of two things, dismantle the confidence of Ivory Coast, or become their rallying cry to push to equalize and win. The latter would end up coming true in the 2023 AFCON final.

17 minutes into the second half Ivory Coast found the equalizer from their own corner kick. Franck Kessié was able to head home the chance to tie the game. Now for the final 28 minutes, both nations looked to find their way to score. The match went back and forth, but it didn’t look like another goal was going to come, that’s when this match produced a storybook-like ending for this AFCON.

In the 81st minute, Ivory Coast went on an attacking sequence down the left side of the pitch. Simon Adingra put a sneaky ball into the box, and big Ivory Coast striker Sebastien Haller could barely get his foot on the ball. The cross was in an awkward position but Haller threw his foot at the ball. The result was an inch-perfect deflection of the ball that flew into the bottom right corner of the net. Ivory Coast led with nine minutes to play, and they would not let go.

Nigeria pushed numbers forward in desperation to find the equalizer, but they could not best the Ivory Coast’s defense and keeper. The match ended 2-1 and the hosts Ivory Coast completed their improbable championship quest!

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The game started with goals and entertainment, ended by Côte d’Ivoire’s gold medal! ?#NGRCIV | #TotalEnergiesAFCON2023Final | @Football2Gether
— CAF (@CAF_Online) February 11, 2024

An insane and memorable AFCON 2023

This AFCON saw Ivory Coast win the tournament after a disastrous beginning to their tournament. Nigeria probably played the best throughout the entire tournament but had to settle for second place; South Africa’s will to never give up helped them secure a third-place finish. That’s the podium at the 2023 AFCON.

This tournament always produced entertaining matches and memorable runs. There seems to always be chaos, which is exactly what occurred in this iteration. Many of the highly ranked favorites fell either in the group stage or the Round of 16 of the 2023 AFCON. This paved the way for some smaller, lesser-known, nations to show their quality. It’s why the AFCON is such a delight to watch. While Ivory Coast now reigns for the next two years, we know that the next AFCON will be full of thrilling, suspenseful matches as nations fight to become champions of Africa!