HOSTS Cote d’Ivoire will face Guinea-Bissau in the opening battle of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON 2023) tonight at the Alassane Outtara Stadium in Abidjan.
The Elephants, champions in 1992 and 2015, are obviously the favourites to win against the emerging forces of Guinea-Bissau, but football is not as straightforward as that.
AFCON editions in the past have witnessed some monumental upsets, including first-timers Comoros beating four-time champions Ghana in Cameroon in 2022 and Benin Republic eliminating Morocco on penalties in 2019, and Cote d’Ivoire will be keen to avoid such fate in front of thousands of their home fans tonight.
As the build-up to the opening match intensifies, CAFOnline presents some interesting facts involving both Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea-Bissau, who are incidentally in the same group as the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
Firstly, this will be the first time ever Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea-Bissau are meeting at AFCON, with the Elephants taking part in the tournament for the 25th time; only Egypt have made more appearances (26).
Cote d’Ivoire are hosting AFCON for the second time, 40 years after it was initially held in the country, in 1984, when the Super Eagles reached the final and lost 3-1 to Cameroon.
As hosts in 1984, Cote d’Ivoire were knocked out in the group stages and they will hope to avoid a similar fate this time.
Interestingly, the hosts/co-hosts of AFCON have reached the knockout stages of the tournament in all except one of the last 14 editions – the exception was Gabon in 2017. However, no host has won the AFCON title since Egypt in 2006.
Cote d’Ivoire are unbeaten in their last 12 AFCON opening matches, winning seven and drawing five – the last time they lost their first match in an edition of the tournament was in 1996 (2-0 to Ghana).
This is Guinea-Bissau’s fourth Africa Cup of Nations appearance after making their debut in the competition six years ago in 2017 – they have finished bottom of their group in each of their three previous participations, with a total of three draws and six defeats.
Only Benin (14) and Mozambique (12) have played more matches than Guinea-Bissau (9) at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations without ever winning one in open play.
Guinea-Bissau have failed to score in their last seven AFCON matches, a record for any team in the history of the competition.
If Max Gradel plays, this will be his seventh CAF Africa Cup of Nations, equaling Boubacar Barry, Siaka Tiene and Kolo Toure as the Ivorians with most AFCON appearances. Gradel was part of the winning squad in 2015.
