Ivory Coast 鈥榬eady鈥� for Afcon 2023
Ivorian football president says they have been 鈥渨orking very hard to fix all the issues鈥�, but now the pressure is on them to win the tournament.
The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) kicks off this weekend, almost a decade on from the announcement that Ivory Coast would be the hosts of the continent's flagship football tournament.
The games open on Saturday with the hosts taking on Guinea-Bissau.
Yacine Idriss Diallo is the President of the Ivorian Football Federation. He told Newsday: 鈥淲e are ready, we are waiting for you, for all the world鈥ince more than two years we are working very hard to fix all the issues, all the pitches, all the hotels鈥e invest a lot of money in this. Now if you go in the country, you can see nice roads and you can see a nice stadium鈥e use Afcon as an opportunity to build the country鈥ut we don鈥檛 have any option, we have to win to make everybody happy in this country.鈥�
(Picture: Shows a vendor blowing her vuvuzela at her stall where she sells Ivory Coast national football team attire at the Adjame main market in Abidjan on January 9, 2024 ahead of the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations. Credit: Issouf Sanogo / AFP via Getty Images.)
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