Ivory Coast put an end to nearly two decades of home suffering in the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) by becoming the first tournament host to reach the final since Egypt in 2006. One of the many peculiarities of the African championship is that host countries have struggled for success despite having all the advantages of playing at home.
Ivory Coast’s 1-0 victory over the Democratic Republic of Congo in Wednesday’s semi-final set up a showdown against regional rivals Nigeria in Abidjan on Sunday and the chance to fulfill an investment in stadiums and other infrastructure estimated at over 900 million euros.
The last eight hosts of the biennial tournament have failed to win the competition, and none of them have even reached the final since 2006. Ghana in 2008, Equatorial Guinea in 2015, and Cameroon two years ago reached at least the semi-finals but exited without scoring in the last four games.
Gabon in 2017 did not advance past the first round, which greatly hindered the tournament.
The Africa Cup of Nations saw an increase in the number of away fans in this edition in Ivory Coast, but the vast distances across the continent and high travel costs make traveling fans a rarity, contrasting with the significant support teams receive in the European Championship.
Previous editions in which the host country exited the tournament early resulted in poor attendance. In Tunisia in 1994, where the hosts failed to advance from the group stage, soldiers were called in to fill seats, creating an unusual scene of spectators all wearing the same brown uniform for the final.
A third of the 33 previous editions of the AFCON, which began in 1957, were won by the home team, largely due to a wave of emotional support. Newcomer South Africa won in 1996, applauded by its president Nelson Mandela, who wore the team’s jersey, as he did a year earlier when the Springboks won the Rugby World Cup.
Last month, Ivory Coast was mocked by its own fans when it was humiliated by minnows Equatorial Guinea in the group stage, almost being eliminated prematurely but eventually qualifying as the last of the best third-placed teams. Wednesday’s victory over the Congolese was celebrated with great enthusiasm, leading to a three-hour traffic jam for travelers returning to the city center, about 20 km south of the stadium, on the outskirts of Abidjan.
