The ManicaPost
AFRICA’S biggest football tournament kicked off last Saturday, as 16 teams from across the continent go head-to-head in Gabon.
For some football fans, it’s merely a biennial competition which sees some of the Premier League’s best players disappear from club duty for a few weeks.
But AFCON is so much more: a competitive, lively and quality tournament with the talents of Riyad Mahrez, Sadio Mane and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on show.
From tragedy to liberation, Africa has endured a volatile history, but football has often played a vital role in bringing its countries together.
So with the 2017 edition about to get underway, we’re looking back at some of the highs, lows and memorable moments from AFCON’s of previous years.
1994: Zambia rises again after tragedy
On 27 April 1993, the Zambian national football team were travelling to Senegal to play a World Cup qualifier when the plane they were travelling in crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, just 500 metres from the shore of Libreville, Gabon’s capital.
All 25 passengers and five crew members on board were killed.
The tragedy sent shockwaves throughout the nation, the ‘Chipolopolo’ (Copper Bullets) had beaten Italy at the 1988 Olympics and were eyeing their first ever World Cup spot, but were now gone.
Yet less than a year later, Zambia’s re-built team made an incredible run to the final of the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations tournament, just missing out to a superb Nigerian team, losing 2-1 in the final.
“We played some of the best football in Zambia’s history in the second half of the match,” Zambian legend Kalusha Bwalya told the BBC.
They may not have been champions, but Zambia’s strength and resilience in the face of such tragic circumstances won them more love than any trophy could possible have done.
2012: Heart-throb Herve Renard carries Zambia to title
Zambia may have narrowly missed out at the 1994 competition, but they would finally taste glory in 2012. Fittingly, they would win their first AFCON title in Libreville the site of the tragic plan crash 19 years earlier.
Under the guidance of charismatic French coach Herve Renard, Zambia faced off with much-fancied Ivory Coast in the final.
After a marathon penalty shootout which saw an impressive 18 spot kicks, the Copper Bullets clinched the win 8-7, and some incredible celebrations unfolded.
There were, of course, highly emotional scenes as the victorious players commemorated the Zambian team of 1993, and Herve Renard captured the hearts of many with a moment straight out of a film script.
Zambia’s captain, Joseph Musonda, who was instrumental in getting the team to the final, suffered an ankle injury just 11 minutes into the match, and couldn’t walk.
As Zambia’s players wildly celebrated victory, Renard picked Musonda up in his arms and carried him onto the pitch to celebrate the victory with the rest of the team.
2015: Morocco withdraw as hosts over Ebola fears
Due to the growing Ebola epidemic across West Africa, designated hosts Morocco wanted to postpone the 2015 AFCON tournament, fearing that holding the competition would result in a spread of the deadly the virus across the country.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) declined the request, and with just two months before kick-off, the hosts pulled out. The Moroccan team was expelled from the competition by the CAF as punishment.
Five countries refused to take over as hosts, before the competition eventually went ahead in Equatorial Guinea, and kept the spirit of 2012’s never-ending penalty shoot-out alive, with Ivory Coast defeating Ghana 9-8 on penalties in the final.
2010: Togo team bus is attacked by gunmen
In 2010, a bus carrying the Togo national team was on its way to their tournament base in Angola when it came under fire from masked gunmen wielding automatic rifles.
“We were machine-gunned, like dogs at the border with Angola – machine-gunned! I don’t know why,” said Togo striker Thomas Dossevi.
A rebel group from the Angolan oil-rich region of Cabinda claimed responsibility for the attack, in which three people were killed.
Nine more people, including a number of players, were wounded, with ex-Arsenal and Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor among those targeted.
“I was one of those who carried the injured players into the hospital – that is when I realised what was really going on,” he said. “All the players, everyone was crying, calling their mums, crying on the phone, saying their last words because they thought they’d be dead.”
While some of the players wanted to stay on and play in memory of the victims, the Togolese Prime Minister and President ordered the team to return home.
As the competition continued after Togo’s withdrawal, the attack left a deep sense of unease. This was, after all, Africa’s last major sporting showcase before the World Cup in South Africa five months later.
2006 & 2012: Drogba’s dream to win peace for Ivory Coast
Not only was powerful Ivorian striker Didier Drogba a commanding figure on the field for Chelsea, but he also used his strength and status to try to help heal the rifts caused by civil war in his home country.
During a conflict that raged between 2002 and 2007, Drogba even once fell to his knees on live television along with his team-mates in 2005 to plead with both sides to lay down their weapons.
After a fragile peace came, he demanded that the Ivory Coast’s African Cup of Nations qualifier against Madagascar for the 2008 tournament be held in the old rebel capital of Bouake, as a gesture to bring all Ivorians together.
However, despite leading the country to qualification for the 2006 World Cup, their talisman wanted to secure the Africa Cup of Nations trophy as a symbol of peace and unity.
In both 2006 and 2012, Drogba led the team to the final, but they fell agonisingly short in two penalty shootouts.
“I have won many trophies in my time,” he explained, “but nothing will ever top helping win the battle for peace in my country. I am so proud because today in the Ivory Coast we do not need a piece of silverware to celebrate.”
And on a lighter note. . .
2002 & 2004: Cameroon’s revolutionary kits
Cameroon won the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations in Mali, beating Senegal on penalties in the final.
However, the victorious run by the Indomitable Lions was not the most remarkable thing about their tournament – it was their sleeveless shirts.
While the Aussie Rules-style vests has proved successful in Africa, Fifa stopped Cameroon wearing them at the 2002 World Cup, as there was nowhere to place the official tournament branding.
In 2004, Cameroon pushed the envelope again, turning up for the competition in Tunisia in what was effectively a onesie.
Fifa were once again unimpressed, having initially agreed that the experimental kit could only be worn in the group stages, and fined them for wearing it during their quarter-final defeat to Nigeria. – BBC Sport.
