The battle for the 2021 AFCON is over and the highest-ranked African nation, Senegal, has finally bagged the African title after years of failure.
This one was definitely their time, after falling at the last hurdle in the 2019 and 2002 editions. They overcame a slow start to the competition, and an early penalty miss in the final, to see off record-holders Egypt.
This win is Senegal’s, and the manager Aliou Cisse too, after losing two finals, as a player in 2002 and coach in 2019. It is the rebirth of a new golden generation after the 2002 team failed to hit the expected highs. On a broader view, however, Senegal’s win is a win for West Africa, as the region now has four teams that have won the African title.
Senegal’s win at AFCON 2021 is a precursor to a brewing rivalry with Egypt. The two nations are set to face off twice again in their immediate fixtures, another contest but this time for a bigger prize – a place at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and the betting sign up offers on Wincomparator will just serve to spice things up. Among the top bookies, 1XBet stands out with a bonus of up to €130 while 22Bet has one of up to €122 and Betsson €125 among others.
As Africa shifts focus to the World Cup qualifiers in March, West Africa is still playing catch up to North Africa as far as AFCON titles per region are concerned. North Africa has in Egypt the most successful African nation in football, with seven African titles. No team in Africa has won six. North Africa has 11 titles; Algeria is the second-best after Egypt with two while Morocco and Tunisia have each managed one.
The closest challenger to Egypt is Cameroon, which is more in the Central African part than the West. Cameroon have five titles so far; their fifth having come at the expense of Egypt in 2017. Their race for a sixth on home soil was ended by Egypt in the semi-finals. Central Africa has eight African titles – DR Congo having won two and Congo-Brazzaville with one.
After Senegal’s win, West Africa is now just one title behind North Africa; there are 10 African titles in the region. Ghana leads the pack here, having bagged four titles, followed by Nigeria with three, Ivory Coast with two and now first-time winners Senegal.
The two regions still lagging way behind are Southern Africa and East Africa. Each one of these has two titles. In Southern Africa, Zambia has one and the Republic of South Africa has one. South Africa won theirs in 1996 and Zambia claimed the big prize in 2012.
In East Africa, Ethiopia and Sudan were the only nations to have lifted the AFCON title. Teams from this region are normally eliminated early and even the quality of players from the region don’t match up to their mates in the other regions.
Dipo Olowookere