SINCE the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) debuted in 1957, each edition of the tournament has exposed Africa’s talents, soccer artistry, beauty and rich cultures to the world.
Besides, the competitions offer billions of audiences unique entertainment, funds for advertisers, and rewards for nations and players with outstanding performances.
Each AFCON edition is a moment for participating countries to prove themselves by parading their best players to fight for the coveted title. It is also an opportunity for a talent hunt by Europe and other countries.
However, some editions of the competition organised for the men’s senior national team by member associations have suffered setbacks, leading to either a change of venue or time for the tournament.
Since 2012, there have been changes to five AFCON tournaments because of epidemics, civil unrest in the host nation, poor infrastructure and poor weather conditions.
Postponed editions
AFCON 2023 hosted in 2024
The AFCON 2023 was initially billed to kick off between June and July 2023, but to avoid a rainy season in Ivory Coast, it was shifted to hold from 13 January to 11 February 2024.
A climate website, discover-ivorycoast forecasted that the humid climate zone in the country was characterised by high rainfall and temperatures of about 30°C between May and June.
This forced CAF’s president Patrice Motsepe to announce the postponement of the 2023 edition to 2024.
“We cannot take the risk. January is not the ideal time because of the European clubs, but it is the only choice we have,” he said.
The postponement of the continental football competition to 2024 made it the first time since 2012 that the biennial tournament held in the same year as the Olympic Games.
Cameroon is the only African country to win the men’s senior AFCON and the Olympic men’s under-23 gold medal in the same year, achieving the feat in 2000. Nigeria has won both titles but in different years – AFCON in 1994 and Olympic gold in 1996.
AFCON 2021 held in 2022
Like the forthcoming AFCON 2023, the 2021 edition faced a similar fate.
The tournament hosted in 2022 in Cameroon was initially slated to be held between June and July 2021.
The CAF announced on January 15, 2020, that the tournament would be shifted backwards to January 9 and February 6, 2021, due to unfavourable weather conditions.
Again, following the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, CAF shifted the tournament for the second time to January 2022.
Change of host nations
Civil unrest denied Libya the 2013 hosting rights.
The CAF withdrew the hosting rights from Libya in 2013 due to the civil war in the country and handed the rights to South Africa, which eventually hosted the tournament.
Nigeria emerged as the tournament winner in that edition, claiming its third AFCON title with a 1–0 victory over Burkina Faso in the final.
Ebola crisis denied Morocco host nation in 2015 as tournament moved from Cameroon to Egypt in 2019
The 2015 AFCON saw Morocco losing its hosting rights to Equatorial Guinea due to Ebola while the 2019 tournament was moved from Cameroon to Egypt following the East African country’s failure to provide the needed infrastructures for the tournament.