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The 33rd Africa Cup of Nations Football Tournament (Africa Cup of Nations) kicked off this week in Cameroon. On the same day, the data officially released by the African Center for Disease Control showed that the cumulative number of confirmed covid-19 cases in Africa exceeded 10 million. This makes this Year's African football feast, which has been postponed for a year, still under the haze of the epidemic. The host, Cameroon, held the competition as scheduled during the COVID-19 epidemic and also faced double pressures in terms of epidemic prevention and finance.
A number of active and former foreign aides in the Chinese Super League, including Songshan Longwai aid Toure, participated in this year's Africa Cup of Nations. In addition, this year's Africa Cup of Nations has Salah, Mahrez, Aubameyang, Keita and other first-class stars participating, so it has attracted a lot of attention. For Chinese fans, they also pay attention to the "Chinese Super League elements", among which Shanghai Shenhua's Bassogo (Cameroon), deep-footed Wakaso (Ghana), Henan Songshan Longmen Toure (Sierra Leone) are all active players, while Ivory Coast's Evra, Morocco's Kaebi, Nigeria's Ighalo, Ghana's Boakiye, Gambia's Steve and other former Chinese Super League foreign aides have also entered the big list.
In the opening match between Cameroon and Burkina Faso, Bassogo came off the bench in the 81st minute, and it is believed that as the game deepens, Bassogo's playing time will gradually extend.
Cameroon wins the African Cup of Nations to host the african cup of nations, looking forward to regaining confidence in the event to boost the economy
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the African Football Confederation (AFC) announced on 30 June 2020 that the 33rd Africa Cup of Nations, originally scheduled for January 2021 in Cameroon, was postponed to January 2022.
In the period after the beginning of December 2021, there were many reports that the Non-FA will consider canceling the 33rd Africa Cup of Nations due to the mutation of the new coronavirus Amickon variant strain. However, the host country, the Cameroon Football Association, issued a statement on 22 December 2021, saying that the tournament would be held as scheduled from January 9 to February 6, 2022.
The 32nd Africa Cup of Nations in 2019 was originally scheduled to be hosted by Cameroon, but due to the serious delay in infrastructure construction, it could only be moved to Egypt. Some public opinion said that due to the delay in the construction of competition venues and related facilities, the African Football Federation had considered replacing Cameroon with Morocco to host the 33rd Africa Cup of Nations. In order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, the Cameroonian government has vigorously strengthened communication with the African Football Federation and retained the right to host the African Cup of Nations.
Due to the increased financial pressure under the epidemic, the Cameroonian government has significantly reduced the budget for this African Cup of Nations, mainly through non-FA funding and sponsorship support to complete this tournament. The budget fell from the initial 67 billion CFA francs (about $120 million) to a final budget of 13 billion CFA francs (about $23 million). Therefore, the name of this African Cup of Nations has also been added to the name of the sponsor, which is called "Total Energy AFCON 2021".
Statistics show that due to the general slowdown in domestic economic activity caused by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, Cameroonian enterprises laid off a total of 11,270 employees in 2020, and another 25,694 people were in a state of technical unemployment.
In order to revive the economy that has fallen into recession due to the epidemic, the Kazakh government in March 2021 formulated a three-year plan called the "Post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan" (2021-2023) to provide support to industries severely affected by the epidemic and sectors that can promote the rapid recovery of production and operations.
The president of the African Football Federation, the South African Mote Sepepe, said in December 2021 that the African Cup of Nations 2022, which was held in Cameroon, was committed to bringing confidence to Africa and the world by fulfilling its commitment to the development of football in Fans, Cameroon and Africa.
The statement of the non-FA president undoubtedly encouraged the hosts. It should be said that the holding of this African Cup of Nations as scheduled has also brought hope and added impetus to Cameroon's regaining confidence and boosting its economy under the epidemic.
The haze of the new crown hangs over the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon The epidemic prevention can still not be taken lightly
Africans seem to have a natural love for football and are also very talented. In many African countries, young people can be seen playing barefoot on simple courts. Even as the current epidemic continues to rage, people's enthusiasm for playing and watching football continues unabated. The biennial African Cup of Nations has naturally become a widely watched football feast.
Although the vast majority of fans may not care about the cumulative number of confirmed cases of new crown pneumonia in Africa on the opening day of this African Cup of Nations exceeding 10 million, for the organizers of the event, the epidemic prevention work is not a trivial matter, and naturally it cannot be taken lightly.
In order to try to avoid the spread of the new crown virus during the event, Cameroon and the Non-FA have made efforts and introduced a series of epidemic prevention regulations. Mabala, director of epidemiology at Cameroon's Ministry of Public Health, said that in addition to increasing the number of vaccination centers, Cameroon has also imported millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine from European countries, China and the United States to carry out the Africa Cup of Nations campaign in good health and healthy conditions. Most of the vaccinated people told the vaccination team they didn't want to miss the Africa Cup of Nations, Africa's most enviable football tournament.
Cameroonian organizers and THE FAFC announced that participants in this Year's Africa Cup of Nations must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and have a negative nucleic acid test result to participate in the competition; the stadium capacity will be reduced to 60% during the match period, and the host country's match will be reduced to 80%; fans must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and show proof that the 72-hour nucleic acid test result is negative or the antigen test result is negative within 24 hours before they can be allowed to enter the game. In addition, according to the regulations, all fans, players and officials from abroad will be tested for covid-19 at airports, ports and highway crossings after arriving in Cameroon, and those who test positive will be quarantined or taken to hospitals for treatment.
At least 300 motorcyclists in the country's capital, Yaoundé, have been vaccinated, according to Kazakh media reports. Hotels, restaurants and bus companies have also urged their employees to be vaccinated so they can interact with those who come to Cameroon for the Africa Cup of Nations.
European giants have returned home to play African football feast stars gathered
Although not as eye-catching as the World Cup, the European Cup or the Copa America, this year's Africa Cup is also a gathering of big names and many attractions, and many African players who play for european football giants have returned to their home countries. According to statistics, 54 of the players participating in this African Cup of Nations play in Ligue 1, and 38, 21, 12 and 11 players play in the Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga and La Liga clubs respectively.
Fans are also looking forward to the performance of stars such as Salah (Liverpool/Egypt), Mane (Liverpool/Senegal), Ecambi (Lyon/Cameroon) and Ashraf (Paris Saint-Germain/Morocco) at this African football feast.
Fans will not be unfamiliar with cameroon, the host of this African Cup of Nations, although in recent years the "African Lions" have not had many opportunities to appear in the World Cup, but Cameroon has been the winner of the African Cup of Nations for five times (2017, 2002, 2000, 1988, 1984), and currently ranks 50th in the FIFA world rankings. There are a number of players who play in major European leagues, such as Ligue Lyon's main striker Eccambie, Serie A Napoli midfielder Anguiza, Bundesliga Saint-Etienne midfielder Yuu Nupa and Greek super-OFI Crete goalkeeper Mboka.
This year, following 1972, Cameroon hosted the Africa Cup of Nations for the second time in 50 years. The 24 African national teams are divided into six groups and will compete in six stadiums in 5 cities in Cameroon. The top two in the group and the four best in the group advanced to the knockout round, and the knockout round to the final adopted a single-game tiebreaker system, and the 90-minute tie would enter the 30-minute extra time, and if the extra time was still tied, the penalty shootout would be played.
As the highest level of football in Africa, the African Cup of Nations was held in 1957 and has been held every two years since 1968, and the champion team represents Africa in the Confederations Cup organized by FIFA. Since 2013, the Africa Cup of Nations has been held in odd-numbered years to stagger the period with the FIFA World Cup. From 2019 onwards, the number of teams participating in the Africa Cup of Nations has increased to 24.
The opening, opener and final of the Africa Cup of Nations was held in Colombe, 13 kilometres north of Cameroon's capital, at the Stadium named after the current President, Paul Biya. The stadium can accommodate 60,000 spectators.
In the opening match on the evening of January 9 (early morning Beijing time on the 10th), local time, the host Cameroon played against Burkina Faso. Cameroon, who conceded a goal first in the first half, won consecutive penalties in the closing stages and was hit by Abubakar with two free throws to win 2-1.
In the history of the African Cup of Nations, in addition to the host Cameroon winning the championship 5 times, Egypt has won the championship 7 times, Ghana and Nigeria have won 4 and 3 times respectively. At this year's African football feast shrouded in the haze of the new crown epidemic, which national team will pass the hurdle and finally win the African Cup of Nations, the majority of fans will wait and see!
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