A Love Letter to Africa’s Festival of Football

In Africa, the Nations Cup is more than just a tournament. It’s an opportunity for the entire continent to put their differences and individual issues to the side and come together for one common goal, football.

It is no secret that Africa has its fair share of problems, just like everywhere else in the world. For some reason, the difficulties that Africans face is magnified, and a negative image is portrayed. The African Cup of Nations presents an opportunity for a place so rich in culture and diversity to show its true colours to the world. 

The tournament is not without controversy; many clubs - in the middle of their domestic seasons - have made it clear that they are unhappy and in some cases unwilling to have to release players. Despite it clearly being a point of frustration for the respective managers and football associations of each nation, it is a testament to the quality of African football players around the world. 

This is the 35th edition of the tournament and you would have to go back decades to find a year that was filled with as much excitement and anticipation as this one. There has never been this much diversity in terms of talent when it comes to the competition as there is now - and the feeling is that it will only get better. Gone are the days where Ivory Coast would have 11 world-class players, each enjoying Champions League football, to dispatch of a smaller nation with ease. Now, even the lesser-known nations have players competing in the highest ranks of European football.

This adds to the excitement of the competition. A lot more teams feel like they can make a genuine run in the competition and go toe to toe with the usual African superpowers.

Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, AC Milan, Napoli, Bayern Munich, Ajax and PSG are among the teams being represented at this year’s competition. Some of the biggest and best teams in the world, all sending players to compete in what many players would describe as the greatest honour of their careers - and rightly so.

To put into perspective how massive the African Cup of Nations is to players and fans alike, Liverpool and Senegal winger Sadio Mane said in a recent interview "My people have waited a long time. I would trade it all to win this one. This is my time. The Lion roars." A man who has won it all, the biggest club competitions in the world, expressing how much this competition means to him and the people of his country. 

This sentiment is echoed across the continent, from players and fans alike. Many players have spoken out against the lack of respect for the competition, but Africans don’t mind. Our competition is here and it's time once again to celebrate. 

Passion and culture are two words strongly associated with African people. This tournament embodies that and much more. How much this tournament means to Africans cannot be explained or portrayed in words, you just have to be there to experience it yourself. Our feelings are expressed with beautiful colours, vibrant music, and wonderfully choreographed dances that will certainly bring a smile to even the most cynical of faces. 

In Africa, we have a saying: "If there is no enemy within, the enemy outside can do us no harm." As long as our hero’s on the field make us proud, all the noise from the outside can be ignored. 

Cameroon, the stage is set, make your continent proud.