What Pamoja Afcon drivers can learn from Ivory Coast

The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations that concluded a fortnight ago in Ivory Coast has received its flowers as one of the best-ever tournaments to be hosted by Caf.

From the stadiums, pitches and the spills and thrills, Ivory Coast ticked many right boxes. There were a few glitches here and there but the good largely outshines the black spots. 

Now considering that the next final will be held next year in Morocco -one of the three main countries chosen to host the Fifa World Cup in 2030 -, the planet expects a World-Cup-grade tournament.

The next one after that (2027) has been awarded to Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and definitely Caf and Africa will not expect a dip in quality. That leaves the three countries, the first trio to jointly host an Afcon, with a huge task to better or at least match the standards.

The movers of the bid led by the Fufa president Eng. Moses Magogo bordered their campaign strategy on a promise by the three governments to deliver the requirements in time. But that promise must now be actualized and in time.

“The organization of an Afcon tournament requires 100% commitment from each government and we must work as one team to successfully pull it off,” Fufa events manager Leila Nankya, who worked at the Afcon as one of the officers in charge of protocol stresses.

She adds: “This is because Caf demands a lot from the organizing nation right from the point of venue inspections to the last detail as the tournament is ongoing.”

Tick all boxes 

Uganda Sports Press Association secretary general Clive Kyazze who covered the tournament feels that we need just more than the facilities from what he witnessed in the West African nation.

“One of the things that I learnt is that having the facilities is one thing but having facilities that tick all the boxes is another,” Kyazze says.

“For example if the matches will be played at night, then the teams’ have to train around the same time and that means we have to ensure the training grounds have floodlights like it was in Ivory Coast.

“The playing surface in the training grounds also has to be the same as what the teams will use during the matches.”

However, he noted that, “There are some other things that we may need to note for example I just learnt that the VVIP sections of the stadiums have to be installed with glasses that are bullet-proofed because you may have heads of states and other important dignitaries coming.”

Kyazze gives the Pamoja countries a good rating in terms of stadium access especially for the national stadiums undergoing renovations.

The stadium access was smooth because of dedicated infrastructure as Daily Monitor journalist Allan Darren Kyeyune explains.

 “The roads were smooth, no potholes and are 99 percent one-way routes,” Kyeyune chips in.

“That connection decongests stadiums, the fan parks and doesn’t inconvenience those not interested in the football.”

The fan parks are specialised outdoor viewing areas where big screens are placed for fans who fail to grab tickets to gather and watch the games. That is something Kyazze says has to be added to the planning.

“The fan parks are proving to be an integral part of the Afcon because you have thousands of people who fly in to watch the tournament but not all of them can access the tickets.

“Caf and the sponsors use the fan parks to sell their products as well,” Kyazze adds.

There were six official fan parks and tens of privately improvised parks in Ivory Coast.

While the quality of the stadiums was up to the required standards, Nankya feels more could have been done to improve the  ticketing system.

“This Afcon was largely successful however,” she notes, “Ivory Coast failed to properly manage match day ticket sales because the online systems were unresponsive most times.

“This is an area we must plan ahead of time and devise all possible ways to make it easy for fans to access tickets.”

The huge numbers of fans that travelled for the Afcon could, under the normal circumstances, overload the local organizing committees capacity but that was solved by volunteers. This is a role that has eased operations and movement of fans in many international tournaments.

“The volunteers played a key role in guiding the visitors but I think we shall not struggle so much in that area since we have a lot of university students and people who would want to be a part of the experience,” Kyazze says. 

About 20,000 volunteers were contracted by the Ivory Coast government to work during Afcon. 10, 000 of them were officially recognized by Caf and worked inside and around the stadiums. The rest were deployed to guide the visiting fans, clean and organise the fan parks and so much more. The government in Abidjan was paying them a token of about €91 (approx. sh383, 000).

Media facilities

Tanzanian journalist Juma Ayo was impressed with the facilities that were provided for him and his colleagues to do their work.

“The facilities and environment that was put up for journalists to do their jobs is something the three countries should look into very seriously because it is lacking a bit,” Ayo says.

“The press conference rooms were spacious and equipped and the media tribunes were up to standard. This is one of the reasons Ivory Coast received good ratings out there,” Ayo adds.

The Tanzanian covered games in four of the five host cities Abidjan, Bouaké, Korhogo and San-Pédro. Specifically, he was impressed with the transport infrastructure, especially the airports that connected the cities.

“I was impressed with the connections and this will be very important for Pamoja because the cities are spread very far apart from each other in three different countries,” he notes.

“I actually got to learn that the airport in Kerhogo was constructed recently specifically for the competition.”

Another area that caught attention was the accommodation. The influx of fans especially for particular matches and towards the business end of the tournament created a lot of pressure on the existing facilities.

“In Ivory Coast, accommodation was scarce towards the finals since all hotels and apartments were fully booked by Caf and fans who travelled earlier,” Nankya reveals.

“This must be an eye opener for East Africa that hosting the tournament will boost the hospitality business, restaurants and transport business among others so we must embrace it because we all benefit directly or indirectly,” she advises.

Kyeyune partly agrees: “It’s true some cities like Yamoussoukro didn’t have enough accommodation on days like Senegal vs. Cameroon and Senegal vs. Ivory Coast but the country had largely sufficient lodging during the tournament. Uganda still struggles with a housing deficit.”

Business ideas 

Nairobi-based journalist Eric Njiru summarized eight business ideas that he believes East Africans can plan to temporarily venture in 2027.

“In Abidjan, I spent at least Ksh1500 (sh40,000) per day on Uber and sometimes boda,” he posted on his X. “Bodas will always be the fastest means to get to and out of the stadium [while] VIPs send to hire luxury cars for moving around.”

Njiru added accommodation, fast food, open social areas for fan zones, football kits, clubs, shopping malls and markets and translators.

“English, French, Arabic, and Portuguese dominate the African football sphere. Organizations like Caf, teams and individuals will hire translators for press conferences and other activities.

“If you are already studying one of those languages keep going as there could be an opportunity for you soon,” he sums it up.