African countries well known for its dictatorship and political turmoil has changed a lot between the two African Cup of Nations (AFCON). The business as well as politics has seen a major change since the last event and also the game has transformed into better frame when compared with the previous tournaments in the aspect of discipline on and off the stadium. Despite many issues, the mega event successfully kicked off on January 17, 2015. Even though, the league matches are not as quality as international level but they are playing competitive, it was absent in the previous editions of this tournament. Also, the exit of pre-tournament favorites increased the world’s focus towards this tournament.
Problems before the tournament
There are some issues to grind for Pan-African, only three African teams have African coaches including South Africa. The respective countries put a claim that local coaches are not qualified enough to train a team except few managers (the case of South African manager). But the Pan-Africans argument is, the Egypt, one of the successful countries in AFCON history which won seven times is under the local coach. Also, at few other instances where other countries played and won under African coaches. In addition to this success story, there are some instances where few nations failed to qualify AFCON under foreign coach. There are some reports that the host country Equatorial Guinea arresting the Protestants who are protesting against the wastage of fund spent in AFCON. The report alleged that there are many wrong detentions and also the police department is assaulting the detainees. It stirred the international community and many countries including United States condemning the Equatorial Guinea authority. Another major concern is Ebola, the event is shifted in the last minute from Morocco to Equatorial Guinea because of Ebola threat. Apart from Human right violation to the native citizens, there is also discomfort to the players and spectators. According to hotel dakar, the last minute shift of the tournament resulted in Chaos in booking hotel rooms and also the rooms in the hotels are filled quicker than previous year, it shows the tournament has attained the significance among football lovers but it forced many players to hunt for room.
Development in 2015
Despite Ebola threat and shortages of hotel rooms, the game as well as the nation have changed a lot. Spectators said that they are enjoying the game, the game missed the bewilderment and wildness when compared with game. When comparing with the previous editions, all the teams are playing as team and the player’s technical skill has increased better since most of the players from African continent is started to play in some of the premier international football clubs. Even though, the tournament is shifted just three months before the scheduled date of play, the Equatorial Guinea did a wonderful job of hosting without any pre-planned preparations. Nobody thinks that the country could do the host with this much ability. The country is rich in oil, its manufacturing and service sectors have grown considerably, experts said the increase in economic stability gave the confidence of hosting such a mega tournament to Equatorial Guinea. It is not only the condition of Equatorial Guinea, the whole continent’s economic ability is increased. The AFCON 2015 has shown the world that we can expect more perfect game in future.
