ivory coast – africa cup of nations 2024. i just got back from a trip to see a few afcon matches, so thought i would write-up up a quick microblog in case anyone was still on the fence on whether to attend.
i’ve decided to call it ivory coast rather than côte d’ivoire since it is easier to type and i am lazy. apologies.
pics were all taken on my old phone since i travelled light, but i quite like this one.
Opening Match
i managed to score a last minute ticket to the opening match. the approach was a beautiful mess of a traffic jam.
it seemed like the entire city came out to cheer us on along the stretch of highway leading towards the alassane ouattara stadium, just outside of abidjan in ebimpe.
les éléphants were thankfully victorious over guinea-bissau…
and again, the victory parade was out in full force. sorry for the crappy video, but my phone is old. i rarely take videos as i don’t enjoy it, but in this case it gives you a better idea of what it was like there.
everyone was celebrating like they just won the world cup.
Other Match Pics
here are the rest of the pics i took during matches.
i ended up becoming an honourary senegal fan. i had no choice.
mo salah’s late penalty to save a point against mozambique.
hehe. ball kid.
entry was quite organised at the 2 stadiums in abidjan.
this was definitely not the case trying to get into the charles konan banny stadium in yamoussoukro.
you will have seen it referred to as afcon 2023 and/or afcon 2024. the match was supposed to be played last summer, but was changed to avoid the rainy season. instead the players get the joy of playing in humid mid 30 degree heat. this was the first cooling break i’ve seen in a football match.
here is an african zamboni at halftime. i’ve never seen this before either.
if you don’t know what a zamboni is, then you are a hoser.
and i’m so proud of myself for managing to track down the only beer in the stadium. they served it in empty water thingies.
Abidjan
i made time to check out some other sights nearby. the main city of abidjan (but not the capital) is quite spread out, so i unfortunately didn’t get a good feel of the city in the short time i was there.
i love this church’s approach to public urination. #nopipi
Grand Bassam
grand bassam was wonderful. it is a crumbling colonial coastal village which is a short 45 mins ride outside of abidjan.
it makes a great day trip or you can spend more time there chilling on the beaches.
Yamoussoukro
although abidjan is technically the largest city and economic centre of the ivory coast, yamoussoukro is technically the capital. in 1983, president houphouët-boigny decided to make yamoussoukro the capital since it is his birthplace.
it may be the 5th largest city in the ivory coast, but it has the world’s largest church.
seriously.
it’s epic.
the basilica of our lady peace is even larger than saint peter’s basilica in the vatican, upon which it is based.
yamoussoukro is also home to crocodiles which live in the lake across from the palace and terrorise pedestrians. good times.
there you have it. short and sweet. i hope you enjoyed it. if it was too short, check out some of my other travel blogs.
i’m writing this on january 1, so you may still have time to check the out the ivory coast africa cup of nations 2024.
if you are reading this after february 11, 2024, then tough luck you slacker. i guess you’ll have to start planning for the 2025 afcon in morocco.
the good news is that they’ve made obtaining ivory coast visas a lot easier now – online visa application.
and tickets can still be picked up (for as low as $2 for some matches!) on the caf africa cup of nations ticket site.
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