Why hosting the Africa Cup of Nations is so important for a divided Cameroon

A year later than planned, because of Covid-19, the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) has successfully kicked off in Cameroon. The opening match of the 33rd edition of the tournament took place in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon.

In the spectacular opener, Cameroon came from behind to beat Burkina Faso after captain Vincent Aboubakar converted two penalty kicks.

For Cameroon, there is intensifying pressure to host a successful tournament – for both on-pitch and off-pitch reasons.

It is 50 years since the country hosted the continental football showpiece. Given that the Afcon is hosted every two years – and given Cameroon’s youthful population – few locals will have first-hand recollections of the 1972 tournament.

There is a palpable sense of pride that Cameroon is hosting the Cup of Nations again. It’s a very different competition to the 1972 event. The biggest difference is sheer size. It has grown from an eight-team tournament with only six players based in clubs outside of Africa to a 24-team tournament with 404 players based at European clubs plus others in the US, China, South Korea, India, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

As the group stage begins, hosting a successful tournament matters on many levels. On the pitch, Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o has recently begun his presidency of the national football federation and expectations are high for the hosts to perform well on home soil. Economically, businesses in Cameroon all have their eyes on a revival and boost in revenue. And, off the field, it is vitally important from a political perspective – given ongoing domestic unrest, security issues and a lack of national unity.

Cameroon was due to host the tournament in 2019. But, in November 2018, the organisers stripped the country of its hosting rights, citing a lack of confidence in the central African nation’s readiness based on infrastructure.

The tournament was given to Egypt with Cameroon given hosting rights for 2021.

There have been further delays since. First, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) moved the tournament forward to January 2021 to avoid Cameroon’s rainy season. Then the tournament was delayed to 2022 because of the Covid pandemic.

Even in December last year, there were rumours the country wouldn’t be hosting the tournament.

The president of the Confederation of African Football arrived in Yaoundé to discuss concerns about organisation, incomplete building work and the threat of coronavirus outbreaks among players and staff.

There are also continued concerns about ongoing domestic unrest in the country – a sociopolitical dispute that can be traced back to the end of the French and British colonial eras and the formation of Cameroon as an independent state.

The well-documented divide relates to Anglophone Cameroonians, who constitute 20% of the population, feeling marginalised and exploited by the Francophone-dominated state and population. A series of grievances recently morphed into political demands, strikes and riots.

The government maintains it has a fair governance structure, yet English-speaking Cameroonians still feel oppressed.

Samuel Eto'o brings the trophy on to the pitch ahead of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations final football match between Senegal and Algeria at the Cairo International Stadium in Cairo on 19 July 2019. Eto’o has recently begun his presidency of the Cameroon Football Federation and expectations are high for the hosts to perform well on home soil. (Photo: Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)