The Spectacular Wrap-Up: Unveiling Surprises, Records, and Social Buzz of AFCON 2023

The 34th iteration of the biannual African football competition, known as the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, or CAN 2023, ended last Sunday when the host Cote d’Ivoire defeated Nigeria’s Super Eagles 2-1 to take home the championship.

The tournament, organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), included 24 teams and was staged in six venues across five host cities from January 13, 2024, to February 11, 2024. During the tournament, there were lots of surprises that made the competition very interesting. For example, Sebastien Haller, an Ivorian striker who recovered from testicular cancer 13 months prior, scored the game-winning goals in both the semifinal and championship games to give the Ivorians their third continental championship. Other examples included the underdogs Equatorial Guinea defeating the hosts and emerging victorious in Group A, surpassing more prestigious rivals like Nigeria. Cape Verde also triumphed in the same group. Mauritania won the tournament for the first time, but Namibia and Angola—two of the four lowest-ranked teams in the group stage—succeeded in the knockout stages. To go to the last four, South Africa defeated Morocco. What’s more telling is that these unexpected outcomes and performances weren’t coincidences.

At 2.29 goals per game on average, the 2023 AFCON produced a record 119 goals. Its rate of 2.38 goals per game hasn’t been surpassed since 2012. According to the governing body, the Confederation of African Football (CAF), more than two billion people watched the competition live on television, making it the most watched Nations Cup finals ever. The final was aired in 173 countries worldwide.

According to a thorough analysis of AFCON’s social media interactions using Sprinklr, the competition received over 5,442,811 mentions with a reach of over 67.3 billion people. Data also showed 65.4% positive and 34.6% negative mentions from conversations. Conversation themes from this analysis are-  Best AFCON, Super Eagles, Ivory Coast, AFCON 2024, and AFCON 2023.

During the competition, Nigeria had the highest interactions, exceeding 1.11 million, followed by South Africa with 307.33 thousand. Ghana had 280.15 thousand interactions, the United States recorded 255.86 thousand, and the United Kingdom had 193.29 thousand.

Examining the positive sentiments from the AFCON, it was glaring that many viewers were really happy with the development of football in Africa and the good use of VAR technology, amongst other things. 

Author: Bowale Odukale