ABIDJAN – Excitement was building in Ivory Coast ahead of the country’s second staging of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
The 24-team biennial competition was set to begin Saturday evening with the home nation hosting Guinea-Bissau at the 60,000-capacity Alassane Ouattara Stadium. It’s the first meeting between the West African countries at the tournament.
But the party had started much earlier in Abidjan, the country’s biggest city and commercial capital. People were driving around tooting their horns in cars displaying orange, white and green flags.
Many people were already wearing the distinctive orange jersey of the national team, which is affectionately known as “Les Elephants.”
A crowd of people made its way to the stadium, with some dancing and some selling wares to motorists stuck in the heavy traffic. Others simply tooted their horns and waved their flags.
Security is an issue for this edition of the tournament following the deaths of eight people and injuries to 38 in a stadium crush at the last edition in Cameroon.
Patrice Motsepe, the president of the African soccer federation (CAF), said Friday that it had learned from that “absolutely avoidable” accident.
“I’m satisfied that the appropriate steps have been taken to correctly make sure that we totally avoid the really painful experience we had in Cameroon where we lost the lives of some of our people,” said Motsepe, who said there would be 50,000 security personnel and police on duty for the tournament.
Ivory Coast hasn’t hosted the Africa Cup since 1984, when it started by beating Togo 3-0 in the opening match. It won the tournament in 1992 and 2015.
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