AFCON 2023 infrastructure: handover day for Ivory Coast

On 30 June, Ivory Coast is due to hand over the sports infrastructure built for AFCON 2023, which will be played in January 2024. Six stadiums, twenty-four training pitches and the AFCON villages in Korhogo, Bouaké and San Pedro must be handed over to the Confederation of African Football. Ahead of 30 June 2023, workers were toiling day and night on several sites, notably in Abidjan. However, the weather has recently played its part. Did those days lost to stoppages do damage? Will Ivory Coast rise to the challenge on 30 June 2023? Serious doubts remain despite incredible progress.

CAF confident

The framework agreement with Ivory Coast has already been signed. That means the country will indeed host the next AFCON, much to the annoyance of the Algerians, who dream of being the plan B. CAF has even said several times that Ivory Coast would be ready in time. Today, those statements look more political than anything else. A member of CAF's inspection committee even confided the following to an Ivorian colleague at the start of the week.

“Don't doubt your country. Ivory Coast is a great nation. There are no areas of concern. Now it's a matter of moving on to the finishing touches on the pitches and the sites visited”, this source reassured. The fact is that a few months ago, SNA reported instructions from the continental governing body, which wanted new work on the media areas at the Laurent Pokou (San Pedro) and Amadou Gon Coulibaly (Korhogo) stadiums. “The Ivorian authorities said no because the time available was too short. CAF's mission to Ivory Coast in March had recommended moving the media stands at the stadiums in Korhogo and San Pedro. In the end, it asked for the contractors to be left to work in line with the contract. Suitable solutions will be found during the operational phase. It was impossible to redo all of that anyway ”, said Ms Yoda, director of the national sports office.

Félix Houphouët-Boigny stadium still a building site

Of the six stadiums to be handed over, five can be delivered today because everything is finished there. But not the Félix Houphouët-Boigny stadium in the heart of Abidjan. Early this morning, in driving rain, we paid a visit. Everything was understandably at a standstill because of the deluge over the Ivorian economic capital on 29 June 2023. Even with a miracle, there is no way this venue will be ready on 30 June 2023. “Work was progressing normally. The workers were working day and night, as all the users of the lagoon boulevard, which the ground overlooks, could see. But on 29 June it rained all day and the workers had to stop everything. They had made progress on the athletics track of this pitch area in the Plateau district, but when it rains, you can't do anything. They stopped everything. Of course, they are making up for it by doing the underground and interior work, but the earthworks and the outside work, all of that becomes complicated”, the former international handball player explained candidly. “We have to hand over the keys on 30 June. I don't know how it will go, but perhaps there will be a symbolic handover of one stadium and its AFCON village, then the others. We will see how this ceremony goes”, she said.

The roads and airports, including those in Korhogo, Bouaké and San Pedro, have all been given a facelift. In Abidjan, the boulevard linking the Abobo district to the Ebimpé stadium in Anyama is still a building site, with its interchanges under construction, but none of this should stand in the way of the satisfaction of CAF. Security has been tested at the Korhogo stadium between Ivorian and French teams since 26 June 2023, to cite just that example. The government promised to hand the keys of the infrastructure to CAF on 30 June 2023, six (6) months before the opening of AFCON 2023. We are simply there!

Sanh Séverin