La CAN de l’Hospitalité: AKWABA

 

From the net

The major African continental football competition this year 2024 is in Côte d’Ivoire, the land of hospitality.

This 34th edition of Africa Cup of Nations (Coupe d’Afrique des Nations, CAN) hosted by the Ivorians is the second one, first, 14th edition, was held in 1984. It is dubbed “La CAN de l’Hospitalité”.

Indeed it is the nation of hospitality as inscribed in its National Anthem L’Abidjanaise, for a quarter of its population consists of people from other nations, like Burkina Faso, Guinea, Ghana, Mali, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, etc.

Remember that the first edition of CAN in Sudan, Khartoum, was held in 1957 seeing only three participating nations, that is, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. Sixty seven years down the line, the tournament welcomes 24 countries with a schedule of 52 matches to be played in 6 stadiums across the country.

At the beginning of the competition, it was very rare to find the West African nations participate. Over the years, there has been a rising domination of the West African nations’ presence in the tournament.

This 34^th edition has the highest West African representation. Out of 24 countries, 13 are from West African region. These are Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, the defending champions Senegal and the host Côte d’Ivoire.

Côte d’Ivoire gained its independence on the 7^th August 1960. It covers an area of 322,464 km2 with over 28 million persons, whose economy is essentially based on agriculture.

There are two things to learn from this thirty-day CAN de l’Hospitalité in Côte d’Ivoire

1.    Fruit of dialogue with the climate

Remember, this competition was to be held in the months of June-July 2023. This is why it is called CAN2023 despite being celebrated and played in the year 2024. What happened? Why the change of the dates?

Principally it is due to the climate.

Human activities must learn to dialogue with the climate and the environment at large.

The competition was to be held in the months of June-July, a move adopted in 2017 to avoid disputes with the individual players’ clubs overseas.

This period, unfortunately, is the peak of the heavy rains in Côte d’Ivoire. This is why Patrice Tihopane Motsepe, 62, South African based business person and the president of Confederation of African Football (CAF), the governing institution of African Football and chief organizer of the CAN, said, “We cannot take the risk”, BBC Sport Africa reported.

Humans must learn not to ‘take risks’ with the environment.

In his Encyclical letter, Laudato Si, Pope Francis, nine years ago, urged humanity to take care of the earth, its home. And to “accept the limits imposed by reality”, n. 204. Therefore, CAF accepted the limits imposed by the weather patterns in this West African nation. This can only happen if we sincerely speak with our environment like St Francis of Assisi did in the 13th century. It is a language “which transcend mathematics and biology”, n. 11, writes the Pontiff.

2.    Fruit of celebration of cultures

We saw majority of the participating nations step out in their traditional or national attires, a beautiful scenario! The opening ceremony on the 13^th January 2024 was full of Ivorian cultural expression.

Culture is social ideas, values, beliefs or behaviors of persons within a context. Football, as a context, has indeed shaped certain behaviors in the society today. It is the only sport with much bigger fun base estimated to be five billion, (for further reading visit https://publications.fifa.com/en/vision-report-2021/the-football-landscape/).

We see indeed many spectators from different background of life meet together to share life. This leads to the nativity of a new culture. From clothing, foodstuff, dancing to betting behavior… least to say entertainments within the tournament period, these bring forth new social tenets.

The good side of the football culture is the cohesion of a nation or region.

For, football has a mouth that helps speak the deaf. Football has eyes that even help the blind see. Football has legs that make the lame walk. Football has ears that make the dumb listen. Football has a nose that makes anosmic smell!

Football doesn’t care which deity one adores. Football doesn’t care gender or age. Football doesn’t care about boundaries. Football doesn’t care about skin colour. Football is about cultural celebration!

Football culture is a culture of encounter.

In mind that every culture is subject to change, we should take care of the rising throwaway culture. In as much as we throw away the cabbage to acquire more other things, there is the risk of throwing away the values we have held great over the centuries for us to assume the new culture brought by the CAN2023.

Hence, “…Those who are pastorally responsible for culture are resolutely committed to finding ways for evangelization to reach minds and hearts, and to transform cultures in a way which also enriches them. They weigh up the elements of culture which are open to the proclamation of the Gospel…”, exhorts the Pontifical Council of Culture.

Let’s enjoy the CAN2023!