African football has grown – Daniel Amokachi

Nigeria’s Super Eagles legend Daniel Amokachi believes the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON 2023) is a testament that African football has grown remarkably from what it used to be, www.aclsports.com reports.

Amokachi, 51, won the Africa Cup of Nations as a player with Nigeria in 1994 and was also an assistant coach with the late Stephen Keshi in 2013 when Nigeria last won the tournament.

The former Everton FC star is in Abidjan on a dual role of a CAF Ambassador and as a Match Day Commentator and so was at the Lycee Classique D’Abidjan in Cocody for the CAF Kick and Learn initiative on Thursday where he spoke on the tournament so far.

“African football has grown,” began Amokachi to ACLSports.

“We have seen the ratio of goals in the first stanza and round of 16 rise to 3.1, that tells you that we’ve scored more goals than the last two AFCONs at this stage.

“We’ve seen how many past winners that have been eliminated and this year can definitely be a year for a new champion,” said Amokachi, nicknamed The Bull during his playing days.

The quarter-final round of matches will get underway on Friday, starting with Amokachi’s country Nigeria facing Angola in the first quarter-final game billed for the Stade Felix Houphouet Boigny in Abidjan.

There are four former winners in the last eight, paired against four nations that have never won the AFCON title. Amokachi believes all remaining teams have rightfully earned their places at this stage of the competition.

“Will it be the past winners Nigeria or the Ivorians (that get to win it in the end)? But those that have qualified for the quarter finals earned their dues to be there. And that tells you that this competition this year is one to watch till the last whistle,” Amokachi summed.