That’s all for our coverage of Afcon 2023. On behalf of everyone in the Guardian liveblog dungeon, thanks for your company and emails throughout the tournament. Goodnight!
Here come the champions, through a guard of honour from the Nigerian squad. Emerse Fae, Ivory Coast’s answer to Tony Barton, is first to receive his medal. The players follow him before making their way to the podium.
Sebastian Heller touches the trophy tenderly as he walks past; Max-Alain Gradel gives it a gentle kiss and then waits for everyone to assemble. Eventually the president Alassane Ouattara hands the trophy to Gradel, who lifts it high: Ivory Coast are champions of Africa!
The Nigeria players go up to receive their medals. Victor Osimhen looks empty, as you’d expect; he worked his fundament off all tournament but had such little support.
Few teams have won major international tournaments after losing two games en route. Costa Rica did it in the 1989 Concacaf Championship, though that was an eight-game round robin. This is like nothing we’ve ever seen.
The Ivorian president is getting in on the celebrations! 🇨🇮🥳 pic.twitter.com/bW8QLiBC7L
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) February 11, 2024
There are plenty of awards to hand out before the Ivory Coast can get their hands on the trophy. First up is South Africa’s Ronwen Williams, the goalkeeper of the tournament.
The Ivory Coast players have formed a guard of honour for all the award-winners. Next up is Equatorial Guinea’s Emilio Nsue, whose five goals – including two in that thrashing of Ivory Coast – give him the golden boot. William Troost-Ekong is the player of the tournament.
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Now this is a good comparison
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Excluding added time, Nigeria trailed for only 11 minutes in the entire tournament. Ivory Coast were behind for 220. But when the music stopped, they were the ones sitting down.
The Ivory Coast players are waiting for the trophy presentation, chatting away and smiling with a slightly weary joy. They look like they’re trying to make sense of it all themselves. It’s hard to recall any team winning an international tournament after coming so close to elimination in the group stage, the last 16 and the quarter-finals.
In her 1990 single Get Here, an epic meditation on ends and means, the singer Oleta Adams implored: ‘I don’t care how you get here, get here if you can.’
I doubt we’ll ever understand how Ivory Coast got here, but they did: champions of Africa for the third time, in a manner that even the most LSD-addled scriptwriter would have rejected.
This was probably their best performance of the tournament. They dominated possession throughout, created almost all the major chances and had the best attacker on the field in Simon Adingra.
Jonathan Wilson’s match report has landed
Nobody would set out to win a tournament this way, qualifying from the group as the fourth of four best third-placed sides, sacking the coach, doing – at least if almost every player interview since is to be believed – a lot of looking in the mirror. But maybe this is the most fun way to win, amid chaos and disbelieving laughter and an inextinguishable will.
Kári Tulinius has a fine nickname for this Ivory Coast team. “Les Revenants have earned their place as one of the great stories of world football. What a triumph!”
Haller’s story alone would be one for the books. A year ago he returned from testicular cancer, and now he has scored the winning goal in both the semi-final and the final. But for it to happen in the context of Ivory Coast’s victory almost beggars belief. It’s only three weeks ago that they were totally humiliated by Equatorial Guinea, and now they’re about to enjoy the party of a lifetime.
Full-Time: IVORY COAST WIN AFCON 2023! 🏆🇨🇮 pic.twitter.com/th0MhXawzb
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) February 11, 2024
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Full time: Nigeria 1-2 Ivory Coast
The final whistle brings an explosion of ecstacy in Abidjan: Ivory Coast are the champions of Africa! They have won the tournament, their tournament, in a manner that will surely never be repeated. They lost two of their group games, one of them 4-0 and the other to the team they have just beaten in the final; they sacked their manager mid-tournament; they were seconds away from going out in both the last 16 and the quarter-final; they went behind in the final. But in the second half, Brighton’s Simon Adingra made an equaliser for Franck Kessie and a brilliantly taken winner for Sebastien Haller.
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90+5 min Ivory Coast are keeping Nigeria at arm’s length with surprising ease. Nigeria have been such a disappointment.
90+2 min Aina’s long throw bounces dangerously in the Ivory Coast area before being cleared. Lazare Amani is on for Jean Michael Seri.
90+1 min Seven minutes of added time.
90 min Saying which, Iheanacho plays a give-and-go on the edge of the area and has a shot very well blocked by Ndicka. Ivory Coast break and Aina is booked for pulling back Adingra.
89 min Nigeria look all out of ideas. In truth they didn’t have many in the first place. There’s no doubt Ivory Coast deserve to win based on the first 89 minutes.
87 min: Ivory Coast substitution Jean-Philippe Krasso and Ibrahim Sangare come on for Fofana, who is booked for taking too long to leave the field, and the potential hero Haller.
86 min: Double substitution for Nigeria Joe Aribo and Terem Moffi come on for Frank Onyeka and Zaidu Sanusi.
84 min Simon wins a corner for Nigeria, which leads to another. That leads to nothing.
Eighteen months ago, Sebastien Haller was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He scored the winner in the semi-final and now he’s minutes away from scoring the winner in the final.
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Haller is celebrating, though it might be an own goal from Troost-Ekong. The outstanding Adingra beat Aina yet again on the left and hammered a superb cross towards the near post. Haller got across Troost-Ekong and improvised ingeniously, lifting his leg well above waist height to stud the ball into the far corner.
His celebration was quite muted, which made me think it was possible an own goal. Was it hell: it was a fantastic finish!
WOW! Ivory Coast have turned it around! 🔄
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) February 11, 2024
Sébastien Haller guides it home with a sumptuous touch! 👏 pic.twitter.com/jWJXoMb1LB
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GOAL! Nigeria 1-2 Ivory Coast (Haller 81)
Ivory Coast are nine minutes from glory!
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79 min: Double substitution for Nigeria Alhassan Yusuf and Kelechi Iheanacho come on for Alex Iwobi and Ademola Lookman.
77 min Fofana wins a header and flattens Osimhen in the process, with both men staying down. I thought Osimhen was caught by Fofana’s arm but he’s holding his leg so he may have landed awkwardly.
74 min: Haller goes close! Och, that would have been a glorious goal. A chipped cross from the right was headed back across goal by Adingra towards Haller, who launched into an elegant overhead kick that flashed wide of the near post. It looked really close when we saw it live, but replays show it was actually a few yards wide.
73 min At the moment Nigeria look like a team who sat on a 1-0 lead far too early and now can’t change gear.
71 min Adingra looks dangerous every time he gets the chance to run at Aina, and it’s no surprise Ivory Coast are giving the ball to him at every opportunity.
69 min: Double substitution for Ivory Coast Oumar Diakite and Wilfried Singo replace the captain Serge Aurier and Max-Alain Gradel, who had just been given the armband by Aurier when his number went up. No idea who has it now.
68 min: Chance for Troost-Ekong! Lookman’s free-kick dips towards Troost-Ekong, who is fractionally ahead of the ball and heads over as a result.
68 min Nigeria have started to attack again since the equaliser. Lookman cuts inside Aurier, 25 yards from goal, and is taken down.
65 min Ivory Coast, who are aiming for their Afcon title, have just scored their first goal in an Afcon final.
(To explain. All four of their previous finals went penalties after a goalless draw: wins in 1992 and 2015 and defeats in 2006 and 2012.)
Adingra’s booming deep corner tempted Nwabali from his line. He didn’t get there and could only push Kessie’s downward header into the net as he tried to recover his ground.
Franck Kessié levels for the hosts! ⚖️
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) February 11, 2024
What a game we have here! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/D72x4Cf1yx
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GOAL! Nigeria 1-1 Ivory Coast (Kessie 64)
Franck Kessie has equalised!
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62 min Make that 2-13. The centre-half Kossounou strides forward and cracks an excellent low drive from 25 yards that is pushed behind by the diving Nwabali.
61 min Attempts at goal: Nigeria 2-12 Ivory Coast.
60 min Bassey dithers on the edge of his own area and is robbed. Fofana plays the ball to Adingra, who cuts inside a defender in the area and flips a cross towards the far post. Fofana dives across Zaidu but heads straight at Nwabali. That was a difficult header: no pace on the ball and, unlike Troost-Ekong, he was diving sideways rather than jumping towards goal on the run.
58 min Seri pings well wide from distance. Ivory Coast are dominating the ball without really teasting Nwabali.
56 min: Nigeria substitution Moses Simon replaces Samuel Chukwueze, who had a quiet game but did provide the flick-on that led to Troost-Ekong’s goal. At least I think he did; there were a lot of players jumping for the ball at the near post.
55 min There’s no suggestion VAR is going to get involved. That’s fair enough – I don’t think you can call it a clear and obvious error.
54 min Aurier and Nwabali are booked after having a row over that penalty appeal.
52 min: Ivory Coast penalty appeal The lively Gradel chops inside Zaidu right on the edge of the area and goes down. The referee says no penalty but it will be checked by VAR. This is a tricky one – he was kicked in the shin just outside the area, then stumbled over Zaidu’s foot in the area. I don’t think it will be overturned.
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50 min: Great block by Bassey! The resulting free-kick is only half cleared and Ivory Coast come again. Adingra scorches past Aina and hammers a low cross that is pushed away by the diving Nwabali. Gradel runs onto the loose ball, 12 yards out, and crashes a shot that is desperately blocked by Bassey in the six-yard line.
Replays show that Bassey closed his legs just enough to take the sting out of the shot, which dribbled between his legs and was grabbed on the line by Nwabali.
49 min Gradel is fouled just outside the area on the right by Zaidu, who got the ball but went through Gradel to get there.
47 min Osimhen, scrapping alone as he has all night, is fouled by Ndicka in the centre circle. He’s so good at making something out of any old filth that is booted up to him. If the scores stays like this, there will be plenty of that in the second half.
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46 min Peep peep! Ivory Coast begin the second half, hoping/aiming/praying to come from behind for the third time in the knockout stages.
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More on the subject of funky boots
Geoff Wignall “I’m not clear on what counts as funky footwear and I’m sure Alan Ball’s white boots weren’t described as such 50 plus years ago; but they did attract comment - not all of it complimentary.”
Kim Thonger “George Best’s side-laced boots were literally groundbreaking. I did child labour overtime to earn my pair.”
Half-time (and possibly post-match) entertainment
Half time: Nigeria 1-0 Ivory Coast
For the umpteenth time in the tournament, the hosts Ivory Coast have an uncomfortably good view from the precipice. They played the better football in a poor first half, but didn’t create any clear chances and went behind to a carpe diem header from the Nigeria captain William Troost-Ekong.
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45+4 min A wobbling long-range drive from Fofana is calmly dealt with by Nwabali.
45+1 min Iwobi tries to release the marauding Zaidu, who is cynically flattened off the ball by the flailing arm of Seri. That should have been at least a free-kick, probably a yellow card and maybe even a red. The referee missed it.
45 min Osimhen is receiving treatment after an awkward landing. He’s okay to continue, at least until half-time. There are four minutes of added time.
44 min Haller’s through pass is too heavy for Kessie. Ivory Coast have been much the better team between the boxes, but that counts for nothing when the coast is toast. (As things stand.)
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43 min “I think Stylo Matchmakers were the original flashy football boots, famously worn by both George Best and Pelé,” says Kári Tulinius. “But according to the Stylo Matchmakers website, the first player to endorse the brand was Celtic and Leeds legend Bobby Collins.”
41 min There’s a break in play after a clash of heads between Kessie and Bassey.
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That’s a mighty header from William Troost-Ekong. Lookman’s corner from the left was headed up in the air by Chukwueze at the near post. There was no pace on the ball as it dropped, but Troost-Ekong towered over Aurier, strained his neck muscles and powered a looping header over Fofana.
"It's captain fantastic to silence the arena!" ©️🤫
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) February 11, 2024
Troost-Ekong's bullet header opens the scoring in the AFCON final! 🇳🇬 pic.twitter.com/TGIYFVZYbj
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GOAL! Nigeria 1-0 Ivory Coast (Troost-Ekong 38)
The captain has given Nigeria the lead with their first attempt on target!
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37 min A slightly heavy touch from Zainu allows Kossounou to get across and block his shot at the expense of a corner. But that was a more promising attack from Nigeria.
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34 min: Good save by Nwabali! That was the best chance so far. A poor ball out of defence from Bassey was intercepted and Ivory Coast pounced. Kessie swept a fine angled pass through to Adingra, in all kinds of space on the left side of the area. He took a touch and belted a shot that was pushed away by the diving Nwabali. The angle was pretty tight so it wasn’t the hardest save Nwabali ever make. But he saved it. What more do you want?
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30 min Nwabali springs from his line to beat Adingra to a through pass. At the moment it’s a poor game. Ivory Coast are at least trying to score; I’m not sure what Nigeria are up to.
Time for a cooling break.
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30 min “Good game so far,” says Kim Thonger. “I like the way Cote D’Ivoire are taking the initiative, and in particular their brave boot choices. Orange socks with dayglo yellow boots sported by Evan N’Dicka and equally confident pink boots paraded by Odilon Kossounou. Men with such positive colour attitudes deserve to win trophies!”
Who was the first player to wear funky boots at the highest level?
27 min Osimhen is penalised for another challenge, after which the Nigeria manager Jose Peseiro gives the fourth official a mouthful. He’s booked.
26 min Osimhen goes looking for a row with Ndicka, claiming he’s been elbowed. Ndicka caught him with an arm as they jumped for a high ball but it didn’t look deliberate. The referee calms everything down.
22 min Ivory Coast lead 5-0 on attempts on goal, though the only save Nwabali has had to make was routine.
21 min Adingra’s corner is headed down by Ndicka at the far post. It hits a Nigeria defender and bounced towards Gradel, whose overhead kick hits the side netting. That was half a chance (in the traditional sense of the phrase; it was probably closer to 0.1 on xG than 0.5).
20 min A nervous backheader from Zaidu goes behind for an Ivory Coast corner. It could have been worse because Gradel read it and almost intercepted; had he done so he’d have been through on goal.
19 min Four of the last nine Afcon finals have gone to penalties after a 0-0 draw.
In other news, this game has started very cagily.
17 min Nigeria’s first attack of note ends when Lookman’s cross is headed away.
14 min Fofana’s long-range shot is easily saved by Nwabali. Nigeria haven’t settled yet.
12 min Ivory Coast are playing with eye-catching intensity, and Aina shanks Gradel’s dipping cross over his own bar.
8 min Adingra is looking sharp. He teases Aina on the left edge of the area, gets a lucky bounce and slaps the ball over the bar from a tight angle.
7 min: Chance for Haller! Adingra cuts inside from the left and curls a routine cross towards the near post. Haller gets across Troost-Ekong before flicking the ball across goal and wide. It was a tough chance on the stretch.
6 min Ivory Coast win the first corner of the game on the right. Gradel takes, Iwobi heads clear.
4 min It’s been a cagey start, particularly from Nigeria. Nothing to report so far.
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1 min Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! Nigeria kick off from right to left as we watch.
The atmosphere is spectacular; of course it jolly well is. The hosts are one game away from a tournament win like no other. One or two host nations have won their tournament after blundering through the group stages, but I can’t think of any who sacked their manager en route.
“That Volcano movie looks awful!” says Joe Pearson, pretending he didn’t see it at the cinema, twice. “And yet it features Oscar-winner Tommy Lee Jones, Emmy winner Anne Heche, Oscar nominee Don Cheadle, and all-time great Keith David. Even the good ones make bad choices. Like me and that time I [redacted].”
There’s no need to redact the fact you paid to see Volcano, twice.
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As the players assemble in the tunnel, here’s a reminder of the teams.
Nigeria (3-4-3) Nwabali; Ajayi, Troost-Ekong, Bassey; Aina, Onyeka, Iwobi, Zaidu; Chukwueze, Osimhen, Lookman.
Substitutes: Uzoho, Yusuf, Musa, Aribo, Samuel, Iheanacho, Simon, Onuachu, Awaziem, Omeruo, Moffi, Nwadike.
Ivory Coast (4-3-3) Y Fofana; Aurier, Kossounou, Ndicka, Konan; Kessie, Seri, S Fofana; Gradel, Haller, Adingra.
Substitutes: Diomande, Singo, Bamba, Krasso, Boga, Diakite, I Sangare, Pepe, Kouame, B Sangare, Diallo, Lazare.
Referee Dahane Beida (Mauritania).
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“At the end of the group stage, I thought for sure that the hosts were Ivory Toast,” says Peter Oh, who has been watching that bloody film again, but here they are on the cusp of being the toast of the continent!”
Some of the best images from a very enjoyable tournament
“Excited about this final and the crazy path Ivory Coast has travelled to get here,” writes Joe Pearson. “Now I only have to decide what streamer to subscribe to for a day so I can watch. At the moment, I have Caitlin Clark and Iowa on the tv. Good god, what a talent! Reminds me of Larry Bird. Anyway, not sure you can wrestle a Sopranos reference out of all of this, but I have faith.”
From memory Ralphie and Vito played basketball in one episode. But knowing the mouth on Ralphie, if I post that clip I’ll probably be sacked before kick-off. Mind you, that might be a fitting way to end the tournament.
Jonathan Wilson’s final preview
Team news
Nigeria make two changes from the semi-final against South Africa. Zaidu Sanusi replaces Bright Samuel at wing-back and Samuel Chukwueze comes in for Moses Simon on the right wing.
Ivory Coast also make two changes. The captain Serge Aurier and Odilon Kossounou replace Wilfried Singo and Willy Boly in defence.
Nigeria (3-4-3) Nwabali; Ajayi, Troost-Ekong, Bassey; Aina, Onyeka, Iwobi, Zaidu; Chukwueze, Osimhen, Lookman.
Substitutes: Uzoho, Yusuf, Musa, Aribo, Samuel, Iheanacho, Simon, Onuachu, Awaziem, Omeruo, Moffi, Nwadike.
Ivory Coast (4-3-3) Y Fofana; Aurier, Kossounou, Ndicka, Konan; Kessie, Seri, S Fofana; Gradel, Haller, Adingra.
Substitutes: Diomande, Singo, Bamba, Krasso, Boga, Diakite, I Sangare, Pepe, Kouame, B Sangare, Diallo, Lazare.
Referee Dahane Beida (Mauritius).
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Africa Cup of Nations final between Nigeria and Ivory Coast in Abidjan. Twenty-five days ago, in the 87th minute of his side’s final group game, Zambia’s Emmanuel Banda whistled a rising drive from 25 yards that was dramatically tipped over the bar by the Morocco keeper Bono. Had it gone in, Zambia would have qualified as one of the best third-placed teams and the hosts Ivory Coast – who had already sacked their manager Jean-Louis Gasset – would have gone out in disgrace.
Instead they sneaked through to the knockout stages, where they dodged several bullets against Senegal and Mali before beating DR Congo in the semi-finals. Now they, and their caretaker manager Emerse Fae, are one game away from a peculiarly glorious triumph.
During the tournament Ivory Coast have been behind for 194 minutes, including 35 in a group-stage defeat to tonight’s opponents, and ahead for 115. Nigeria have been ahead for 225 and behind for only 2 – but they had an almighty escape of their own when South Africa’s Khuliso Mudau missed an injury-time sitter to win the semi-final.
So, whose destiny is it anyway? We’re about to find out. Either Nigeria will join Ghana on four titles, behind only Egypt and Cameroon, or Ivory Coast will join Nigeria on three.
Kick off 8pm.
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