Football
AFCON 2023 – Betting Tips, Predictions and Odds for the Africa Cup of Nations
The Africa Cup of Nations is back, taking place in the Ivory Coast who last hosted back in 1984. We will see players from all around the world representing their countries in a bid to knock Senegal off their perch as the top team in Africa.
We preview the tournament below.
Check out the latest football betting odds at William Hill.
Africa Cup of Nations
AFCON is the main international men’s association football competition in Africa and is sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and was first held in 1957. The tournament takes place every two years with Senegal taking home the trophy in 2021, beating Egypt 4-2 on penalties after a goalless draw, with main-man Sadio Mane dealing the final blow.
Check out the latest Africa Cup of Nations odds at William Hill.
Summary of the National Teams
24 teams are set to participate in AFCON 2023 across six groups who will all play everyone once, with the winners and runners-up from each group advancing to the round of 16 knockout along with the four best third-placed teams.
Despite their loss in the last edition of the tournament, Egypt are the most successful nation in the cup’s history, winning the tournament seven times, three times consecutively from 2006-2010. Cameroon and Ghana also join Egypt as teams that have won the title twice consecutively.
Cameroon holds the second-highest number of victories in the tournament, boasting five wins, followed closely by Ghana with four – their last triumph dating back to 1982. Nigeria, considered West African rivals, have clinched the title three times. Ivory Coast, Algeria (2019 champions), and DR Congo have secured the trophy twice each. Senegal is currently defending their sole Africa Cup of Nations title, while Morocco, the top-ranked nation in this year’s competition, has been crowned champions only once in 1976.
Tunisia, Zambia, Sudan, Ethiopia, South Africa, and the Republic of Congo have each celebrated victory once, adding diversity to the list of past champions.
Check out the latest football betting odds at William Hill.
African Players from the Premier League
Naturally, the man who leads the headlines is Mohamed Salah, and his absence from the Premier League could prove to be a huge blow for Liverpool should Egypt reach the latter stages of the competition. With the forward being joint-top of the Premier League scoring charts on 14, so football fans that reside in Merseyside and like the colour red, will be secretly hoping that Egypt are sent packing early in the competition, particularly considering that league rivals Manchester City have no absentees.
Chelsea will also be taking a hit, with striker Nicolas Jackson set to make his AFCON debut for Senegal, hoping to help his country to defend the title they won in Cameroon. Jackson will miss a minimum of four matches so it will be interesting to see how Armando Broja fares for The Blues and whether he can convince Pochettino of a permanent spot in the starting XI.
Manchester United will be losing their number one in André Onana, who has been rather polarising so far this season, but regardless of public perception, he is a class keeper and will be a sore loss for The Red Devils. He has however been granted permission to play in United’s league game against Tottenham on the 14 January, which as a result saw him also play in their 2-0 win over Wigan in the FA Cup. Approaching a pivotal period in the Premier League season, ten Hag’s team will certainly feel the effects without Onana, relying on keepers Altay Bayindir and Tom Heaton.
Odds to win the Cup
Morocco currently lead the betting to win AFCON 2023 at 11/2, following a remarkable campaign in the latest World Cup, where they lost 2-0 in the semi-finals against France. Defending champions Senegal currently sit in second at 6/1 to repeat their feat from the last edition of the competition. Algeria and hosts Ivory Coast are both at 7/1, narrowly in front of Egypt (8/1), Cameroon (9/1) and Nigeria (10/1).
