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The media bus was canceled at short notice for the opening match of the Africa Cup between host country Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau. Time is running out and we hear a lot about busy roads and difficult journeys to the stadium. We’ll take an Uber. An hour later there was a traffic jam about six kilometers in front of the stadium. Nothing works anymore. At least inside.

The bear is dancing outside. Or what feels like all of Abidjan. What the residents of the capital do along the road to the stadium hours before the match is pure expectation. They jump, trumpet, sing and drum across the dual carriageway. It wouldn’t surprise me if a dancing bear suddenly appeared.

Do we have to walk from here? We would be at the stadium in about 1.5 hours. Traffic is starting to move again. We remain seated. Our journalist IDs get us through the next roadblock. But about two kilometers from the stadium, nothing actually works. We get out and are quickly swallowed up by the crowd. These are wild scenes. Almost an hour later we are at the stadium.

Don’t measure enthusiasm by visiting the stadium

When we arrive the opening ceremony is already underway. The atmosphere in the 60,000-seat arena – while not completely full – is electric. It feels like “Akwaba” (“Welcome”), the official tournament song, is being played endlessly. At the end, everyone cheers along with the ‘eeh-ooh, eeh-ooh’, essentially a ‘Chum bring and hey’ for the entire African continent. I can never get the melody out of my head.

The last few hours with the hectic journey to the stadium, the many impressions, the noise, so many people, the big difference between the poor people on the side of the road and us privileged people here in the stadium have left their mark. My neighbor Simon from England – who is going to the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time – sits there almost apathetically. Normally he follows Liverpool and Everton closely. He knows everything about emotions in football. But now he says, “Hey, I need to go outside. I can’t process it now.”

You hear a lot about fans during the Africa Cup of Nations. Or rather: the lack of fans. The stadiums are rarely full or only fill up as the game progresses. This was usually the case at previous Africa Cups I attended. Therefore, it is a gross misunderstanding to conclude that there is a lack of interest. There are usually other circumstances that prevent foreign fans from traveling to the host country and locals from treating themselves to access to the stadium.

Good atmosphere in the stadiums

But the enthusiasm I encounter on the streets of Abidjan is boundless. Hardly anyone who doesn’t wear the national colors somewhere. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the saleswoman in the supermarket, the taxi driver, the toddler or the businessman. Various shops and public facilities remain closed on match days. You want to be prepared for the match, even if it only takes place in the evening.

In Ivory Coast I often have the feeling that the stadiums are generally well used and that the atmosphere in the stands does not have to hide from that of the European Championship. When Ghana plays against Egypt, ‘La Ola’ even goes around the stadium. This is accompanied by the constant drumming, dancing and singing of the fans. In Yamoussoukro, a drum group sits next to the media gallery. Working is no longer an option.

Colorful fans in strange costumes

And then of course there they are: the fans in costume. At every fair they took one of the front seats. Full body painting or crazy disguises are just part of it. As an outsider, it is not always clear whether it is an ordinary fan or a voodoo master. Or both.

Fans at the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations

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Fans at the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations

The fans at the African Cup of Nations are usually colorful.

source: keystone / sundayalamba

In the past, a live chicken would enter the stadium, but I won’t see that anywhere in 2024. But Gambia’s fans left a lasting impression. One comes as a red down, the other with a kind of wood-bark dress, and he knocks two tree trunks together in time. I’ve seen a lot of crazy fans, but never anything like this. At a temperature of 30 degrees and humidity between 60 and 80 percent, they will probably sweat a lot.

Wild scenes in the fan zone

But as mentioned earlier, the real excitement takes place outside the stadium. If you want to understand what football means here, you have to go to the streets of the city. That’s why I’m watching the match between Ivory Coast and Nigeria during the public viewing in Treichville, a middle-class neighborhood. The fan zone remains poorly attended until shortly before the start of the match, but in the minutes before kick-off spectators rush in front of the big screens.

The atmosphere is exuberant; as soon as the host approaches the penalty area, the noise level increases. Unfortunately, there is no goal for the “Elefants” and they lose 0-1 to the “Super Eagles”. I think the mood would have exploded if the situation was reversed.

“The country has not slept”

I heard from journalist friends that I was right after Ivory Coast’s surprising round of 16 win against Senegal. Even die-hard football experts from Nigeria, Ghana, England and Denmark assure me that they have rarely seen such scenes after a football match.

“Everyone here is going crazy. The country was not sleeping, it was completely wild,” wrote Abiola Shodiya, who has been following the Africa Cup of Nations closely for years – and as a Nigerian is used to wild parties. However, he didn’t see a dancing bear. Not yet.

Because Ivory Coast is still in the race. Today we face Mali in the quarter-finals (6 p.m. Swiss time). Cape Verde or South Africa would wait in the semi-finals. Suddenly the tableau is open. Everything can happen. Only one thing is clear: there will be a state of emergency.