African Football Is Never Boring

 

Tonight is the final of the 2015 African Cup of Nations (AFCON). For people outside of the continent, this means nothing. But for the 54 countries inside, it's the biggest African sport event outside of the World Cup. Ghana is playing neighbour Côte d'Ivoire for the final - a meeting of giants. But this is not why African football is so interesting. Consider how we got to this evening:

Case Study 1: Morocco

In early 2014, the Ebola virus outbreak grew, from Guinea, to Sierra Leone to Liberia. In the ensuing panic, AFCON 2015 host Morocco decided that maybe they didn't want all of those other Africans coming and maybe sneezing on them. So at the last minute, they not-so-helpfully declined. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) then panicked to find a replacement host. For their idiocy, CAF decided that Morocco will forfeit their spot in this tournament and are banned from qualifying for 2017 and 2019 as well.  

 

Case Study #2: Equatorial Guinea

African teams have a strange habit of not following the rules and fielding ineligible players, which sunk a few teams in World Cup qualifying. Equatorial Guinea followed this tradition (fielding a Cameroonian in a qualifier) and were promptly disqualified.

However, with AFCON looking for a home, the tiny oil-rich and massively corrupt nation benevolently offered to host (and take Morocco's spot), so all of that disqualification business was quickly forgiven.

 

Case Study #3: The Mauritian Referee
In extra time of a deadlocked match between Tunisia and Equatorial Guinea, the Mauritius-born referee awarded a controversial last-minute free kick to the overmatched hosts, who scored.

This put them ahead of Tunisia into the knockout round. Saving face, CAF suspended the ref for incompetence. When the Tunisian Football Association's president accused CAF of cheating (football associations being notoriously corrupt), they banned him from all activities.

Case Study #4: Equatorial Guinea, yet again

In the semi-finals, the plucky host team's luck ran out and they were routed by Ghana 3-0. The Equatoguinean fans started pelting visiting Ghanaian fans and the team and a riot ensued, stopping the match and resulting in a large fine for the hosts. Ghanaians reportedly fled to their embassy for shelter.

And that in a nutshell is why African football is never boring.