El Hadj Diouf Names AFCON 2023 Potential Winners

Former Liverpool and Senegal striker, El Hadj Diouf, has predicted that his country’s national team, Teranga Lions, will win the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

El Hadj Diouf said aside from Senegal, Morocco who became the first country to play in the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2022, and the 2023 AFCON hosts, Ivory Coast, are second and third favourites for the title.

Recall that in February 2022, Senegal won their first AFCON title in the country’s football history after defeating Egypt in the final in Cameroon.

Diouf who recorded 44 caps for his country before he retired, believes his country would successfully defend the AFCON title in Ivory Coast.

“Senegal are the favourites, but there are outsiders like Morocco and Ivory Coast, and there are teams that will emerge from the pack as the competition continues,” El Hadj Diouf said in an interview with Senegalese media outlet Record.

“Now, the African Cup we won in Cameroon was the responsibility of the management, who pulled out all the stops, but the next AFCON will be the responsibility of the players. And it’s up to them to show that they’re not finished yet.”

Senegal are drawn in Group C alongside the former hosts of the competition, Cameroon, Gambia, and Guinea.

The competition which will be hosted in five cities in Ivory Coast – Abidjan, Bouaké, Korhogo, San Pédro, and Yamoussoukro, will commence on January 13 and end on February 11, 2024.