The 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations tagged 2023 AFCON which ended in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire on February 11, 2024 proved to the world that the continent’s football has really come of age.

This is coming weeks after the Atlas Lions of Morocco put up a scintillating display of football artistry which saw them reaching the semi finals of the World Cup held in Qatar, the first in the Middle East and the first African side to do so.

From the 52 matches played, the stadiums used as well as the officiating, especially the performance of the Video Assistant Referee, VAR, the AFCON was unarguably tagged the best in the history of the competition by the president of the Confederation of African Football, CAF, Patrice Motsepe.

Followers of the game, including top European football managers like controversial Jose Mourinho, hailed CAF over the use of VAR at the 2023 AFCON. Mourinho had this to say: “In AFCON VAR is used exactly the way it should be used,” a subtle mocking of the VAR system in the English Premier League.

The biggest revelation, not surprising though, from the competition was the performance of the so-called underdog teams which demystified the giants in the continent and kicked them out of the competition.

These countries showed more cohesion because majority of their players ply their football trade together in their local leagues compared to some others whose players play in foreign leagues.

Though the Super Eagles got to the final, losing 1-2 to the host, Cote d’Ivoire, a big lesson for the country is the need to develop the local league, the Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL, from which a sizeable number of players who can understand themselves better could be introduced into the national team.

Towards this end, the federal and states governments should take the first step by providing quality facilities like stadiums with standard playing and training surfaces needed for a profitable league.

This will attract television that will take the matches to the people in their homes which in turn will attract sponsors who need the television to get the desired mileage for their products.

With humongous money coming from television rights, clubs could get the resources not only to pay and retain good local players back home but also buy quality players from other countries to improve the quality of the league.

That way, good players won’t always seek greener pasture in foreign leagues but remain at home and play together like we have in the Premier Soccer League, PSL, in South Africa from where almost all their national team players come.

With quality players in the league, national coaches, especially those handling the Super Eagles will have enough reservoirs of players to draw from and add to the array of foreign-based players to get the desired blend.

A situation where almost the entire players are drawn from European teams at great cost to the country but some do not get to play throughout a competition is unpardonable.

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