The 2017 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament will begin on January 14 in Gabon and it’s expected to deliver best experience.
2013 champions, Nigeria, won’t be participating after failing to qualify for the competition.
The champions of this year’s tournament will make more money than current titleholder, Ivory Coast, who defeated Ghana to become champions in 2015.
‘The year 2017 starts a new cycle in the marketing of the commercialisation and media rights of our competitions, with the premiums paid to the participating teams, in some cases multiplied by three or more,’ Issa Hayatou said at the 2016 CAF awards in Abuja on January 5.
Winners of the last four editions of AFCON – Egypt (2010), Zambia (2012), Nigeria (2013), and Ivory Coast (2015) – took home $1.5m (about N472m) each for their victories.
‘The winner of the Total Africa Cup of Nations, which kicks off on 14 January in Gabon, will take home 4 million US Dollars compared to the 1.5 Million Dollars for the last four editions,’ Hayatou disclosed at the award ceremony.
Libya was first announced to host the 2017 AFCON, but CAF withdrew its hosting rights in August 2014 due to ongoing war in the country, and the rights were granted to Gabon.
Aside Nigeria, other notable countries that failed to qualify for this year’s tournament include South Africa, Zambia and Angola.