Football legend Rabah Madjer, former player for the Algerian national team, affirmed that Arab teams will encounter difficulties in the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations, highlighting that Egypt has the potential to clinch the title.
Anticipation is building among football enthusiasts in Africa and around the world for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, set to kick off on January 13th and continue until February 11th in Cote d’Ivoire.
The tournament will feature five Arab teams – Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Mauritania – among the 48 participating squads.
In a statement to the Qatari site “Weyyak,” Madjer remarked, “Arab teams in the Africa Cup of Nations will have equal chances, but they will face challenging conditions, such as high temperatures and humidity, along with other factors.”
“These challenging conditions will not favor Arab teams; Arabs have not succeeded in the tournament when held in the jungles of Africa.
Only the Egyptian national team has previously clinched the title in Black Africa.
Hopefully, Arab teams will shine in Cote d’Ivoire, and one of them will win the title,” he added.
Madjer emphasized the difficulty of predicting which teams are contenders for the championship, stating, “Every team aspires to win the cup.”
He concluded, “Cote d’Ivoire, as the host country, is a formidable team and will exert every effort to win the title.”
It’s worth noting that the Egyptian national team has previously won the Africa Cup of Nations four times outside its homeland out of seven total titles, in 1957 (Sudan), 1998 (Burkina Faso), 2008 (Ghana), and 2010 (Angola).
