Cameroon Grabs 4 Million Dollars as African Football Marks 60th Birthday

By Khalifa Hemed
Published February 8, 2017

Cameroon walked away with US$4 million cash prize after beating Egypt 2-1 in the final of the 31st African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Gabon on February 5, 2017.

Issa Hayatou, President of Confederation of African Football (CAF) says the growth of the cash prize from US$1.5 million is an indication of the progress being made by CAF since its coming into existence on February 8, 1957.

“From just one competition at the outset, we count about ten today, which are regularly organised, following a well-planned schedule,” Hayatou said during the CAF African Player of the Year ceremony in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on January 5, 2017. “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.”

“These considerable and undeniable strides constitute a concretisation of our continuously reaffirmed willingness to work unrelentlessly for the emancipation of the youth of Africa by way of developing football everywhere in Africa,” Hayatou says.

Saying that football “unites people, spreads peace, [and] preaches solidarity,” Hayatou thanks African leaders who support football in their countries.

Hayatou notes that “sustained expansion of women’s football” across Africa remains a challenge for CAF.

Of the 16 teams in four groups that battled out for the CAN 2017 glory between January 14 and February 5, 2017 in Africa’s biggest tournament, Cameroon emerged the overall winner followed by Egypt, Burkina Faso and Ghana, in that order.

The 16 teams that qualified for and participated in the tournament were:

Group A
Gabon
Guinea-Bissau
Cameroon
Burkina Faso