Ronaldo, Benzema, Saka, and Other Players Who Could Have Played at AFCON 2023
The African Cup of Nations is the biggest sporting tournament in Africa. As AFCON’s 34th edition kicked off in Ivory Coast last weekend of the 13th, the 2023 AFCON could have had a completely different look and feel if some of these football greats decided to represent their origin countries over the country that they grew up in.
The following are some of the African Giants who are missing some serious talents in their national duty squads.
IVORY COAST
The 2023 AFCON hosts Ivory Coast could have some big names in their squad in the year’s edition if these players choose to represent the country.
Manchester City Centre-back Nathaniel Ake chose to represent the Netherlands despite having an Ivorian heritage. Bayern Munich winger Serge Gnabry whose father is an origin of Ivory Coast chose to play for 2014 World Champions Germany.
NIGERIA
The Super Eagles of Nigeria who drew their first match against Equatorial Guinea could have a different look if these stars chose to play for them.
Arsenal and English winger Bukayo Saka has both parents of Nigeria origin.
Manchester City’s Manuel Akanji also has Nigerian blood running through his veins but decided to play for Switzerland. Crystal Palace’s duo Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise have both decided against representing their origin nation Nigeria and decided to represent Europe powerhouses England and France respectively.
GHANA
The Black stars of Ghana who lost their first match of AFCON 2023 in the hands of Cape Verde, could also have benefited greatly in this year’s AFCON tournament if these stars could have decided to play for them.
Despite succeeding in convincing Inaki Williams to switch his nationality to Ghana they were unable to convince his brother Nico Williams to make the same choice.
Ghana also failed to acquire the services of Bayern Munich left-back Alphonso Davies who was born in Buduburam, Ghana, to Liberian refugee parents but chose to play for Canada.
The Black Stars also lost Yunus Musah to the United States with also failing to secure the services of Atletico Madrid and Netherlands forward Memphis Depay who is a duo citizen of Ghana and the Netherlands.
CAMEROON
The Indomitable Lions could be a different team if they could have secured the nationality of Kylian Mbappe who took the nationality of 2018 World Cup champions, France.
Also, his French counterpart Aurelien Tchouaméni who plays for Real Madrid, has Cameroonian roots just like Breel Embolo who chose to switch his national allegiance to represent Switzerland.
ALGERIA
The AFCON 2019 champions could have benefitted the services of former Real Madrid legend Karim Benzema who plays for Saudi Pro League’s side Al-Ittihad but the forward rejected Algeria and chose to represent France.
CAPE VERDE
The Island nation who are commonly known as the Blue Sharks could have arguably one of the Greatest players in world football history, Cristiano Ronaldo could have had an incredible impact on the Africa Cup of Nations if he had played for Cape Verde where he was eligible through his paternal great-grandmother who was from the African Island.
SENEGAL
Despite the AFCON defending champions having the likes of Sadio Mane, Koulibaly, Benjamin Mendy and other stars, the Lions of Teranga could have benefitted a lot if the likes of Leroy Sane decided otherwise as he shifted his nationality to Germany as well PSG winger Ousmane Dembele who chose France over Senegal.
About The Author
