Visionaries:

‘Host and Win’was the motto of the 26th edition of the African Cup of Nations, held in Ghana. They failed, seizing third place. Veteran coach Claude le Roy faced down calls for his job. After a review the Ghanaian FA offered him an extension, but le Roy quit as Black Stars coach, preferring to take over the Omani national team, but despite his decision to leave, le Roy was adamant that the competition had left an important legacy for Ghana.

"We have four new beautiful stadiums," he said, but the stadiums only tell part of the story. Le Roy is a visionary. He insists that the African Cup of Nations is more than just a tournament. It is essential to develop infrastructures in under-developed African countries. Le Roy believes rotating the competition throughout Africa gives those countries the opportunity to develop related industries for the future.

The new stadium in Cabinda is clearly a colossal waste of resources. After the terrible attack on the Togo squad prior to the recent edition of the African Cup of nations, international football is an impossibility in the exclave. The stadium is dormant, unlikely to ever host such matches again. It is a dreadful waste of resources that could have been put to far better use, especially as Angola is a poor nation.

This was an opportunity to develop other necessary infrastructures too – hotels: transport and much more besides. By seeking to make a political point over Cabinda, both the Angolan government and the Confédération Africaine de Football made a huge mistake. Cabinda was oil-rich. It didn’t need new hotels or other infrastructures, but another city could have benefited from all those infrastructures and a state-of-the-art football stadium. Cabinda's stadium is a complete waste.

The Organiser:

Ghana did not make such a mistake. The benefits were shared around the country. The ancient capital of the Asante Empire, Kumasi, the northern city of Tamale – the poorest of the host cities. One of the leading members of the Organising Committee of Ghana’ACN was the former Black Stars skipper Anthony Baffoe. He gave us an extensive interview. Ghana failed to win the tournament, securing third place, but it was still a success.

"Africans have made it in Europe," Baffoe told us. "This is the African Cup of Nations. It’s like the World Cup for the people, so it’s every two years because it helps the economy, not only because we play football like that, but every stadium we build: the facilities, new hotels. It helps the economy." How?

"A lot of people criticised Tamale, but they had a new hotel: they had new training facilities, a new stadium and it was an investment," Baffoe continued. "We can use it afterwards, so I think it’s quite important the African Cup will always be played in January, or February. I think it is okay like that."

 Le Roy’s four beautiful stadia had to be utilised. "They are going to be used," Baffoe said. "We had to think where are we going from here? We have learned stadium management and event marketing. It will not just be for the football, or the African Cup of Nations. What is the continuation going to be? It won’t just be for seven days, or something like that. It will be to help in terms of management administration and for marketing."

And there is more. "Now every big club: every big team, every big nation can come and play in Ghana, so if we don’t make use of them, then we have done something wrong," Baffoe said. "It is important that the right people get their heads together to find a strategy – a direction – to host major events and I’m looking forward to that."

The process of event planning and organisation is ongoing. "People are still putting their heads together to come up with a good plan and you see that’s why we have to create the awareness locally to fill the stadiums," he said. "I would love to see Hearts of Oak playing against Chelsea and Kotoko playing against Manchester United – these sort of things."

Sekondi was far from a rich city. It had the capacity to benefit from the competition and the new stadium there. "There are two teams nearby and there are teams from the central region and western region and teams in the premier league as well that can use it," said Baffoe. "The national team can use it. Ivory Coast is not far, so I’m not scared of that. Like I told you we have to organise ourselves and create this new awareness to utilise these new infrastructures. We’ll get it done."