Driving through the streets of Abidjan, one of the host cities of the ACON 2023 and the largest city and economic base of Cote D’Ivoire, it was all beautiful and modern. The sky scrappers, the exotic buildings, the good roads, the well-designed bridges, and the view of the ocean give the city – the Lagos vibe.
All of these are joined by the colourful decorations on every street. The decorations, which are either in Cote D’Ivoire’s flag or in CAF colours or AFCON colours make the city even more attractive both during the day and at night.
On the pitch, the colours are not left out. Apart from the beautiful football on the grass, the 24 teams have beautified the 34th Africa Cup of Nations with their colourful jerseys.
With some of the teams already bowed out, I collate together the colours of jerseys we are to see or have seen in this AFCON.
White for Peace
Virtually every team in this Africa Cup of Nations has a white jersey. Out of the 24 teams that have kicked a ball in Cote d’Ivoire, 22 teams have white jerseys.
The colour – white is one colour that is virtually on every flag in Africa. Literally in the Nigerian flag and in many other countries, the colour stands for peace.
Only Guinea Bissau and South Africa do not wear a white jersey in this tournament. This makes white the colour with most jerseys in the AFCON.
Red for Danger
Red is a colour that usually stands for danger. So it means 13 teams in this AFCON are wearing danger. Red is the second most used colour in this AFCON. The North African teams are the leaders in this category because their home jerseys are red.
Namibia, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, and Ghana are the other teams adorning red in this tournament.
Green for Go
Green is the third most used colour at AFCON. It’s used by ten national teams at AFCON for their jerseys.
Zambia, South Africa, Mali, Mauritania, Algeria, and Burkina Faso are teams that adorn the green jersey. Nigeria, Guinea Bissau, Senegal, and Cameroon are the other teams who traditionally wear green.
In Nigeria, we know green stands for fertility.
Yellow for the shine
Yellow is a colour that stands for so many things, but too many teams wear yellow in this tournament. Only six teams are gracing the pitch with the colour.
Zambia, South Africa, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Angola, and Tanzania are the teams that adorn yellow.
Combo of many more
Apart from the above, other colours are adorned in this AFCON. 4 teams – Cape Verde, Tanzania, DR Congo, and Namibia are the teams to wear blue.
2 teams – Mali, Mauritania wear black, and Côte D’Ivoire, the host of the tournament, the only team to wear orange.
Top photo: Jamiu Adelase