{"id":3869,"date":"2024-01-02T12:55:34","date_gmt":"2024-01-02T12:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=3869"},"modified":"2024-01-02T18:23:10","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T18:23:10","slug":"historic-afcon-part-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2024\/01\/02\/historic-afcon-part-three\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic AFCON (Part Three)<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (December 29th<\/sup> 2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Legacy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November 1965 Charles Gyamfi became the first coach to win consecutive editions of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Tunisia. It included a 5-2 demolition of Congo-Leopoldville, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. 18 days later the African champions defeated the late L\u00e9on Mokuna Mutombo\u2019s team in their own country 3-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019d have got long odds if you bet on Congo-Kinshasa, as they had become by the next edition to beat Ghana in the next edition. Osei Kofi \u2013 one of the few to play for both Accra\u2019s Hearts of Oak and their biggest domestic rivals, Kumasi\u2019s Asante Kotoko \u2013 now the Reverend Osei Kofi was joint top scorer and Best Player in the 1965 edition. Ghana beat the hosts Tunisia 3-2after extra time \u2013 the first final to require it, yet the Carthage Eagles were fortunate to progress. They had the same points and goal difference as debutants, S\u00e9n\u00e9gal, both beating Ethiopia by four goals, but the hosts\u2019 goal average was better, so they advanced to the final. La C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire won the battle of the debutants 1-0 against S\u00e9n\u00e9gal to secure third place. Osei Kofi had scored in every match, including the final \u2013 Accra\u2019s Great Olympics\u2019 scored the winner in extra time \u2013 the first to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Osei Kofi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Power of Football<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghana\u2019s Football Revolution was destroyed from within, but African leaders had learned a lesson \u2013 football was popular with ordinary people and they wanted success. Ghana had delivered, but its coup opened the door for others. The first to take advantage was a thug and kleptocrat \u2013 one of the worst in Africa\u2019s history Joseph D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Mobutu, later to become known as Mobutu Sese Seko. He ruled the country from 1965 until 1997 when he fled due to an insurrection led by Laurent Kabila. Mobutu died in 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He understood the power of sport, starting with football as TP (Tout Puissant) Engelbert, now TP Mazembe dominated club football in 1967. Congo-Kinshasa were unlikely winners. They had been demolished 5-2 and 3-0 in November 1965 by Ghana and even lost to them 2-1 on January 12th<\/sup> 1968 in Ethiopia\u2019s second AFCON.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both semi finals went to extra time. Congo-Kinshasa downed the hosts, Ethiopia, 3-2 and Ghana beat Ivory Coast 4-3, setting up the second meetings between the Ivorians and Ethiopia, and Ghana and Congo-Kinshasa. Ethiopia had won the group stage match 1-0. The Ivorians reversed that result to claim third place. The group stage matches mattered little as Csan\u00e1di Ferenc\u2019s team upset conventional football wisdom to produce what was then the biggest upset in AFCON history. The late Pierre Kalala Mukendi only scored once in the tournament, but it was the AFCON title-winning goal \u2013 the goal which ended Ghana\u2019s domination of African football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Asante Kotoko took a small measure of revenge over TP Engelbert by beating them in the final of the African Cup of Champions Clubs Final in 1968, it was scant consolation. However, Mobutu\u2019s sports-based strategy was underway. At first it was football dominated, but he was not the only military strongman to realise the power of football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Political Context of Sudan\u2019s AFCON Triumph<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jafaar Nimeiry (Photo by Gary Weaser\/Keystone\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jafaar Nimeiry who had seized power in Sudan from Ismail al-Azhari in a military coup in 1969 also knew the power of football, and its benefits to military strongmen. He had seen that the first to benefit from the exporting of Nkrumah\u2019s Football Revolution had been a military strongman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nimeiry knew that Sudan had reached finals before but had failed to deliver the prize, and that hosting the finals offered the best chance of winning. He also knew that whoever was in power at the time alone had the opportunity to benefit. This was his chance and the stakes were high and he knew it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sudan was a young nation in terms of independence, securing it from Egypt in 1956. A Sudanese Sovereignty Council (SSC) governed with Azhari as its first Prime Minister. But its military soon intervened. General Ibrahim Abboud seized power in 1958. He stayed in power for six years before he was ousted in a popular uprising against military rule. Until General Omar Al-Bashir\u2019s regime was toppled no other Sudanese government had been responsible for the deaths of its people than Aboud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The political situation in the south proved intractable. Aboud resigned in November 1964. While Sudan\u2019s first period of military dictatorship, which involved repression, killings and other human rights abuses, and also gross economic mismanagement, had ended, civilian rule faced severe problems, and did not last long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another Sovereignty Council (SSC) held power from December 1964 for just over six months, handing over power to Azhari in June 1965. There were seven members of the SSC, which included Abdel Halim Mohamed Abdel Halim Musaad Hashim[1]<\/a> He would not complete his term. He was ousted just under four years after becoming Sudan\u2019s President. The military were back in power after Nimeiry\u2019s coup of May 25th<\/sup> 1969. The prominent writer, Muhammad Ahmad Magoub was Prime Minister twice in this government, but was ousted by Nimeiry\u2019s coup. Nimeiry had less than nine months to consolidate power and organise Sudan\u2019s AFCON challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> Abdel Halim was a physician, writer and political activist. He died within a week of his 99th<\/sup> birthday. He was a member of the second SSC in Sudan\u2019s history and played an important role in Sudanese and African sport. In 1965, shortly after the SSC handed over power, Ian Smith declared a Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). The Conf\u00e9d\u00e9ration Africaine de Football (CAF) immediately threw Rhodesia out of African football. Abdel Halim was the President of the Sudanese Football Association from 1953, playing a vital role in foundation of CAF. He was the third President of CAF from 1968 to 1972, meaning he was its President when FIFA expelled Rhodesia in 1970 due to its racist policies, and interim President after the death of his successor Yidnekatchew Tessema until Issa Hayatou was elected as the next President of CAF. Abdel Halil was involved in other sporting activities in Sudan and Africa and strongly opposed South Africa and Rhodesia\u2019s racist policies in football.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (December 29th 2023) The Legacy In November 1965 Charles Gyamfi became the first coach to win consecutive editions of the [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[88,120,527,528,82,530,526,529,179],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3869"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3869"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3889,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3869\/revisions\/3889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}