Cape Town — The celebration of African football will long be overshadowed by the scars of a tragedy that killed eight people at the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Cameroon.
It was Carlos Queiroz, the Mozambican-born coach of Egypt, who reminded Samuel Eto'o, the president of the Cameroonian Football Federation, that Africa's devotion and its love for football should be evident at the continental showpiece.
"Football is about celebration, it's about joy, it's about happiness,” said Queiroz, in response to Eto'o who warned his fellow countryman to prepare for "war" ahead of Cameroon's semi-final against Egypt.
No one could have foreseen the tragedy which happened at the 60 000-seater Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé on the evening when hosts Cameroon played Comoros in a Round of 16 fixture. Initial reports into the cause of the tragedy revealed that an entrance gate was locked when it should have been open.
CAF president Patrice Motsepe said afterwards: "If that gate was open, as it was supposed to be, we would not have had this problem, this loss of life. Who closed that gate?"
Eight fans who went to the game did not return home.
It was a shattering blow to the image of the tournament, It already had to deal with defamatory remarks of the highest order from football big shots around the world. The celebrated Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp told the media: "In January, there is a little tournament in Africa."
Senegal coach Aliou Cisse took Klopp to task: "Who does he think he is? I respect Liverpool but not Klopp, who undermines African football. He is where he is today because of African footballers."
Two Liverpool players Mohamed Salah (Egypt) and Sadio Mane (Senegal) were far and away the most high-profile players at the 2022 showpiece. It did so much for the profile and the appeal of Sunday's final that these star footballers were in action.
The 2022 Afcon was historic since it was the first time the format included 24 rather than 16 teams. CAF's hierarchy had fears that the 24-team format might emphasize the need for co-hosting by two or more countries for future tournaments.
In mid-tournament, one venue was ditched because of concerns over the state of the pitch.
The increased number of teams created opportunities across the board. Teams lower down the ranking list were able to crack a pass to the continental showpiece. Minnows like Comoros Islands, Gambia and Equatorial Guinea were hardly walk-overs and caused their fair share of upsets.
There was a need for a bigger pool of match officials, and this opened the way for women officials like Salima Mukasanga (Rwanda), Carine Atemzabong (Cameroon), Fatiha Jermoumi (Morocco) and Bouchra Karboubi (Morocco) to join the fray.
Mukansanga made history when she blew the Group B match between Zimbabwe and Guinea. For the first time, a women ref oversaw a CAF match.
Another first was that all 52 matches had VAR (video assistant referee) available at this tournament.
All in all, the firsts enhanced the standing of African football except the unwanted 'first' from Zambian referee Janny Sikazwe, who blew the final whistle twice too early in a match.
African football will next be in the spotlight at the CAF World Cup play-offs in March. Again, Salah and Mane will be the headlines because one of the five match-ups will be between Egypt and Senegal.
It offers a perfect shot at redemption for Salah after his tearful Afcon exit on Sunday.
IOL Sport