How the recent editions of Africa Cup of Nations and Asian Cup illustrate a narrowing gap between teams

Monday's victory parade in Abidjan for the Cote d'Ivoire's men's national football team, triumphant the previous night in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final against Nigeria, saw tens of thousands of supporters line up the city's streets. For a team that was teetering on the brink of elimination after its final group game, a 4-0 hammering at the hands of Equatorial Guinea, the title win came as nothing short of a miracle. 

With coach Jean-Louis Gasset sacked after the group stages and the inexperienced Emerse Fae taking over the reins, hosts Cote d'Ivoire's knockout stage qualification required favorable results in other games, with Ghana conceding a last-gasp equalizer against Mozambique and Morocco narrowly beating Zambia. 

In the knockout stages, it was a completely different story for the hosts. Knocking the defending champions Senegal out in the last 16 after trailing for large periods in the game, coming back against Mali in the quarterfinals after being down to 10 men and a second-half rally against mighty Nigeria in the final: Cote d'Ivoire's knockout campaign was one for the ages – a story of tremendous grit.

In a way, Cote d'Ivoire's victory – their third AFCON title – was the perfect culmination of a tournament marked by a high degree of unpredictability in terms of results on the pitch. Many of the continent's big hitters were already on their way home before the quarterfinal stage, while lesser-fancied teams made merry with a series of shocks. 

It was not just the likes of Angola and Cape Verde whose stunning performances on the field captivated the football world, but even the relative minnows who didn't make it past the group stages, like Tanzania and Mozambique, took off points from stronger opponents and ensured that the group stages never had a dull moment.

Namibia and Mauritania were among the stories of the tournament, qualifying for the knockouts for the first time in their history. Mauritania's rise, in particular, has in a way typified the ascent of many of the continent's putative lightweights. 

The team's coach, Amir Abdou, who had masterminded the Comoros' run to the round of 16 in the last edition of the AFCON, oversaw a team that played without fear, the highlight of which was a stunning 1-0 win over Algeria. Just over a decade ago, Mauritania's men's national team was ranked outside of the top 200 in the FIFA rankings. 

Since then, the country has taken major leaps in the sport. Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, singled out Mauritania for praise in 2021 for making the most of funds from the FIFA Forward project to bolster its infrastructure and youth structure.

The Asian Cup in Qatar demonstrated a storyline similar to that in Africa – the rise of a number of teams outside the circle of the continent's traditional heavyweights. While hosts Qatar's title triumph was itself a bit of a relative surprise, Jordan's fairytale run to the final was testament to the country's rising stock in the sport. 

Tajikistan, Syria, Indonesia and Palestine made it to the knockout stages of the tournament for the first time in their history. Iraq's win over Japan, Jordan's wins over Iraq and South Korea, Malaysia's thrilling 3-3 draw against South Korea and many other results showed the increasing competitiveness in the apex Asian tournament. Vietnam didn't earn a single point but gave mighty scares to both Japan and Iraq.

Tajikistan's story is particularly fascinating. Unlike regional heavyweights and fellow quarterfinalists Uzbekistan, this was the first time Tajikistan had qualified for the Asian Cup. 

Until 2012, Tajikistan were regulars in the Challenge Cup, a now-defunct competition that was created by the Asian Football Confederation to provide more international exposure to the continent's lower-ranked sides. In Qatar, Tajikistan showed no signs of their inexperience at this level, drawing against China and knocking the UAE out in the last 16 before finally losing a tense quarterfinal to Jordan by a goal to nil.

What the recently concluded editions of the AFCON and the Asian Cup showed is that the rise of the likes of Tajikistan and Mauritania is no aberration but rather representative of a phenomenon across both continents – the traditional elites are being challenged and more teams are catching up fast. 

This definitely bodes well for the future of both of these continental showpiece events. Moreover, with the FIFA World Cup expanding to 48 teams from the next edition in 2026, both Africa and Asia will have more qualifying spots. 

The rising ambitions of many World Cup hopefuls should go a long way in enhancing the thrill and excitement in the qualification rounds.