The shot was beautiful, pure and delicately deposited in the net of the opposing goal. On Saturday, January 13, Seko Fofana, the hardworking midfielder from Côte d'Ivoire – the host country – elegantly scored the first goal of the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament (AFCON) against Guinea-Bissau (2-0). The goal was also symbolic of another aspect of African football, with mixed identities and career paths providing a reminder of the long history linking the continent to Europe. Fofana, 28, was born in Paris and played for the French national youth team before opting for the Ivorian Elephants in 2017.

For several years now, the continent's teams have been bolstered by binational players, enabling them to be more competitive at AFCON and other tournaments. Senegal, Comoros, Mali and Tunisia are among the African teams that have been able to raise "their level of play," admitted Amir Abdou, the Mauritania coach, by relying more and more on their diaspora, as Algeria has done successfully since the early 2000s. It's a similar situation in Morocco, whose historic semi-final appearance at the World Cup in Qatar – the farthest an African team had ever gone in the tournament – validated this strategy of selecting players born elsewhere in the world.

Of the 24 nations that qualified for AFCON, only three (South Africa, Egypt and Namibia) have no dual nationals in their squad. Historically, these three teams have always relied heavily on young players from local leagues, with the Egyptian and South African leagues considered to be the most competitive on the continent. As for the other competing nations, from the most impressive to the most modest, they have called up footballers with several passports, from France, Spain, Germany or the Netherlands.

Their presence in the national teams also highlights the weakness of African leagues. "The national championship was interrupted for part of last year. Many players left the country. I had no choice but to select a majority of players with dual nationality," explained Sébastien Desabre, the French coach of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "But even without the interruption, I would have done it, because the best players are in Europe." This contribution has enabled DRC's Leopards to achieve better results in recent months, to the point of qualifying for AFCON.

In Algeria, Djamel Belmadi, the Fennecs' iconic coach, called up 25-year-old Houssem Aouar (AS Roma), who had already been capped by France's senior team in 2020. Thanks to a new rule, the former Lyon man was able to change his sporting nationality. He should have been joined by 23-year-old Amine Gouiri (Stade Rennais), but the former France U-21 international was unable to travel to Côte d'Ivoire due to injury. Of the starting 11 that faced Angola on Monday (1-1), seven were born in France. "In Algeria, there's a lot of talent and potential, but we train very few players. The quality of our training rarely enables them to play at the highest level," said former national team coach Nabil Neghiz.

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