The former Barcelona star won the continental championship eight years ago and encouraged the Elephants to repeat the feat at home
Former Ivory Coast midfielder Yahya Toure has recommended his country to host and win the 2023 African Cup of Nations, Soccernet.ng reported.
Toure, who won AFCON with Ivory Coast in 2015, believes Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Morocco and South Africa will be the main favorites to win in January.
Interestingly, Nigeria was selected in Group A of AFCON along with Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau, with Equatorial Guinea completing the quartet.
Only two teams can advance to the Round of 16 from the Group Stage.
The former Manchester City player does not believe the Super Eagles will leave Group A as Toure bets on Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau in the final stages of the competition.
Nigeria not only won the African Player of the Year award, but the Super Eagles also scored the most goals in the qualifiers.
However, in explaining why he chose his favorite team, Toure revealed that he hopes the team that performed well in qualifying will carry that momentum to Ivory Coast in January.
According to Afrique Sports, Toure said: “It’s normal to have love for your country.”
“Ivory Coast has a strong team and many talented and experienced players.”
“But if I had to choose my favorite team, I would say Senegal, Morocco, Guinea-Bissau and South Africa. They had a great qualifying campaign.”
Nigeria has won the African Cup of Nations three times. In his 19 appearances to date, only two times, in 1963 and in 1982, have his Eagles been eliminated from the tournament in the group stage.
