These Are The Five World Stars Who Are Confirmed To Be Ready To Compete In The 2024 Africa Cup Of Nations

Victor Osimhen was selected as Africa's Best Player of the Year 2023. (Doc. Instagram/@Victor Osimhen9)

JAKARTA - The 2024 Africa Cup of Nations will take place at Ivory Coast from January 13 to February 11.

Interestingly, like previous events, several big names in the world of football, especially those who play and have played in Europe, will enliven this championship.

Reported by AFP, and quoted from ANTARA, Saturday, January 6, there are five world football stars who will compete in the biennial tournament.

First, Mohamed Salah who is from Egypt. The 31-year-old Liverpool striker is a super star in the English Premier League and a sports icon in the Arab world.

He is the top scorer with the Premier League this season with 14 goals, thus helping Liverpool to the top of the table. If Salah manages to qualify in the African Cup with Egypt, Liverpool will lose Salah in four league games, potentially injuring the title race of the Reds.

Then the second, namely Victor Osimhen from Nigeria. Osimhen leads Nigeria to the African Cup of Nations is a tantalizing prospect for Super Eagles fans.

He headed to Ivory Coast after being named Africa's Best Player of the Year 2023 thanks to his brilliant performance on his Napoli run for the Serie A title.

Osimhen scored 26 goals for Napoli last season but found it difficult this season to score just eight goals. Even so, he has just signed a new contract at his club and will be eager to make up for lost time in the Africa Cup of Nations.

Third, Sadio Mane of Senegal. Mane was a hero when Senegal lost years of poor achievements to win the African Cup for the first time in 2022, scoring a winning penalty on penalties against Egypt in Yaounde.

The former Africa's second-best footballer is the runner-up Ballon d'Or in 2022, but there are fears his career will suffer a setback since then.

Injuries left him out of the World Cup in Qatar and Mane then left Bayern Munich after just one season to join Al Nassr in the Saudi Professional League.

Now, he still scores an average of almost one goal every second of the game for his club, where Mane plays alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, and is key to his country's chances of defending their continental crown.

The fourth star is Serhou Guirassy of Guinea. Guinea is only ranked 15th in Africa, thus giving a small influence in the final stages of the recent Africa Cup of Nations tournaments. Thus, Guinea must fight hard just to get out of the group containing Senegal, Cameroon, and Gambia.

However, Guinea has a player who has become a sensation in the German Bundesliga this season in Guirassy, a 27-year-old French-born striker.

The former France U-20 international has averaged 10 league goals in a season over the past three years at Rennes and VfB Stuttgart, but his performance with Stuttgart this season has been incredible.

Fifth, Achraf Hakimi from Morocco. The right-back of Paris Saint-Germain is the largest star in the Morocco team to rank number one in Africa and comes to the Africa Cup of Nations with big ambitions after reaching the World Cup semifinals more than a year ago.

Runner-up after Osimhen for this year's Africa Player of the Year award is theoretically a defender, but he poses a huge threat of attack on the wing and has performed outstanding for his club this season.

If Hakimi remains fit and displays his best form, Morocco has had a great chance of winning the first African Cup since 1976.