Morocco grew to become the primary facet, exterior the host nation, to reach in Cote d’Ivoire for the thirty fourth version of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations when the Atlas Lions landed in Abidjan on Sunday.
The FIFA World Cup semi-finalists landed at Felix Houphouet Boigny Airport within the afternoon amid native conventional drumming and dancing to welcome the facet to the host nation of the continental showpiece occasion.
The aircraft carrying coach Walid Regragui’s facet landed in Abidjan at 2:00 PM native time earlier than they have been acquired in Terminal 2 with a powerful cultural ceremony organized by the Native Organising Committee (LOC) of the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON amid tight safety.
Atlas Lions striker Youssef En-Nesyri was the primary to look from the plane, adopted by PSG star, Achraf Hakimi because the delegation was met on arrival by the Ivorian Minister of Transport Amadou Kone.
Mr Kone, who personally supervised the arrival of this primary staff for the event, was accompanied by the ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to Côte d’Ivoire His Excellency Abdelmalek Kettani, , some CAF officers and a few members of the LOC.
Members of the Moroccan neighborhood in Abidjan have been additionally current on the airport to welcome their staff that reached the final 4 of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The Atlas Lions, who appeared targeted, headed straight to town of San Pedro the place they are going to be based mostly for his or her Group F matches in opposition to DR Congo, Tanzania, and Zambia.
They’ll have ten days of acclimatization within the coastal metropolis of San Pedro earlier than their first match on January 17, 2024, in opposition to Tanzania on the Laurent Pokou Stadium. Their second outing is scheduled in opposition to DR Congo on January 21, adopted by their final group recreation in opposition to Zambia on January 24.
As a semi-finalist within the final version of the World Cup in Qatar, Morocco is seen as one of many favorites for the CAF TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations, Côte d’Ivoire 2023.
Their solely title success within the competitors dates again to 1976. 48 years later, the Atlas Lions are dreaming of taking the trophy dwelling.
In the meantime host nation Cote d’Ivoire arrived in Abidjan on Sunday morning to proceed their preparations for the event after beating Sierra Leone 5-1 in a warm-up within the metropolis of San Pedro on Saturday.