The Africa Cup of Nations, or AFCON for short, is hosting its 34th edition of the tournament in January/ February 2024. The 2023 AFCON is one that many punters have been looking forward to betting on.
And this time around, the Ivory Coast won the bid to host the tournament for the 2nd time. Ivory Coast actually has 2 stints as winner of the AFCON back in 1992 and 2015. The CAF oversees this tournament in Africa and it is a biennial competition.
While the tournament is hosted in odd years, this edition was delayed due to weather conditions in the Ivory Coast. The host has convened 6 venues across 5 cities. Let’s see what our AFCON predictions hve to say as nations prepare to make it past the group stages into the knockouts.
Favourites to Win
The tournament has not yet begun and Ivory Coast is the only qualifying nation so far. This qualification was as host. So, whatever odds you find for the tournament are highly likely to fluctuate by the time the new year rolls around. But you can still take a look and have some fun deciding which nations to favour.
The Group Stage for the AFCON is set to be just over a week long. And that’s when you can expect the greatest changes around that time. For now, according to most sportsbooks, the reigning champs, Senegal have the best odds of winning the tournament again. Senegal won the last edition with a bone chilling penalty shootout against Egypt.
Egypt, on the other hand is the most successful nation to have ever won the AFCON with 7 total titles. The nation also won 3 consecutive times in the 2006, 2008, and 2010 editions. But Egypt this time around doesn’t seem to be as favoured to win. Although, none of these nations have qualified yet. So, these favourites may be a bit premature.
Cameroon also has pretty good odds of winning this edition around. With a few star players in the squad, you can rest assured that the nation is highly likely to qualify for the tournament.
The host, Ivory Coast is right in the middle in terms of the odds. But again, we must mention that these odds will drastically change by end of the AFCON qualifiers. You can take a look at the outright odds for the AFCON winner on any sportsbook website if the operator has published odds. But you should definitely recheck the odds once the tournament starts if you want to place bets on it.
What Should You Avoid When Betting on AFCON?
Of course, there are a few aspects that you need to avoid for AFCON predictions. The tournament is biennial and that means it is hosted once every two years. The event was changed to odds years in order to avoid scheduling conflicts with the World Cup and other European competitions. But it was postponed again for this edition due to the extreme heat in the Ivory Coast mid year.
And this is something punters might want to take into account for their AFCON predictions. The locations and venues are important factors in the outcome of a match. Heat can cause players to get exhausted more easily. And the heat in the Ivory Coast is a bit less bearable compared to other regions.
But this isn’t the only tip that you need to keep in mind. Rushing into your bets just based on the odds is always a bad idea. You should take the time to properly look at the positions of each nation in the tournament. So, we’ve listed a few actions that you should avoid for AFCON predictions. And we’ve also mentioned how you can prevent yourself from making these mistakes.
❌ Not Researching Your Bets
Researching your bets is the first thing you need to do for AFCON predictions. The tournament takes place once every two years. So, the stats are going to be pretty fresh. But if you really want to know every detail of a game, you should follow the individual player stats too. The players participating in the AFCON also compete in other domestic and international leagues.
This includes the UCL, EPL, La Liga, and many others. And you should definitely follow those games if you want to stay up to date with the form of each player. The overall team form is also an important factor since it determined how the team will play as a whole. And some players perform much better in the national team compared to their clubs. This is also a factor that should be included with researching your bets for your AFCON predictions.
❌ Loss-Chasing
Chasing losses is obviously not a good idea for any type of sports betting. This actually also goes for gambling or any type of similar activity. But if you continuously lose multiple bets, it’s a sign that you should probably take a break and step away from your betslip. If you keep betting despite losing, it might have an impact on the way you make your predictions.
And it might also make you more emotional, and this is also an issue for AFCON predictions. Most sportsbooks also have a responsible gambling feature as well. And if you have issues with stopping, you can use one of those tools to limit yourself. And you should always remember to spend your money responsibly whenever you’re placing bets on AFCON.
❌ Only Choosing Low-Odds Bets
This actually goes both ways for low odds and high odds. Don’t blindly trust the odds whenever you’re AFCON predictions.This is because odds can fluctuate a lot. Usually, the favourite to win will have lower odds. But there are a lot of factors other than being the favourite for a nation to win a match. And in those situations, you can’t just bet on the team with lower odds repeatedly and expect to win.
The AFCON is a tournament where a lot of unexpected things could happen. So, just finding the statistic for the best goal scoring nation or most frequently winning nation won’t work either. Instead, you should focus on the form of the players and the teams. This way you can make the best predictions.
Where Can You Bet on the AFCON?
You can bet on the AFCON at any physical betting shop if one is available in your region. And if one isn’t, you can just bet online. There are a lot of great sportsbooks that are available in all African regions. And all you need to do is sign up, make a deposit, and you can start betting.
AFCON Predictions FAQ
This hasn’t been confirmed since the qualifiers are yet to take place. A total of 24 nations will take part in the tournament in January/ February 2024 and we will find out about Uganda participating in AFCON at that time.
The next African Cup of Nations is going to take place in the Ivory Coast in January/ February 2024.
The Africa Cup of Nations favourites at this time are Senegal, the reigning champions. But this might change by the start of the tournament since the qualifiers are yet to take place.
