Ivory Coast great Yaya Toure rates Bafana Bafana’s AFCON 2023 chances

Yaya Toure believes Bafana Bafana are among the favourites heading into the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

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The tournament, which will be played in the Ivory Coast, is set to kick off on 13 January 2024 and will run until 11 February.

South Africa qualified from Group K as runners-up behind Morocco and were drawn to face Tunisia, Mali and Namibia in Group E.

They kick off their tournament on 16 January against Mali at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium at 20:00 (SA time).

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Yaya Toure, 40, who won the 2015 AFCON with the Ivory Coast, is currently the assistant coach of the Saudi Arabia national team.

When asked who he felt had a chance of claiming glory at the competition, the former Barcelona and Manchester City midfielder said on Canal+: “It’s normal to have a preference for your own country. Cote d’Ivoire have a strong team and many talented and experienced players.

“But if I had to pick teams I think are favourites, I’d say Senegal, Morocco, Guinea-Bissau and South Africa. Their record in the qualifiers was impressive.”

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