\n
After an amazing 18-month journey back to the top, Sebastien Haller, a cancer survivor, is a winner of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with Ivory Coast.<\/strong><\/p>\nHaller proved the hero, scoring the decisive goal as the Elephants completed a sensational comeback. Haller who was diagnosed with cancer just after his big move from Ajax. In 2022 spearheaded a 2-1 comeback for his country against Nigeria to win the AFCON 2023 which was hosted in Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe dreamed of this moment so many times, we hoped to get to this point,\u201d the Borussia Dortmund striker told the BBC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe joyous scenes we see now, what\u2019s happening in the country, they deserve it too. I hope it does a lot of good for people. Given what has happened over the last few months, it\u2019s great to be here in front of you<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the big defeat against Equatorial Guinea, we had no choice. We have come back from a long way. There were words, moments, which were not easy for the players, staff, and everybody [but] which were necessary,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n
Ivory Coast produced a fairytale ending to the most remarkable run at the Africa Cup of Nations for Ivory Coast. From entrusting hopes in Emerse Fae after the sacking of coach Jean-Louis Gasset to depending on Haller strike to win an AFCON that seemed to have evaded them 18 days ago.<\/p>\n
The Borussia Dortmund forward completed an incredible storyline after recovering from testicular cancer to secure his country\u2019s third AFCON trophy. Haller underwent numerous rounds of chemotherapy and two operations.<\/p>\n
In January 2023, he returned and scored on World Cancer Day against Freiburg to make his debut later that month. A less severe injury that Haller sustained in January of this year kept him out of action in the early stages of the AFCON 2023. Although the team struggled in the group stage, Haller came back stronger than ever to empower their frontline in the knockout stages. Considering that the team only scored twice in the group stage, his effect is palpable.<\/p>\n
To the Dortmund striker, this is a fairytale ending and he will certainly remember this historic run for years to come.<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After an amazing 18-month journey back to the top, Sebastien Haller, a cancer survivor, is a winner of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with Ivory Coast. Haller proved the hero, scoring the decisive goal as the Elephants completed a sensational comeback. Haller who was diagnosed with cancer just after his big move from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":151031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n
Overcoming cancer, returning to football, and winning AFCON \u2013 - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/13\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Overcoming cancer, returning to football, and winning AFCON \u2013 - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After an amazing 18-month journey back to the top, Sebastien Haller, a cancer survivor, is a winner of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with Ivory Coast. Haller proved the hero, scoring the decisive goal as the Elephants completed a sensational comeback. Haller who was diagnosed with cancer just after his big move from […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/13\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-13T18:07:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-843.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/13\\\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/13\\\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\"},\"headline\":\"Overcoming cancer, returning to football, and winning AFCON \u2013\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-13T18:07:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/13\\\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":370,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/13\\\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/image-843.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/13\\\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/13\\\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/13\\\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\\\/\",\"name\":\"Overcoming cancer, returning to football, and winning AFCON \u2013 - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/13\\\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/13\\\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/image-843.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-13T18:07:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/13\\\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/13\\\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/13\\\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/image-843.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/image-843.png\",\"width\":850,\"height\":500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/13\\\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Overcoming cancer, returning to football, and winning AFCON \u2013\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\",\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ghana News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/author\\\/ghanamma\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Overcoming cancer, returning to football, and winning AFCON \u2013 - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/13\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Overcoming cancer, returning to football, and winning AFCON \u2013 - Ghanamma.com","og_description":"After an amazing 18-month journey back to the top, Sebastien Haller, a cancer survivor, is a winner of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with Ivory Coast. Haller proved the hero, scoring the decisive goal as the Elephants completed a sensational comeback. Haller who was diagnosed with cancer just after his big move from […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/13\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\/","og_site_name":"Ghanamma.com","article_published_time":"2024-02-13T18:07:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":850,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-843.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Ghana News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ghana News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/13\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/13\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\/"},"author":{"name":"Ghana News","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5"},"headline":"Overcoming cancer, returning to football, and winning AFCON \u2013","datePublished":"2024-02-13T18:07:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/13\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\/"},"wordCount":370,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/13\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-843.png","articleSection":["Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/13\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/13\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/13\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\/","name":"Overcoming cancer, returning to football, and winning AFCON \u2013 - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/13\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/13\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-843.png","datePublished":"2024-02-13T18:07:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/13\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/13\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/13\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-843.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-843.png","width":850,"height":500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/13\/overcoming-cancer-returning-to-football-and-winning-afcon\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Overcoming cancer, returning to football, and winning AFCON \u2013"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5","name":"Ghana News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ghana News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/author\/ghanamma\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}