The\u00a0Africa Cup of Nations<\/strong>\u00a0is a celebration of a great many things: people, music, cultures, languages, tastes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n That diversity\u00a0is also reflected in the varied nicknames of the 24 teams at the continent’s flagship\u00a0football\u00a0showpiece, whose latest edition kicked off on Sunday (21 December) in Morocco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On a continent where many remain strongly connected to nature and deeply steeped in animism, it is little surprise that elements of the natural environment feature prominently in several of these nicknames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As many as 18 of the 24 teams competing in Morocco are described by the names of wild creatures that are either indigenous to their respective lands or of special significance to national identity:\u00a0Lions<\/strong>\u00a0(Morocco, Cameroon, Senegal),\u00a0Fennec Foxes<\/strong>\u00a0(Algeria),\u00a0Sable Antelopes<\/strong>\u00a0(Angola),\u00a0Stallions<\/strong>\u00a0(Burkina Faso),\u00a0Leopards<\/strong>\u00a0(DR Congo, Benin),\u00a0Elephants<\/strong>\u00a0(Ivory Coast),\u00a0Panthers<\/strong>\u00a0(Gabon),\u00a0Cranes<\/strong>\u00a0(Uganda),\u00a0Eagles<\/strong>\u00a0(Tunisia, Nigeria, Mali),\u00a0Falcons<\/strong>\u00a0(Sudan, Burkina Faso),\u00a0Zebras<\/strong>\u00a0(Botswana),\u00a0Mambas<\/strong>\u00a0(Mozambique),\u00a0Crocodiles<\/strong>\u00a0(Sudan), and the\u00a0Coelecanths<\/strong>\u00a0(Comoros).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inanimate elements of nature feature, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Equatorial Guinea’s team is referred to as the\u00a0National Thunder<\/strong>, Zambia’s\u00a0Copper Bullets<\/strong>\u00a0is a nod to the mineral that is abundantly mined in the southern African country, and Tanzania’s\u00a0Taifa Stars (<\/strong>\u2018Taifa\u2019 translates as \u2018nation\u2019 from Swahili), are the only celestial lights on display \u2013 thanks, largely, to the conspicuous absence of Ghana’s\u00a0Black Stars<\/strong>\u00a0at the tournament. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Next, you have nicknames that are unearthed from the distant past, harking back to the era of Egyptian royalty (Pharaohs<\/strong>), the fighting spirit of the indigenes of what is now called Zimbabwe (Warriors<\/strong>), and the ancient city of\u00a0Carthage<\/strong>\u00a0in modern-day Tunisia, capital of an empire that stretched across the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Geography also stands out when going over the plethora of aliases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DR Congo, for one, have a lesser-known nickname (Warriors of the Equator<\/strong>) that highlights the nation’s distinction as one of only 13 countries around the world \u2014 seven of them in Africa \u2014 that the most famous latitude runs through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sudan’s\u00a0Nile Crocodiles<\/strong>, on the other hand, pays tribute to what is regarded by some metrics as the world’s longest river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if hosts Morocco find themselves lacking inspiration at any point, they only have to lift their eyes to the mountain range from which they derive the\u00a0Atlas<\/strong>\u00a0half of their nickname.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is also a place for good old virtue in Senegal’s\u00a0Teranga<\/strong>\u00a0(alternatively spelt \u2018Teraanga\u2019 in the Wolof language that also gave the world \u2018Jollof\u2019 and \u2018Banana\u2019), which loosely translates as \u2018hospitality\u2019 \u2014\u00a0a trait that is very much embedded in daily Senegalese life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n So, then, what’s in a [nick]name?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, just ask the South African Football Association (SAFA), which prized the team’s\u00a0Bafana Bafana<\/strong>\u00a0nickname (\u2018The Boys, The Boys\u2019, when translated from South Africa’s Nguni tongue) so highly that they haggled over it for years and ultimately\u00a0parted with a princely sum\u00a0in the early 2010s to officially secure the moniker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or maybe ask\u00a0Nigeria<\/strong>, who ditched the humble\u00a0Green Eagles<\/strong>\u00a0for the soaring\u00a0Super Eagles<\/strong>\u00a0after finishing runners-up at the\u00a01988 AFCON<\/strong>. Clearly, a simple colour was no longer enough to capture the swagger of this high-flying crew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alternately, you could send your inquiry to the front-desk of Benin’s football governing body, after it\u00a0finally managed to switch nicknames\u00a0from the not-so-flattering\u00a0Squirrels<\/strong>\u00a0to the far more intimidating\u00a0Cheetahs<\/strong>\u00a0in 2022. Or, perhaps, you may wish to wait it out and see how much that change improves the lot of a country that has only made it past the group stage of the AFCON once in four previous attempts.<\/p>\n\n DISCLAIMER: <\/strong>The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.<\/p> \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n DISCLAIMER: <\/strong>The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.<\/p> \n \n\n \n \n \n \n <\/div>A wild, wild show<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
History, geography and virtue<\/h2>\n\n\n\n