Gary Al-Smith and Juliet Bawuah present the best of AFCON Updates in real-time on Twitter
Twitter continues to buzz with excitement and trending conversations, as the Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2021 winds down, with Senegal, Egypt, Morocco, and Cameroon set to battle for top honours and the prestigious trophy.
Throughout the tournament, football lovers across the continent have turned to Twitter for live commentary and analysis on the games. By using official tournament hashtags like #AFCON2021, and with national team hashtags like #TeamGhana fans have been able to activate custom “hashmojis” and “flagmojis” that liven up and add colour to daily conversations around the tournament.
Several Twitter Spaces have also popped up during the tournament, hosting engaging discussion of highlights and reliving critical AFCON moments. Notably, international sports journalists Juliet Bawuah and Gary Al-Smith partnered with Twitter to bring the latest behind the scenes insights to listeners in Ghana and across the continent, live from Cameroon.
Driving conversation through Spaces
The #AFCONwithJuliet and #AFCONwithGary Spaces have been a hit with the sports community, attracting a wealth of engagement through predictions and in-depth analysis from fans and experts. Their coverage of the tournament on Twitter have featured pre-match predictions, post-match analysis, Twitter Polls, behind the scenes player and coach interviews, photo updates and live Tweet commentary. Topics included; Which Team Will Chill With the big boys in the semis, with listeners expressing views and sharing predictions on the upcoming semis; the Ghana vs Morocco Post Match Analysis, which delved into how Ghanaians felt post-game, after the devastating loss; Match Day 4 Review, discussed refereeing disorder in the #TeamTunisia vs #TeamMali match and the initial low-scoring AFCON 2021 games; and a conversation with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) called AFCON 2021 What’s next, which was a deep dive into the legacy of African football and what the fan community should expect moving forward.
“For Ghanaian and African fans unable to travel to Cameroon, Twitter has undoubtedly been the roar of the crowd and the go-to social platform for the latest, most in-depth conversations”, Bernard Sokpe Senior Partner Manager at Twitter Ghana said in a statement. “Football is one of the top conversations across the continent on Twitter, and with every AFCON, we see a growth in positive sentiment, excitement, and a ton of nostalgia. We are excited to have been able to capture AFCON’s energy, and drive conversations through Juliet and Gary’s unique and expert perspective.”
After a relatively slow start to the tournament, with a number of low-scoring affairs, the magic of “the beautiful game” took over, with conversations on Twitter getting more heated as the intensity of the tournament picked up. Since kick-off, the 33rd edition of AFCON has remained one of the top trending topics on Twitter, with opinions, views, and analysis from fans and pundits in Ghana and across the continent.
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