For the second time in their nation's history, Ivory Coast are preparing to host the African festival of football as the Africa Cup of Nations returns to the West Africa nation.
Sadio Mane's Senegal will be vying to defend their African crown while Mohamed Salah will be aiming to leap over the final hurdle, unlike last time in the 2021 edition. Twenty-four African nations divided into six different groups will be fighting in the one-month-long tournament as they look to cement their position in African history and take home the glittering trophy.
But it's just not the trophy, the best-performing sides of the competition will also bag some lucrative prizes to take home as GOAL discusses in detail how much the winners of AFCON 2023 will take home.
How much do CAF AFCON winners get?
The Confederation of African Football has set a prize pool of $14.8m for the AFCON 2023 with the winner bagging a whopping amount of $7m. This amount has seen a 40% rise from the previous finals with the AFCON 2019 winner getting $5m.
The runner-up of the tournament will take home a sum of $4m which is once again $1.5m dollars more than what was awarded to Egypt (2021 AFCON runners-up) during the AFCON 2021.
The winning prize of the losing semi-finalists and the losing quarter-finalists have also seen an upsurge from what the previous season's winners bagged.
In 2021 the losing semi-finalists were given $2.2m and the losing quarter-finalists were given $1.18m. CAF decided to increase the prize money for all the involved teams with the losing semi-finalists taking home $2.5m and the losing quarter-finalists garnerning $1.3m at the AFCON 2023.
You can see the full breakdown of the prize money in the table below.
2023 Africa Cup of Nations Prize Money
| Finish | Prize Money |
|---|---|
| Winner | $7 million |
| Runner-up | $4 million |
| Losing Semifinalists | $2.5 million |
| Losing Quarterfinalists | $1.3 million |
How does the prize money in the AFCON 2023 compare to other international competitions?
Four major international tournaments are scheduled to take place in 2024 with the AFC Asian Cup 2023 and AFCON 2023 being played simultaneously. Germany will host the Euro 2024 later this year and the footballing carnival will then turn its attention to South America where the Copa America 2024 takes place.
While the winners of the AFCON 2023 bag a sum of $7m and the runner-up earns a fee of $4m, the awards in the AFC Asian Cup are a little less. The AFC Asian Cup 2023 winner will take home a sum of $5m with the team finishing second bagging a prize of $3m.
UEFA has already announced the winning prize for the biggest international tournament in Europe with the winner cashing in $30.9m if they win all their group games while the second-placed team will earn a whopping amount of $27.9m.
At the extravagant affair in South America, the winning nation will take home a cash prize of $10m while the team that finishes second will garner a sum of $5m.