Infrastructure boost

However, not everything is gloomy in the world of African football. While financial and organizational issues do not show sign of going away, things look much better on the infrastructure side.

Cameroon's Lions claimed victory in the 40,000-seater Angondje Stadium, in Libreville, which is representative of the large-scale modern stadiums that have emerged across the continent, a direct result of China's growing role in the African football industry.

Indeed, of the four stadiums in which the ACN 2017 took place in Gabon, three were built by Chinese companies. Completed in 2011 by the Shanghai Construction Group, the Angondje Stadium is symbolically dubbed the Stadium of Sino-Gabonese Friendship.

Since the first Chinese-built Zanzibar Amaan Stadium in the 1970s, China has built more than 50 stadiums across the continent in 34 countries, a trend that some experts have called "stadium diplomacy."

In addition to their multifunctional nature, these "turn-key" stadiums have played a key role in the organization of the ACN. Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, which organized the ACN in 2010, 2012 and 2017, respectively, all benefited from the architectural feats of China.

Cameroon, which has become the host country for the next competition following the victory of its Lions on the Gabonese turf, will continue the tradition. The 2019 ACN will be held in the new $75-million Bafoussam Stadium, a project of China Machinery Engineering Corp. (CMEC).

Wang Chunhao, Project Manager at CMEC, said that while constructing the stadium, they took into account local characteristics of Cameroon.

"For this 20,000-seater stadium, we have chosen seats in red, green and yellow color, which are the colors of the flag of Cameroon," he said in a statement on the company's website.

Growing exchanges

It is not only countries that benefit from these stronger ties with China. At the players' level, the growing Chinese football market also reveals interesting opportunities.

Indeed, while African players have traditionally looked to Europe to pursue their international careers, China now offers them attractive opportunities with sometimes even higher salaries.

One of the stars of ACN 2017, Cameroon national team Captain Stéphane Mbia, signed with the Hebei China Fortune Football Club in January 2016.

He is not the first to make the leap. In 2012, Shanghai Shenhua made headlines by signing football star Ivorian Didier Drogba, later Senegalese Demba Ba (2015) and Nigerian Obafemi Martins (2016). There were about 20 Africans playing in the Chinese Super League 2015-16 season.

The Chinese Football Association recently made changes to quotas on foreign players, and now a maximum of only three foreign players can be on the field for each club at the same time.

But this is unlikely to dampen the enthusiasm of African players for the tantalizing salaries and career development opportunities that China offers, Burkina Faso forward Bertrand Traore told BBC Sport.