Despite the absence of Ghana at the 2025 AFCON in Morocco, the country featured in conversations around the tournament from start to finish; or at least the semifinal stage.

Interestingly, not many of the countries that participated in the championship did enjoy that leverage.

Surfing either traditional, social or new media, Ghana’s name has featured prominently in several conversations, courtesy of an intense rivalry between Ghana and brothers, Nigeria.

This is because fans of the two countries have attempted to give reasons to support qualification or otherwise to AFCON.

Ghana’s failure to qualify for the AFCON was attributed to weakness, and the fact that the Black Stars have not been good enough.

Ghanaian fans, however, responded by placing bigger premium on the FIFA World Cup 2026 which Nigeria Super Eagles has failed to qualify.

So, for followers of the Black Stars, The World Cup is for the ‘big boys’, a category too strong for the Super Eagles.

This interesting ‘banter’ has dominated a few sports shows on both local and international networks with Ghanaians openly declaring support for opponents of the Super Eagles in the 2025 AFCON.

Personally, I asked a few for their reasons and the response was quite humorous. “If Nigeria wins the AFCON, Ghanaians would be dead on social media,” one said.

A Nigerian blogger also warned: “If Nigeria wins AFCON, Ghanaian soccer fans would run away from TikTok.”

At this point, one was forced to accept the social media war between soccer fans of Ghana and Naija.

A few Nigerian bloggers and content creators even reminded Ghanaian fans of their ‘brotherliness’ and the need to support each other as West Africans to keep the trophy in the face of the North African challenge.

Interestingly, the Ghana-Nigeria rivalry has transcended beyond sports and ventured into areas of hospitality where both countries are claiming to be better than the other as far as preparation of ‘jollof’ was concerned.

In an attempt to win over Ghanaian fans, a few bloggers posted videos admitting for the sake of peace, that Ghana ‘jollof’ was better.

But the protest by fans over the appointment of Ghana’s Daniel Laryea as the referee gave a new dimension to the relationship between the two sets of sporting rivals.

It started with concerns why a West African referee was appointed for such crucial tie between a West African nation and a North African opposition.

That subject changed to the assumption that since Ghanaian fans were against the Super Eagles, Referee Daniel Laryea could do their bidding by giving Nigeria a raw deal.

However, Daniel Laryea made the entire nation of Ghana proud with a solid performance in the match watched across the globe.

Many factors contributed to make the game a tensed one; host nation performing in front of thousands of home fans plus a hungry Nigerian side that was bent on causing the biggest upset of the competition.

Definitely, these circumstance could extend to affect the match officials. That notwithstanding, Daniel Laryea proved to the whole world he has what it takes to occupy the same office with some of the top referees in football.

He commanded discipline among the players; there was calm on both benches despite a few disagreement over decisions – but football is like that.

Every sincere fan that watched the game closely would admit that Daniel Laryea’s performance was one of the best in the competition and must be commended rather than condemned.

Clearly, Laryea settled the ‘jollof’ rivalry with a commanding display. What is left now is how the Black Stars keep the ‘jollof’ title delivered by Laryea in Ghana with a fine performance at the World Cup because the Nigerian fans would be following closer than they think.

By Andrew Nortey

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