Ivory Coast 2 Kessie 62, Haller 81
Nigeria Nwabali, Ajayi, Troost-Ekong (c), Bassey, Aina, Onyeka (Aribo), Iwobi (Yusuf), Sanusi (Moffi), Chukwueze (Simon), Osimhen, Lookman (Iheanacho)
Subs not used Uzoho, Musa, Samuel, Onuachu, Awaziem, Omeruo, Nwadike Booked Nwabali, Aina
Ivory Coast Y Fofana, Aurier (c) (Singo), Kossounou, Ndicka, Konan, Kessie, Seri (Lazare), S Fofana (I Sangare), Gradel (Diakite), Haller (Krasso), Adingra
Sub not used Diomande, Bamba, Boga, Pepe, Kouame, B Sangare, Diallo Booked Aurier, Fofana, Ndicka
Attendance 57,094 at Alassane Ouattara Stadium, Abidjan Referee Dahane Beida (Mauritius)
HOSTS Ivory Coast took a ridiculously circuitous route to their third African Cup of Nations title as Sebastian Haller completed his own remarkable comeback story.
Former West Ham United striker Haller was diagnosed with testicular cancer shortly after joining Borussia Dortmund from Ajax Amsterdam in July 2022.
The 29-year-old underwent two surgical procedures and chemotherapy over the rest of that year before returning to action for Dortmund in January 2023.
Now, though, Haller has truly made his mark in the annals of Ivorian football history, cleverly using the toe-end of his boot to lift the ball over Nigerian goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali for a deserved winning goal.
Deserved it may have been - but, in truth, the Elephants will have counted their blessings that they even had the chance to contest this Final.
After all, in the group stage, the home team had been utterly abysmal following their straightforward 2-0 win over Guinea-Bissau on the opening day of the tournament.
The 1-0 defeat to eventual runners-up Nigeria was painful enough without the collective defensive breakdown in the 4-0 capitulation to Equatorial Guinea.
Ivory Coast - stranded in third place with a -3 goal difference having played all their matches - were staring an embarrassing early exit in the face.
The repercussions for French head coach Jean-Louis Gasset were immediate - he was sacked while, having played first, the rest of the squad were forced to hang around awkwardly on the off-chance that other results went in their favour.
But then results did go in their favour.
Chris Hughton's Ghana were particularly guilty of blowing their chance of reaching the Last 16 despite their own slow start to proceedings.
The Black Stars lost to Cape Verde Isles in their opening game after conceding a stoppage-time goal then twice gave away the lead to draw against Egypt.
Worse was to come, though. Seemingly sailing into the knockout stages with a 2-0 lead over Mozambique, Hughton's men contrived to concede twice in stoppage time at the end of the match, and fell out of the reckoning altogether.
The former Newcastle United, Norwich City and Brighton & Hove Albion manager paid for the failure with his job - and the Ghanaians hardly found much consolation in being far from the only big name to be eliminated early on.
Algeria and Tunisia followed in the days which followed - both were winless, with the Algerians eliminated by minnows Mauritania, and Tunisians beaten by Namibia, who - along with the Mauritanians - won their first ever AFCON finals match.
Meanwhile, seven-time champions Egypt also exited the competition without a win in the Last 16 after sneaking through the first round with three draws.
However, the draw had not exactly opened up for the Ivorians.
Instead, their lowly finish left interim head coach Emerse Fae preparing for a knockout stage match against defending champions Senegal - and it looked set to go to form when Habib Diallo rifled a shot into the roof of the net inside four minutes.
But the Elephants hung in the contest and scored a late equaliser through Franck Kessie's penalty after former Arsenal forward Nicolas Pepe had been brought down by former Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
The Ivorians then took the match to penalties and were perfect from the spot while, for Senegal, Nottingham Forest defender Moussa Niakhate was unable to find the net.
And so, in the space of exactly one week, the hosts had gone from embarrassing no-hopers to the team which had ousted the defending champions.
Incredibly, the quarter final against Mali also involved late drama.
Trailing again to Nene Dorgeles's goal for the Eagles and down to 10 men, Ivory Coast rescued the last eight tie in the last minute with a goal from Simon Adingra.
The Brighton winger was quickest to react when the ball ran loose to force another period of extra time - then, just as the match looked destined for penalties, Oumar Diakite flicked a boot to divert Seko Fofana's long-range effort into the net.
In contrast to all of that, the 1-0 win over the Democratic Republic of Congo in the semi final felt pretty straightforward as Haller hit his first goal of the tournament by bouncing a volleyed finish over the goalkeeper.
Indeed, Nigeria had a far more stressful night in their last four clash, being taken to penalties by a resurgent South Africa side after conceding a last-minute spot-kick in normal time.
Until then, the Super Eagles had shown great defensive fortitude and kept four consecutive clean sheets with the highlight of that run coming in a 2-0 win over their great rivals Cameroon in the Last 16 through a brace from Ademola Lookman.
But, in a match of penalties in the last four, it was ultimately the South Africans who lost their nerve with two misses from the spot to put the Nigerians through to the Final.
To their credit, Bafana Bafana recovered to take third place after winning yet another penalty shootout - their third in four matches - to register their best finish at AFCON in 24 years.
Thankfully, though, the Final did not require spot-kicks as a decider - not that Ivory Coast made life any easier than usual for themselves.
Despite the hosts dominating proceedings from the kick-off in terms of possession and attacks, Nigeria took a 38th-minute lead with what ended up being their only effort on target all night, as William Troost-Ekong headed in from a corner.
In the now-familiar position of chasing the game, Ivory Coast kept plugging away - and, with just a little more than an hour on the clock, Kessie headed in the equaliser, the goal again coming from a corner.
Kessie had earlier been rather fortunate to stay on the pitch after deliberately throwing his elbow to stop a rare Super Eagles' break.
However, the Nigerians never looked like turning the tide after the equaliser - and another wave of Ivorian attacks eventually took its toll for a second time.
Haller's finish brought an explosion of joyous orange-tinged celebrations in the stands and the West African country at large as supporters saluted a most unlikely triumph in Abidjan.
Qatar 3 Atif 22(p), 73(p), 90+5(p)
Jordan 1 Al-Naimat 67
Qatar Barsham, Salman, Mendes, Mukhtar (Khoukhi), Abdurisag (I Mohammad), Al-Haydos (Hatem), Gaber (Assadalla), Fatehi, Waad, Ali, Afif Booked Assadalla, Barsham
Jordan Abulaila, Nasib, Al-Arab, Al-Ajalin, Haddad, Al-Rashdan, Al-Rawabdeh, Olwan (Al-Awadat), Al-Taamari, Al-Naimat, Al-Mardi (Rateb) Booked Olwan Al-Ajalin, Al-Naimat, Abulaila
Attendance 86,492 at Lusail Stadium, Lusail Referee Ma Ning (China)
THE HOST nation also won the Asian Cup as Qatar defended their title with a 3-1 win in the Final against surprise package Jordan.
Akram Afif kept his cool to score a remarkable hat-trick of penalties - but, while that sounds extremely dubious, it was actually the result of repeated instances of clumsy Jordanian defending.
Al-Nashama appeared completely overwhelmed by the occasion - although the bigger names on the continent were a far bigger disappointment.
The failure of Japan and South Korea to win their groups resulted in some titanic knockout games as the Asian powerhouses took each other out.
Iran eliminated the Japanese in the last eight before their own semi defeat to the Qataris.
Meanwhile, Jurgen Klinsmann's South Korea sneaked through against Saudi Arabia and Australia - before their good fortune ran out in the last four against Jordan.
The Jordanians thus reached the Final for the first time, having earlier edged out Iraq and first-time quarter finalists Tajikistan.
But Qatar had the last word to become the first team to defend the Asian Cup title since Japan in 2004.
