How KAFCON started: a friend, a missing pitch, and a Cameroonian businessman
A Cameroonian businessman in Korea heard a friend say there was nowhere to play football. Four years later, KAFCON draws a thousand.
It started with a complaint. A friend mentioned to Edmond Atemnkeng — a Cameroonian who'd lived in Korea for nearly two decades and naturalised as a Korean citizen that there was nowhere for Africans in Korea to play football together.
Atemnkeng, the founder of Afro Entertainment, decided to fix that. In 2022, he pulled together the first Korea Africa Cup of Nations — KAFCON — backed by the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Foreign Resident Community Cultural Event Support Program. He'd planned for eight teams. Sixteen showed up.
Four years on, KAFCON is the largest gathering of the African diaspora in South Korea. Twelve nations played in Pyeongtaek in May 2025; the field has reached as many as sixteen. GME Remittance is the title sponsor. The Pyeongtaek Football Association supplies kit and pitches. Crowds of close to a thousand — African residents, Korean neighbours, embassy staff, families — turn up for one day of football and a whole evening of food, music, and dance.
"What started from a friend saying there was no space to play soccer has grown to this."
— Lee Chi-hun, Korea-Africa Community Football Association
The ambition is bigger than a tournament. Atemnkeng describes football as a diplomatic bridge — a way to expand networks between African residents in Korea, between African nations themselves, and between Africa and Korea.
"We believe that football can serve as a diplomatic bridge and a tool for expanding networks among Africans."
— Edmond Atemnkeng, Chairperson
"The main goal of KAFCON is to create an atmosphere for Africans to come together and engage a passion we truly love."
— Edmond Atemnkeng
KAFCON has crowned three different champions in four editions: Gambia (2022, 2023), Liberia (2024), and South Africa (2025) with Zimbabwe being 3 time finalists (2022, 2023, & 2025). The trophy travels.
What hasn't changed is the aim: one day, every nation that can field a team, the African continent gathered on a Korean pitch.