KAFCON 2024: Liberia's Lone Stars end Gambia's reign and stun South Africa
Liberia's Lone Stars stunned South Africa to lift the KAFCON 2024 trophy at Pyeongtaek University, ending two years of Gambian dominance.
PYEONGTAEK UNIVERSITY STADIUM, July 2024. Liberia's Lone Stars beat South Africa's Mzansi Guys in the final of the third Korea Africa Cup of Nations, ending two years of Gambian dominance and crowning the third different champion in three editions.
It was a turning-point year off the pitch too. GME Remittance signed on as the tournament's first private-sector title sponsor, locking in a partnership that has continued since. The move to Pyeongtaek, a city with one of South Korea's larger and more visible African communities, set the template for 2025 and beyond.
Sixteen nations sent teams across two weekends at a real stadium. Among the confirmed participants were Liberia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Gambia and Nigeria, alongside diaspora sides organised across Seoul, Gyeonggi and South Chungcheong.
Zimbabwe, runners-up in both previous editions, recruited players from across the diaspora and warmed up against Seoul-based Division 1 social-league sides, hoping for a breakthrough. The Lone Stars had other ideas.
For South Africa, runner-up was unfinished business. Twelve months later in Pyeongtaek, they would finish it.