Sebastien Haller's 18-month journey through cancer hell before Ivory Coast's 18-day miracle
The Elephants looked down and out when they sacked their head coach, but former West Ham misfit Haller procured a fairytale finish for the AFCON 2024 host nation
Elephants never forget, and Sebastien Haller’s recovery from cancer to deliver football’s miracle of Africa will live long in the memory of a continent.
Haller’s brilliant winner for Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations final against Nigeria sent the host country into a state of delirium which had looked impossible just 18 days earlier. When Elephants coach Jean-Louis Gasset was sacked after a calamitous 4-0 defeat by Equatorial Guinea - their heaviest-ever loss at home - Ivory Coast looked doomed to elimination from the tournament.
They only squeezed into the knockout rounds as one of the best third-placed sides in the group phase, hardly a convincing platform for triumph.
But when Haller broke Nigeria’s hearts, the eruption of joy in a nation where almost half the 27 million population lives below the poverty line felt like the end of austerity itself. And former £45 million West Ham forward admitted: “I think it might take months or years to take it all in.
"We hoped to get to this point and once again the match wasn't an easy one. The joyous scenes we see now, what's happening in the country, they deserve it too. I really hope it does a lot of people good.
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"After the big defeat against Equatorial Guinea, we had no choice. We’ve come back from a long way. There were words, moments, which were not easy for the players, staff and everybody, but they were necessary.”
Ivory Coast royalty Didier Drogba, who scored a record 65 goals in 105 caps for the Elephants, led the celebrations as Emerse Fae became the first caretaker coach to lead his nation to the trophy in a major tournament.
Fae was also named best coach at the AFCON for changing the course of history, but even if his story defies credibility, it cannot match 29-year-old Haller’s remarkable comeback after being diagnosed with testicular cancer in July 2022.
After two operations and several courses of chemotherapy, he returned to action for Borussia Dortmund seven months later, scoring his first goal for the club on World Cancer Day, of all days, against Freiburg.
He said: "The last 18 months have been challenging for me and my family. Given what has happened over the last few months, it's great to be here in front of you. Of course, you realise it is something really serious that is happening, that a lot of things can change," Haller told BBC Sport last year. “But the urologist helped me not to be scared. He said I could heal well. I took all his words for granted.”
Haller had only been handed his first start of the AFCON tournament in the semi-finals against the Democratic Republic of Congo, scoring the winner - despite failing to hit the target for Dortmund in 11 Bundesliga appearances this season.
Nigeria had endured a tortured journey to the Alassane Tuatara Stadium in Abidjan, needing armed soldiers to help their team coach break through the gridlocked streets, where thousands of fans abandoned shuttle buses and walked up to four miles to the final.
Super Eagles captain and former Watford defender William Troost-Ekong, who had headed his side in front, had the consolation of being named Player of the Tournament.
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