As many as four players with a yellow past and present have been champions of the competition
Monday 13th January saw the start of a new edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, one of the most attractive tournaments on planet football, which, once again, will have a representative of Villarreal CF.
AÏssa Mandi, one of the pillars of the Algerian national team, is the only Villarreal CF representative in the tournament this year and will fight to take the Fennec Foxes as far as possible. However, other players who have played for the club throughout its history have also played in the competition. This is the case of Samu Chukwueze and Uche with Nigeria, Toko Ekambi with Cameroon, Serge Aurier and Eric Bailly with Côte d’Ivoire or Cedric Bakambu with DR Congo.
In fact, Uche in the 2013 edition, Eric Bailly in 2015 and Boulaye Dia in 2021 all won the Africa Cup of Nations as Villarreal CF players. Aïssa Mandi also won it in 2019, but he was still a Real Betis player and did not belong to the Yellow Submarine.
Aïssa Mandi, the Yellows representative this edition
Algeria and Villarreal CF central defender, Aïssa Mandi, is the only representative of the Yellows in the tournament that is being held in Côte d’Ivoire.
The Algeria national team, who were drawn in Group D, played their first match of the competition last Monday against Angola, against whom they drew 1-1, with Mandi playing all 90 minutes of the game.
Algeria’s next matches are against Burkina Faso (Saturday 20th, 3pm CET) and Mauritania (Tuesday 23rd, 9pm CET), where Mandi’s team will try to make it three out of three to get out of the group stage.
