From the initial low scoring affairs to the nail-biting final which ended with #TeamSenegal’s victory over #TeamEgypt in a tense penalty shootout, football fans turned to Twitter to follow all the latest and most exciting news around the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2021 tournament. Through a data pool of Tweets, hashtags and handles, Twitter has highlighted the key moments that drove the public conversation during AFCON.
The most used 2022 AFCON hashtags
Despite an earlier than expected exit from the tournament, #TeamNigeria made a huge impression as a major conversation driver globally, and among the top hashtags used during the tournament. #SoarSuperEagles and #SuperEagles were also widely used. #AFCON2021 was the most used hashtag worldwide and finalists #TeamSenegal and #TeamEgypt as well as hosts #TeamCameroon were also among the top 10 hashtags. Globally, the 5 most used hashtags were:
- #AFCON2021
- #CAN2021
- #TotalEnergiesAFCON2021
- #TeamNigeria
- #TeamGhana
The most mentioned handles
The most mentioned handles during the tournament consisted of a mix of national teams, official pages, international players and trusted pages dedicated to punditry and commentary. The Nigerian national team handle @ngsupereagles was the most mentioned handle, with the official Confederation of African Football (CAF) handle coming in second with a ton of engagement.
Overall, Nigerians dominated the top 20 most mentioned handles, with Super Eagles stars, pundits and media outlets like @victorosimhen9, @OkoyeMaduka, @JustKelechi and @instablog9ja revealed to have also had a lot of engagement and mentions during the course of the tournament.
Top AFCON Tweets
The most successful AFCON Tweets, many of which were either tweeted by Nigerians or referred to Nigerian players, consisted of a mix of tense moments on the pitch, support from fans and other footballers, hilarious commentary, bants etc. The top Retweeted post came from French play Kylian Mbappe hailing Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi as “the best right-back in the world”. Below are some of the most engaging and hilarious Tweets from AFCON.
