If you’re going to go to the Africa Cup of Nations the most fun is the mixed zone after the game it’s just…incredible [laughs] especially if North African teams are playing [laughs] because the Algerian and Moroccan journalists will really do anything to get their interviews. So after the game you go into the mixed zone, and basically every player has to walk through the mixed zone – they are forced to walk through. They don’t have to stop to do an interview but they are forced to walk through. You can stop them and try and stop them, and it’s a lot easier if you know them, they are more likely to stop.
The mixed zones can be absolutely mad. I did Salomon Kalou once after the 2012 final and he was one of the only Ivory Coast players to stop. I managed to get him to stop and I was interviewing him, and I could feel a scrum of people gathering around me. Suddenly, I could feel, literally, I keep thinking “Am I making this up?” but this is how I remember it…my feet were lifting off the ground as so many people were behind me. I remember thinking, “oh my god, I’m going to fall on Salomon Kalou here and cause him a serious injury!”
It just gets so manic. And Drogba as well, I’ve had a number of injuries because of Drogba walking through a mixed zone. I remember when he just signed for Galatasaray during the last Cup of Nations and everyone wanted a quote. It was incredible, just people chasing him around this mixed zone, this corridor, people bashing into me and all sorts.
just people chasing him around this mixed zone, this corridor, people bashing into me and all sorts.
It’s great fun though. If you go to the Cup of Nations I really enjoy the mixed zone after the game because it’s a real challenge to get those interviews particularly if the team has lost and sometimes you can get really good stuff in there. And most of the players will stop.
From your travels around Africa, if you had to recommend one stadium to experience the quintessential African football match day, which would it be?
Oooohhhh, that’s a real tough one. Like I say, I’m still early in my journey into African football so hopefully I will go to a lot more stadiums around Africa and be able to give you a better answer to that question. Ivory Coast is…there is something special about that country. The fans are special, absolutely brilliant, really get behind their team, very knowledgeable. The great players they’ve had means that whole the country is obsessed with football. They expect a lot from their team, which is a general theme in West Africa, they have huge expectations. If I had to pick one stadium go to Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Abidjan.
You get to go to African football international qualifiers and tournaments, visiting all sorts of different countries. You get to interview footballers. You get to write about it all. We at SFG think you have the dream job. Do you have the best job in the world?