Former West Ham United striker Sebastien Haller is an AFCON hero after scoring the winning goal as hosts Ivory Coast beat Nigeria 2-1 in Sunday’s final.
It was a fairytale ending to what has been one of football’s great comeback stories. Haller, 29, was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2022, and missed six months of football as he underwent treatment.
But a year on from his return, the Ivorian was the difference-maker as his 81st-minute winner sealed the Africa Cup of Nations for his country.
Ivory Coast’s Incredible AFCON 2023 Run
Just a few weeks ago, things looked bleak for the Elephants. Having lost 4-0 to Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast sacked manager Jean-Louis Gasset and appeared to be crashing out of their home tournament.
But with other results going their way, they scraped through to the knockouts as the lowest-ranked of four third-placed qualifiers.
They didn’t have it easy from there, either. It took penalties for them to get past reigning AFCON champions Senegal in the last 16, before an extra-time victory over Mali in the quarter-finals.
They dispatched DR Congo 1-0 in the semis – with Haller netting the winner – to set up a mouth-watering finale against heavily fancied Nigeria.
It was the Super Eagles who struck first, as William Troost-Ekong’s 38th-minute header put them in front.
Franck Kessié equalised just after the hour mark before Haller sealed it for Ivory Coast with a superb flick into the top corner to seal a third African title for the Ivorians.
In front of a packed-out stadium clad head-to-toe in orange, Ivory Coast lifted the trophy, with Haller the hero.
Eighteen months earlier though, Haller’s mind was on anything but football.
Sebastien Haller’s Cancer Diagnosis
Born in France to a French father and Ivorian mother, Haller climbed through the ranks at AJ Auxerre. He then spent time in the Eredivisie and Bundesliga with FC Utrecht and Frankfurt, before a Premier League move to West Ham in 2021.
He struggled in East London, but lit up the Dutch league once more after joining Ajax. With 47 goals in 66 games for the Amsterdam club, Haller looked unstoppable, and earned a move to Borussia Dortmund, with his stock rising once again.
But then, in July 2022, the diagnosis came. Doctors found a tumour on his testicle, with Haller’s wife Priscilla describing it as a ‘nightmare’.
After Sebastien underwent surgery to remove the testicle, he began chemotherapy and the long road to recovery.
❤️🩹 July 2022, Sébastien Haller was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
❤️ February 2023, Haller beats cancer and then he made a return to football.
🧡💚 February 2024, Haller scores the 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 goal for Ivory Coast in the AFCON final.
Never give up. 👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/8eXgf9NHtn
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 11, 2024
But Haller never gave up on a swift return to elite competition. After six months, two operations and a lengthy period of chemotherapy, he returned for Dortmund in January 2023 with “F*** CANCER” written on his boots.
He would score his first goal for Dortmund on 4 February last year, which coincidentally is World Cancer Day.
His 11 goals in 36 Dortmund games earned him a place at AFCON 2023 with Ivory Coast, but Haller’s problems weren’t over yet. An ankle injury kept him out of group stage action, but his return lifted the team.
Scoring the winner in both the semi-final and final, Sebastien Haller’s AFCON fairytale was completed with the final goal of the tournament.
Speaking after the victory, he said: “We dreamed of this moment so many times,”
“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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