Worldscene: Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o, Chelsea's Didier Drogba, Inter Milan's Obafemi Martins, Tottenham Hotspur's Mido and new Arsenal signing Emmanuel Adebayor are just some of the glittering talents due to strut their stuff at the 25th African Nations Cup, which kicks off in Cairo next Friday.
On that day host nation Egypt meet Libya in the inaugural game at the 74,000-seat Cairo International Stadium, site also of the final on February 10th.
Eto'o of Cameroon, Drogba of Ivory Coast, Nigerian Martins, Egyptian Mido and Togo's Adebayor bear witness to the overall quality of this 16-nation, three-week tournament. Up to 30 players from the English Premiership, 50 from the French first division, as well as others from the Danish, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese leagues have been summoned for African football's premier tournament.
Not surprisingly, African commentators have been suggesting this will be the best Nations Cup.
Egypt, who have invested $20 million (€16.5m) in the event, will hope the commentators are right. In the past, the bi-annual Nations Cup finals have featured some mediocre football played out against a backdrop of organisational chaos and half-empty stadia.
Not, mind you, that everyone's preparations for this year's tournament have gone swimmingly. Togo's players went on strike over bonus payments before a recent training camp in Tunisia.
Nigeria also encountered problems during their training camp in Portugal. For a start, the hotel had not been paid for, key players turned up two weeks late and, in the end, the Nigerians cancelled a friendly in Egypt.
Cameroon's Portuguese coach Artur Jorge was threatening not to travel to Egypt at all unless the federation came up with six months' unpaid salary.
Other countries, such as Morocco and South Africa, have brought in new coaches on the eve of the tournament, in the wake of failure to qualify for the Germany 2006 World Cup finals this summer. Thus, Ted "The Professor" Dumitru of South Africa and "The White Witch Doctor", Philippe Troussier of Morocco, will be viewing this tournament as much with an eye to the future as with a view to winning the title.
The shadow of Germany 2006 will, inevitably, hang heavy in Egypt and for two obvious reasons. For a start, the first-round opponents of the five African qualifiers for Germany 2006 will be watching closely. Remember that Angola are in a group with Iran, Mexico and Portugal; Ghana meet the Czech Republic, Italy and the US; Ivory Coast play Argentina, Serbia and the Netherlands; Togo encounter France, South Korea and Switzerland, and Tunisia are in with Saudi Arabia, Spain and Ukraine.
Those same five Germany finalists will also be under huge pressure to prove their qualification at the expense of African super-powers such as Cameroon, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Egypt was no fluke. So there will be a special edge to first-round clashes featuring Egypt v Ivory Coast, Cameroon v Angola, Cameroon v Togo, Tunisia v South Africa, Nigeria v Ghana and Ghana v Senegal.
As always, much of the overall tournament success will depend on how the host nation perform. Two years ago, Tunisia, coached then as now by Frenchman Roger Lemerre, made the most of the home factor to lift the title amidst scenes of wild celebration when beating Morocco 2-1 in an all North African final in Rades.
Can North Africa strike again through Egypt? Spurs striker Mido thinks so, saying: "I think we'll meet Ivory Coast in the final. Playing in front of our own fans will make a big difference, and we have a very strong team capable of winning any tournament."
Tournament director Khaled Abdelaziz hopes Mido's optimism is not misplaced. On the eve of the tournament, he is candid about the basic, essential ingredient for success: "If this is going to be a great Nations Cup, then the Egyptian team have to go all the way to the final. That is how we will be judged."
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