Patrice Motsepe, the head of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), says close to two billion people around the world have watched the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) since the tournament began last month.

He made this known during Thursday’s press conference in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, ahead of the grand finale of the tournament between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Côte d’Ivoire’s Elephants on Sunday.

“We have had close to 2 Billion people watching AFCON globally. We should be proud as Africans, and the next one will be even better,” Mr Motsepe told reporters on Thursday.

The year’s tournament has been tagged the ‘Best Ever AFCON’ by football fans across the continent, citing the massive social media attention and wide viewership it has garnered.

On the pitch, the tournament has produced some dramatic results, and some massive upsets by underdogs against so-called favourites have boosted the popularity of AFCON at the same time the AFC Asian is being played.

Furthermore, the quality of officiating has been praised by football fans and stakeholders around the world compared to previous editions and the accuracy and consistency at which VAR is being used has also been a good major talking point.

Football fans have mockingly tasked PGMOL, the body responsible for refereeing games in English professional football, to engage referees at this year’s AFCON on how to properly handle the use of VAR technology during games.

The English Premier League has earned a bad reputation for the usage of VAR, with referees spending ‘too much’ time on the screen and ending up making controversial decisions – such scenarios have become regular occurrences.