By Alex Capstick
Sports news reporter, BBC World Service
For a country where 60% of the population lives in poverty last Sunday’s opening ceremony of the Africa Cup of Nations was an extraordinary spectacle.
Never before has a Cup of Nations tournament been launched with such an elaborate and expensive display.
It was Angola’s sales pitch to the rest of the world. The message was clear - “look what we can do, take us seriously, and invest in us”.
Angola vies with Nigeria as Africa’s biggest oil producer. It is the world’s fifth largest exporter of diamonds and can boast one of the fastest growing economies on the planet.
New stadiums
The new found wealth follows almost three decades of civil war.
Hosting the Cup of Nations is an opportunity to showcase the country as an emerging economic power.
Turning a profit from staging the tournament has not been a consideration.
“Everybody tells us what a rich country Angola is, but where are the riches A few people have the money and they control the system”
Angolan musician Ras Sassa
Angola has spent an estimated $1bn (£615m) in building four new stadiums and associated infrastructure.
The work has been almost exclusively outsourced. A Chinese company using Chinese labour has been responsible constructing four gleaming state-of-the-art venues.
They rise impressively out of the dust, but are set to stand empty for most of the year.
A UK firm has laid the pitches, the television pictures are supplied by a French company, accreditation was provided by experts from Germany, the fake shirts available on the street were made in Portugal.
Anger
Ticket sales are supposed to provide the main source of revenue for host cities.
Even if all the seats were sold, which they are not, at a cost of $2.50 rising to $13 for the final, the return is minimal.
And it is unlikely to make any immediate difference for the majority of Angolans who already struggle to make a living.
Many of them are angry with the government for lavishing so much money on a football tournament.
Ras Sassa, emerged from a run down neighbourhood next to the sea front in Luanda to speak to me.
He wants to publish reggae music in Angola but his efforts have so far been blocked by the authorities.
“It’s most important for the government to tell us how much it is costing and how much we will benefit,” he says.
“Everybody tells us what a rich country Angola is, but where are the riches A few people have the money and they control the system.”
‘Good for economy’
Not everyone has such a bleak assessment. Carla Palito works for one of the big oil companies in Luanda’s over-crowded city centre.
“[The tournament] is good for the economy, it’s given a lot of development, it will provide a lot of business opportunities,” he says.
“It will motivate people. Of course it’s sad to see millions [of dollars] spent on stadiums when you have a lot of hospitals and schools to build but I hope that is part of the snowball.”
Certainly those Angolans inside the stadiums have embraced the Cup of Nations.
It has given them an excuse to party, and they have provided a vibrant colourful atmosphere at most of the games.
But when the footballers leave, and life returns to normal, they cannot expect dramatic change.
Hosting the African Cup of Nations may well attract new foreign investment, but in the short term millions of Angolans will continue to suffer from a shortage of basic essentials such as water, electricity and sanitation.