Sebastien Haller: Cancer survivor and Ivory Coast’s Africa Cup of Nations hero

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for free Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Sebastien Haller’s right boot got the vital flick at the perfect time and ten minutes later, Ivory Coast had completed the most remarkable and improbable of tournament turnarounds, winning the Africa Cup of Nations on home soil after beating Nigeria 2-1. open image in gallery Haller heads in his first Dortmund goal after beating cancer open image in gallery Haller touches the Afcon trophy after scoring in the final After breaking through into senior football at Auxerre, his journey around the European leagues has seen two stops in the Eredivisie, one in the Premier League and now two in the Bundesliga. open image in gallery Haller’s boots with “F*** cancer” on them At this point, another much earlier message from Haller - asked about possible regrets over his international switch from France to Ivory Coast - perhaps rings truer than ever. You don’t want to get stuck.” open image in gallery Haller and Ivory Coast celebrate winning the Africa Cup of Nations In that regard, it’s definitely mission accomplished.