500 Francs CFA FIFA World Cup 1994

The BEAC issued this piece in 1991 as part of a wave of commemorative silver struck by Francophone African monetary authorities in the early 1990s — a period when such bodies discovered that FIFA licensing offered a reliable export revenue stream largely disconnected from domestic circulation. The coin was never intended for use in Chad, Cameroon, Gabon, or any of the other BEAC member states; it was produced for the collector and bullion markets of Europe and North America.

The three-year gap between striking date and the 1994 tournament it commemorates is characteristic of this licensing arrangement.