Is a quadrennial Afcon in the interest of Africans?
What you need to know:
- Like Samuel Etoo says: “I don’t agree with what he said. Is it in the interest of Africans to organise Afcon every four years?
- I think it is rather that of Europeans. They want Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang available to them for longer. Fifa defends the interest of European clubs.”
- We must think first.
Sometime back, we suggested that the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament be moved to other months rather than the traditional January period when it was being played.
There were several points we had proposed at the time as to why those dates were to the disadvantage of African players plying their trade overseas.
At that time, Union of European Football Associations (Uefa) was urging Confederation of African Football (Caf) to move the dates since they coincided with the European leagues, and the African players had to move from Europe to Africa, play the tournament, get injuries or fatigued and return to their clubs where they were then a burden.
The result of this was that most teams preferred not to have African players to depend on. Without seeing the issue this way, many in the continent were smelling racism.
Players who suffered injury and/or fatigue at the Nations Cup were Tony Yeboah of Ghana during the 1996 Afcon held in South Africa. He had to travel to and fro Germany to honour Frankfurt matches! Shaban Nonda, too, did the same till a small injury drove him back to France.
Michael Essien of Ghana finished his career after picking up an injury at Afcon. The list is endless and Didier Drogba summed up the issue thus: “African players playing in Europe were getting injured in the middle of the season.
At the time, when we played Afcon in January, we always risked our places in the clubs when we accepted call-ups to the national team. It was really complicated.”
We note that Africa has fine weather all seasons and that we are capable of hosting the tournament in June especially when all the others take a break and watch us play.
The June dates have been placed and we are happy about it.
The only thorny question remaining is that African teams cannot perform well at the World Cup.
One of the issues is that the Afcon used to be held in a World Cup year. The players would fight the rigour of the tournament then rush back to Europe for the remainder of the season and with heavy muscles head for the World Cup. That was gruelling.
Caf were later convinced and Afcon was moved to odd number years away from World Cup years.
Now a new debate has started after Fifa President Gianni Infantino announcement recently that Afcon should be held after four years and not two years as is traditional.
There are players like Drogba and Jaidi who have joined the chorus praising the president’s remarks. Drogba is of the opinion that the long period of four years will bring in much flavour to the Afcon rather than the two year gap.
Jaidi is of the same opinion and so are many other players.
Well, we have done much and bent over backwards in trying to placate Europe. We must first sift Infantino’s comment and see if it contains any advantages for Africa.
Like Samuel Etoo says: “I don’t agree with what he said. Is it in the interest of Africans to organise Afcon every four years?
I think it is rather that of Europeans. They want Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang available to them for longer. Fifa defends the interest of European clubs.”
We must think first.
