Topic: African Cup of Nations (AFCON)

[Clayton Bigsby]

There's a whole continent that disagrees with you I would imagine.

Thank you

[J_Kopite]

There's a whole continent that disagrees with you I would imagine.

Thank you

Literally the first post

As a born and bred resident of Africa, my view is that it's a shite tournament that should be reduced to a four year cycle.

It's played in crap stadiums, with poor officiating, overseen by poor administration, and has the added disincentive of a constant threat of the matches being disrupted due to misbehavior between rival fans.

The games are generally poorly attended and attract very little sponsorship due to the aforementioned poor administration, abysmal facilities and low quality footy on display.

[Alisson Wonderland]

Possible Keita and Salah or Mane could be sold in the summer with this. We can't lose three first XI players at the same time for 2 months of the season. Plus the fact when they return they need a break anyway or to readjust.

At the least we'll have to go big on a forward who can play wide.

We arent going to sell some of our best players just because they will be missing for 6 weeks

[redgriffin73]

What you mean like they did with Qatar? [emoji848]

Exactly!

[Jshooters]

We arent going to sell some of our best players just because they will be missing for 6 weeks

Exactly....what a bizarre take!

[Linudden]

The European clubs should take the CAF to court to stop this parody. There's absolutely no reason for a continental tournament to be held every two years. None. No club should be required to release players to another continents' international competition when it collides with their own matches. UEFA clubs shouldn't be affected by the clowns at the CAF. Since the South American association play ball with the European clubs and play theirs in the summer, that's another thing altogether.

The European Club Association would 100 % win a suit against FIFA and the CFA in the CAS court as well. There's no case for another continents' association to have jurisdiction over clubs affiliated to another confederation. Given the clubs won against the Olympics in the CAS to reserve the right to stop players participating there when it clashed with their own seasons, the same would be the case since there's precedent.

If a player should be released, the clubs should have the absolute right to send the player there 48 hours before the first game.

Now, a lot more African players will reconsider their international futures as well, since this reduces their market value just after it rose again. Salah could definitely decide to call it quits given his already patchy relationship with the Egyptian FA and that's just one example. In other words, what a jackpot by the CAF.

[rebel23]

It would be nice if the players told them to do one.  Lets see what happens. I cant see Klopp being too happy.

Bale could solve the problem. Madrid are desperate to get rid but no one interested.

[IanZG]

me.

Now, a lot more African players will reconsider their international futures as well, since this reduces their market value just after it rose again.

This is a very good point, a whole lot of African players will have their value lowered and their potential contracts reduced because of this. It's not a massive deal for Mane, Salah and Keita, but for the mid-and-lower-tier players it's a very realistic possibility of them losing their first team place and well earned money.

[Dim Glas]

It would be nice if the players told them to do one.  Lets see what happens. I cant see Klopp being too happy.

Bale could solve the problem. Madrid are desperate to get rid but no one interested.

Solve what problem exactly?

Players won't tell their countries to do one, they want to play in it, and that's fair enough. It's FIFA that should be telling the association to put the damn thing on every 4 years.

[markmywords]

The European clubs should take the CAF to court to stop this parody. There's absolutely no reason for a continental tournament to be held every two years. None. No club should be required to release players to another continents' international competition when it collides with their own matches. UEFA clubs shouldn't be affected by the clowns at the CAF. Since the South American association play ball with the European clubs and play theirs in the summer, that's another thing altogether.

The European Club Association would 100 % win a suit against FIFA and the CFA in the CAS court as well. There's no case for another continents' association to have jurisdiction over clubs affiliated to another confederation. Given the clubs won against the Olympics in the CAS to reserve the right to stop players participating there when it clashed with their own seasons, the same would be the case since there's precedent.

If a player should be released, the clubs should have the absolute right to send the player there 48 hours before the first game.

 

Bad timing for any of this.  I don't see european clubs taking FIFA to court because the world cup will be in qatar in the european season. Why would they go sue the african authorities here,also billion pound clubs suing african federations for holding their traditional tournament, in it's traditional time slot would be a PR disaster

[Red-Soldier]

Possible Keita and Salah or Mane could be sold in the summer with this. We can't lose three first XI players at the same time for 2 months of the season. Plus the fact when they return they need a break anyway or to readjust.

At the least we'll have to go big on a forward who can play wide.

Who the hell is this clown 

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

Bale could solve the problem.

Didn't know he's a FIFA official.

[Linudden]

Bad timing for any of this.  I don't see european clubs taking FIFA to court because the world cup will be in qatar in the european season. Why would they go sue the african authorities here,also billion pound clubs suing african federations for holding their traditional tournament, in it's traditional time slot would be a PR disaster

You really think the top European clubs would care? The Premier League is definitely going to have higher audience figures in Africa during Afcon, than the tournament itself. If some cry foul it's a piss in the wind for them.

[markmywords]

You really think the top European clubs would care? The Premier League is definitely going to have higher audience figures in Africa during Afcon, than the tournament itself. If some cry foul it's a piss in the wind for them.

They won't, but they know public opinion around the world and especially in africa(where they have millions of fans) will.

even if only 2 people watch afcon, the optics of these billion pound companies potentially bankrupting african federations, for having the gall to hold it's own tournament according to it's own traditions.  Whilst it's ok for UEFA to host multiple friendlies all the time

unmitigated PR disaster

Even if they win the court case, european clubs will still lose

[Barneylfc∗]

Literally the first post

Did you ask the 1.3bn other Africans their opinion?

[Linudden]

They won't, but they know public opinion around the world and especially in africa(where they have millions of fans) will.

even if only 2 people watch afcon, the optics of these billion pound companies potentially bankrupting african federations, for having the gall to hold it's own tournament according to it's own traditions.  Whilst it's ok for UEFA to host multiple friendlies all the time

unmitigated PR disaster

Even if they win the court case, european clubs will still lose

First of all, the defendant would be FIFA since they set the international calendar and secondly, like the African poster previously implied, it'd benefit African football to hold it every four year regardless. The interest is in the tank because it's played too often and when clashing with the European club season that further digs the tournament's own pit.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Who the hell is this clown 

Escaped the circus

[thaddeus]

It's become like the bleeding Ashes.  By the time the next one comes around it will only have been 18 months since the last one.

The big question is will Keita have finally gotten over the injury that wasn't allowed to heal properly because of the last AFCON before he's thrown into the next one?

[duvva 💅]

Not sure if already mentioned but the winter break could be timed to coincide with this to hopefully offset at least some of the missed games.

Or is that too sensible?

[WhereAngelsPlay]

Not sure if already mentioned but the winter break could be timed to coincide with this to hopefully offset at least some of the missed games.

Or is that too sensible?

Waaaaaaay too sensible,nothing will change until the African players rightly start to tell the federation to go fuck itself.

Clubs should look to take it to court,there's no justification for holding it every 2yrs,it's just down to greed from the talking heads at the top,one big jolly for those c*nts.

[Morgana]

Don't mind if they have this once every 4 years but it's becomming far too frequent now. Greedy, greedy, greedy. The top players never get a summer off or a genuine winter break anymore. Tournaments 365 days a year. Shameful.

[duvva 💅]

Waaaaaaay too sensible,nothing will change until the African players rightly start to tell the federation to go fuck itself.

Clubs should look to take it to court,there's no justification for holding it every 2yrs,it's just down to greed from the talking heads at the top,one big jolly for those c*nts.

There’s another Copa America this summer by the looks of things as well

[leroy]

Could have thought of that before they got Cameroon to host it, couldn't they?

This is such a bullshit argument. World football does not have to conform to European season timings.  Plenty of places around the world operate on different timings.  The point about being every two years is entirely valid - the timing isn't.  I'd say CONMEBOL has been taking the piss way more lately - 4 Copas in 6 years.

[Peabee]

Possible Keita and Salah or Mane could be sold in the summer with this. We can't lose three first XI players at the same time for 2 months of the season. Plus the fact when they return they need a break anyway or to readjust.

At the least we'll have to go big on a forward who can play wide.

Mate, you’ve been so negative the whole season, even while we’re clear at the top. Always suggesting we will have to sell our best players or that City are bound to catch us soon. Starting to think you’re a WUM or deep cover rival fan.

[Clayton Bigsby]

This is such a bullshit argument. World football does not have to conform to European season timings.  Plenty of places around the world operate on different timings.  The point about being every two years is entirely valid - the timing isn't.  I'd say CONMEBOL has been taking the piss way more lately - 4 Copas in 6 years.

[kavah]

Bale should be invited as a special-guest player for one of the lower-ranked sides

[A-Bomb]

Bale should be invited as a special-guest player for one of the lower-ranked sides

Why is that?

[davidlpool1982]

I don't have an issue of it being in Jan/Feb as long as they agree to the four year cycle. I'd love for the confederations to get around a table and agree a schedule between them so that between World Cups (when not held in ridiculous places like Qatar) one year we have the Copa, the next the Euro's, the last year before the world cup the Jan/Feb has the AFCON and the summer/August the Asia Cup. Spread them out and give each major tournament it's own spotlight and more importantly allow the players from the nations not playing in those tournaments to have a proper break. The order doesn't really matter and we might have to shuffle one edition of the Euro's to one summer to the next, but the benefit is worth it long term.

[slaphead]

Spare a thought for poor Everton. They will lose Alex Iwobi and Oumar Niasse

[redgriffin73]

This is such a bullshit argument. World football does not have to conform to European season timings.  Plenty of places around the world operate on different timings.  The point about being every two years is entirely valid - the timing isn't.  I'd say CONMEBOL has been taking the piss way more lately - 4 Copas in 6 years.

Which would be fair enough if they stuck to the same time for each competition, but they'd already moved it to the summer and now it's back to January again for a one-off. And I agree about the 4 years thing, which is why this is even more ridiculous, it'll be about 18 months.

[Gerry Attrick]

Aside from the Gold Cup this is the worst international tournament out there in my opinion. Last year's was utter shit. I remember one day of it where there were 3 games and they all finished 0-0. Add in the pitches have craters in and the stadiums are nearly always empty.

[thaddeus]

Not sure if already mentioned but the winter break could be timed to coincide with this to hopefully offset at least some of the missed games.

Or is that too sensible?

You'd think that the Premier League would use this to test the theory of having a mid-season break to accommodate an international tournament.

Come the 2022/23 season they're going to have the Qatar World Cup running from November 21st to December 18th.  That World Cup is likely to gut squads across Europe.  Man City, for example, had 16 players at the 2018 World Cup.  We had half that but still a considerable hole in the squad.  Across the league there were 108 players.

Assuming they can come up with something to work around the World Cup then there's no excuse - other than pig-headed stubbornness - for not fitting the Winter Break around AFCON also.

[rebel23]

Aside from the Gold Cup this is the worst international tournament out there in my opinion. Last year's was utter shit. I remember one day of it where there were 3 games and they all finished 0-0. Add in the pitches have craters in and the stadiums are nearly always empty.

It's a vanity tournament.

[Kekule]

It's shite (purely from a Liverpool FC perspective) but it's a year away and I'm fucked if I'm going to start worrying about something that far away considering the moment we're in.

I'm sure the club will be factoring it into their plans over the coming months and making the decisions they deem appropriate.

[J_Kopite]

Did you ask the 1.3bn other Africans their opinion?

Just pointing out that "there is a whole continent that would disagree with you" is bollocks.

[Scottymuser]

You'd think that the Premier League would use this to test the theory of having a mid-season break to accommodate an international tournament.

Come the 2022/23 season they're going to have the Qatar World Cup running from November 21st to December 18th.  That World Cup is likely to gut squads across Europe.  Man City, for example, had 16 players at the 2018 World Cup.  We had half that but still a considerable hole in the squad.  Across the league there were 108 players.

Assuming they can come up with something to work around the World Cup then there's no excuse - other than pig-headed stubbornness - for not fitting the Winter Break around AFCON also.

They are not going to use the WC as a normal "winter break" - for one, it's much, much longer than even the longest Winter Break in Western Europe (most are 2 weeks, Germany's is the longest at 3-4 weeks as they play 4 fewer games due to 18 team leagues), with the WC itself  lasting 4-5 weeks, and played needed for 1-2 weeks before that too - what they'll do (they have said) is move the start of the PL and other European competitions a little earlier, and the end a little later, to accommodate it. 

And there is MASSIVE different between the WC, where some teams lose 10+ players (and most probably lose 5+), and it being a one-off, to the AFCON, where most clubs only lose 2-3 players (and no club loses more than 4) and the competition is every 2 years.  And as I said, you'd need the winter break to be 6 weeks long if the idea would be to play no football at all - which is too long without basically starting the season in July and ending in June.  Also to note, that no other European league does (or would) take such a long break - and it would put us at a competitive disadvantage in the Champions League if we were to have such a long one (think English teams not playing from basically Xmas to 1-2 weeks before the Round of 16 starts and you'll see why this would be a problem)

[please, I have my reasons for it but...]

I have come to the conclusion that holding this tournament for two years is one of the reason why football in Africa is not as developed as it should be.

CAF's tournaments are disastrous anyways, they make it up as they go along. All you need to know is that last year's CAF CL final finished on a technicality when a blatant goal was chalked off for offside, and they didn't use VAR because it was broken so the team whose goal was chalked off walked in protest & that didn't raise any eyebrows.

[MolbyLovesGravlax]

Can we just not send that Steward that looks just like Mo? Bound to be a Mane ringer around as well.

[IanZG]

Aside from the Gold Cup this is the worst international tournament out there in my opinion. Last year's was utter shit. I remember one day of it where there were 3 games and they all finished 0-0. Add in the pitches have craters in and the stadiums are nearly always empty.

Expanding from 16 to 24 teams definitely didn't help matters. It's just mental at this point, 9 out of those 24 were ranked 100th or below by FIFA, having a tournament this watered down in quality helps no one.

[leroy]

Which would be fair enough if they stuck to the same time for each competition, but they'd already moved it to the summer and now it's back to January again for a one-off. And I agree about the 4 years thing, which is why this is even more ridiculous, it'll be about 18 months.

You'd think FIFA would be enforcing competition windows on a quadrennial cycle - that would make sense. However it's all politics right?  If allowing CAF to host competitions more frequently get some FIFA wanker the votes he needs then that's what happens.