The Confederation of African Football (CAF), with its rescheduling of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in January-February, is exposing its inconsistencies and risks tarnishing the brilliance of its stars on the European stage where the best club competitions are held.
By Ibrahima Dione
The Africa Cup of Nations will take place from 9 January to 6 February 2021 in Cameroon.
The decision by the fooball governing body in Africa was made on Wednesday and as expected, the CAF has made a turnaround at a meeting held in Yaoundé (Cameroon) with its Organizing Committee in tow.
To justify its back-pedalling, the body headed by Ahmad Ahmad spoke of “unfavourable weather conditions during the period initially set.”
As soon as he ousted Issa Hayatou, the Malagasy took over the organisation of the AFCON in the summer and increased the number of teams in the finals to 24.
The 2019 edition hosted by Egypt, took place from June 21 to July 19.
In order to clear its conscience, the continental football governing body has attributed the authorship of the request to review the date of the competition to the host country.
This is a flimsy argument!
When CAF chose the summer for its flagship game, they knew that this time of year coincides with the rainy season in some African countries.
For many informed observers, it was rather the new format of the FIFA Club World Cup that forced Ahmad Ahmad to change plans.
Previously an annual event, the tournament will now be played every four years and replaces the Confederations Cup.
Twenty-four teams, including eight European teams, will now compete in China from June 2021.
Is this a coincidence? Nothing could be less certain.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has clearly thrown his weight behind ensuring that China (in an odd-numbered year since 2013) does not stand in the way of his project, which has great economic potential.
This change in the CAF Africa Cup of Nations calendar will have undeniable repercussions on the performances of African players, particularly those playing in Europe.
The continent’s current aces, such as Sadio Mane (Senegal), Mohamed Salah (Egypt), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon) and Riyad Mahrez (Algeria), who have been regularly nominated for the France Football Ballon d’Or award in recent years, may be outclassed by their rivals.
These footballers, whose national teams are destined to play major roles in the CAF Africa Cup of Nations, could potentially miss out on almost a month of competition with their respective clubs.
This is a godsend for Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Kylian Mbappe (France)… who have a window to reinvent themselves anew.
At the end of the season, their statistics during the AFCON period would be worth their weight in gold.
This is bad news for Africa, which is desperately looking for a successor to Liberia’s George Weah, the only African to win the Ballon d’Or in 1995.
ID/te/lb/as/APA