African Nations Cup calendar bows to Europe’s timetable

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) under the new leadership of Ahmad Ahmad, has confirmed the change of dates of the African Nations Cup tournament from January/February to June/July and also the expansion of the tournament, increasing participants from 16 countries to 24.

The new changes have been met with mixed feelings from various sports commentators, fans and coaches.

Responding to the change in dates from January to July, Ugandan coach Milutin Sredojevic said, “Africa succumbed to the pressure of Europe to have this tournament played when it’s best for them.”

The Nations Cup tournament always fell in the middle of the season of the European Championships and was a source of contention between African countries and European club sides, and also a test of patriotism for African players. In the recently concluded Nations Cup tournament where Cameroon participated, seven of its Europe based players chose to play for their respective clubs over country.

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Sredojevic was quoted as saying, “The Congress and the people who made the changes I am sure have looked at the marketing and money side of the tournament more than the quality.”

File photo. Uganda’s players celebrate after midfielder Luwagga Kizito scored a goal during the AFCON 2017 qualifying match Botswana vs Uganda at the Francistown Stadium in Botswana on 4 June 2016. Photo: ANP / AFP. Monirul Bhuiyan

This claim is in tandem with the utterances by Nigerian Football Federation President Amaju Pinnick who said, “From a sporting perspective, it will allow more opportunity for footballers across the continent. It will increase revenue for CAF and we can triple our income. It will also force more infrastructure development.”

The former President of CAF Issa Hayatou had previously rejected moving the tournament to June-July because of the climatic conditions in the different parts of the continent. Hayatou had argued that the weather then was too hot in northern Africa, too wet in the west and central and too cold in southern Africa.

With the change in global climate, the period of June and July has experienced much more rain than before thus giving credence to Hayatou’s argument. But many of those in the football industry seem to welcome these new changes, from players to agents whose trade is dependent on Europe.

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For many European clubs, this gives them the opportunity to sign more African players without the fear of losing them during the period of January and February. But this also points to the fact that the local leagues on the continent have not yet been developed to the standard of those in Europe, thus leading to the continuous exporting of African players abroad.