admin
LONDON. — The next African Cup of Nations has been pushed back from June-July 2023 to January-February 2024, meaning English Premier League clubs will again lose key players midway through their campaigns.
The tournament was to be hosted in June-July 2023, which is the height of the rainy season in Cote d’Ivoire.
The Confederation of African Football president Patrice Motsepe said: “We took a lot of advice and we decided we cannot take a risk.
“We don’t want to run the risk of that our top competition is going to be washed out.’’
With the World Cup in Qatar taking place in November and December this year, the decision has been taken to postpone the finals rather than bring them forward.
It means the Nations Cup will be held in January and February for the second time in a row, after this year’s tournament in Cameroon.
In 2017, CAF announced that it would move the finals from their traditional January-February slot to June-July in a bid to avoid repeated disputes with European clubs forced to release players in the middle of the season.
Motsepe did not answer a question about why it had taken so long for CAF to make the change, given it had been warned of the rainy season when it was announced it would take place in mid-2023.
It comes after the last AFCON tournament was also moved to January-February this year, with organisers blaming the change on “unfavourable climatic conditions’’ in host country Cameroon.
That annoyed managers including Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp, who lost Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah for the entire tournament as Senegal beat Egypt in the final.
AFCON organisers previously said they wanted to hold future editions in the summer to avoid disputes with European clubs who did not want to release their players.
CAF moved the hosting of its continental championship to mid-year in 2019 to avoid the club versus country tussle for its top players.
But weather concerns and the Covid-19 pandemic caused the last edition to be played in Cameroon in January, reigniting complaints from clubs in Europe forced to give up their African players to national duty in mid-season.
‘’January is not the best time because the European clubs do not want to release their players but we have no choice,’’ Motsepe added.
Under former CAF president Issa Hayatou, who was overthrown in 2017, African football’s ruling body refused to countenance any possible change of date for the months the continent’s flagship sports event is hosted.
Yet just four months after taking charge, Hayatou’s successor— Ahmad of Madagascar — turned this policy on its head following consultation with the continent’s officials.
CAF secretary-general Veron Mosengo-Omba said there are no plans to permanently move the finals back to January-February given the contrasting weather patterns across the continent at different times of the year.
When asked why it took CAF so long to make a decision on this matter, given that June and July have been the rainy seasons in Cote d’Ivoire for many years, Motsepe failed to directly address the question — saying the choice had been made “out of courtesy’’ with Ivorian organisers.
Both Motsepe and Mosengo-Omba were speaking in Morocco, which is hosting the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
He hinted that CAF would now be able to postpone qualifying matches scheduled for September to allow its five World Cup finals representatives a chance to organise tougher friendlies against countries from other continents as part of their build-up for Qatar.
“We want to do everything possible to help our national teams who are going to Qatar,’’ Motsepe said.
He refused to give any details about the make up of the new Super League, which he said would not replace Africa’s existing Champions League.
He said there would be a launch at the CAF Congress in Arusha, Tanzania in August. “We are going to have a total revision of all club fixtures for all the competitions,’’ he added.
An African Super League has been mooted for several years, first proposed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino who insisted it would entice more sponsors to the African game. The concept has met with a muted response in Africa in contrast to the fervent opposition to a similar proposal in Europe last year, which quickly scuppered the idea.
On the agenda since FIFA President Gianni Infantino hinted at its possibility in 2019, the African Super League will get underway in August 2023.
The tournament will feature 24 teams and carry total prize money of US$100 million, said Motsepe, adding that just over US$10 million will go to the winner.
Citing ‘’financial challenges’’ in Caf which he inherited from Ahmad, whom he replaced last year, Motsepe said that businesses are interested in sponsoring the event.
“The key issue for us is the abnormal interest we’ve been exposed to from some of the biggest and most prominent investors and sponsors,” he said.
CAF also said that the African Champions League, which is open to all countries in Africa, will continue alongside the new African Super League, where the top 24 teams will be determined according to their FIFA ranking.
Following huge criticism by beaten finalists Al Ahly following the decision to stage this year’s Champions League final in the home stadium of eventual winners Wydad Casablanca, Caf has also announced that the decisive clash will return to being a two-legged format.
“I appreciate the huge amount of unhappiness that the president of Al Ahly expressed in relation to the hosting of the African Champions League final here (in Morocco).”
After over half a century of staging two-legged finals, Africa’s leading club match became a one-off final from 2020-2022. — Mailonline
Online Reporter