The European Club Association (ECA) has threatened not to release their players for the African Cup of Nations due to be held next month. In a letter to the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the ECA has raised their concerns about letting their players leave for international duty during this time.
This has put the competition in jeopardy of losing its star players, such as Egypt’s Mohammed Salah and Senegal’s Sadio Mane and Edouard Mendy.
The tournament was originally due to be played in June and July 2020 but was moved to January and February 2021 following climate concerns in the host nation, Cameroon.
However, due to the impact of Covid-19, the African Cup of Nation was delayed again to January 2022. The pandemic is now threatening to derail the competition again following the ECA’s letter.
European Club Association Threaten Against Releasing AFCON Players
The ECA’s Concerns
The European body’s concerns are three-fold: they fear for the players’ well-being, clubs being without key players for January and February, and whether all players will return “in a timely fashion”.
The ECA believes these listed principles are at risk of not being implemented and therefore they have the right not to release the players for international duty.
In the letter, the ECA said: “It is the obligation of each National Association that wishes to call a player for national team duty to establish to the satisfaction of the respective clubs that all application medical protocols have been implemented and will be enforced.
“As we all know and as is public information, various National Associations have recently failed to properly implement protocols oftentimes with worrying degrees of negligence.”
They further added: “As far as we are aware, CAF has not yet made available a suitable medical and operational protocol for the AFCON tournament.”
The ECA raising their issue with when the tournament is played resurrects a longstanding conflict between Europe’s and Africa’s match scheduling. They state that because the two periods collide “there cannot be mandatory release” of players for international duty.
The final principle is at risk due to potential travel restrictions and quarantine. It is their view that players will be unavailable for longer than the release period.
AFCON to Go Ahead
Despite the indirect from the ECA to seemingly block players from being released, CAF is determined the completion will go ahead as planned.
Luxolo September, Head of Media Relations and Operations at CAF, dismissed rumours of cancellation as “fake news”.
CAF General Secretary Veron Mosengo-Omba also said they are pressing on with the competition. Yesterday he held meetings with Cameroon sports minister Professor Narcisse Mouelle Kombi and public health minister Manaouda Malachie to work on organisational matters.
Mosengo-Omba said: “The meetings were important in getting a level of understanding on the state of readiness in Cameroon. There is a lot of work that is being done. We have to continue with the same momentum. We cannot rest. We have to work around the clock.
“I’m not resting, the LOC cannot rest. CAF cannot rest. Everyone must join the efforts. We want to see a great TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations here in Cameroon in January next year. Together with the Minister of Sport, we discussed all the pending issues and the way forward.”
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