Tuesday, February 12, 2008

CAF Hell Bent On Changing Of AFCON Timing

AS THE 26TH EDITION OF THE Africa Cup of Nations came to a close in Ghana, the Confederation of African Football was being pressured to change the timing of the tournament.

Traditionally held in the dry months of January-February every two even years, world soccer governing body Fifa and influential European clubs are pushing for the change because the timing is not in sync with Fifa world calendar of events, in particular the European soccer season.At stake are the careers of African professional players who ply their trade for European clubs.

The players say their clubs are forcing them to choose between club and country since the Nations Cup falls during a crucial phase of the European league season.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter said, "As much as the January-February timing is a tradition, one should have the courage to consult the international calendar and see if it's not possible to deal with it."

"Fifa has put a target for 2016 by which time the international calendar must be definitely in accordance with the interests of everybody." However, if Fifa and the European clubs have their way, the tournament will clash with the World Cup every four years, to which Blatter said the Nations Cup will then have to be moved to odd years.

Blatter said that by 2016, the biennial tournament must be held in June-July like other major soccer tournaments around the world and not the traditional January-February. But CAF is adamant that the competition will continue to be held in January.

CAF ARGUES THAT IN MUCH of Africa, the weather in June is not ideal for football. Mr Hayatou said wet weather would prevent many African countries from hosting the event during the European summer holiday season.

"We would not have decent pitches to stage the tournament on," he said. "It would be more like water polo than football."

CAF is also arguing that changing the biennial timing of the Nations Cup will affect the revenue it generates from television rights and other sources of income.

But European clubs believe they will get their way. Already, the qualifiers to the Nations Cup are in line with the international calendar as opposed to previous years when the qualifiers clashed with the Fifa calender. So far, the qualifiers to the 2010 Africa Nations Cup in Angola and World Cup in South Africa have been combined.

Almost 40 African players who play in the English Premier League were in Ghana for the Nations Cup and a similar number came from the French, Spanish and Italian clubs.French and English clubs were particularly hard hit since their playing season had reached a crucial time.

St Etienne and Bolton Wanderers released six and four players respectively for Ghana 2008.

Some clubs such as England's Manchester United have opted not to sign African players because of the inconvenience brought by the tournament every two years

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