Fifa president Sepp Blatter’s disclosure this week that the timing of the Africa Cup of Nations must be changed is lending substance to talk doing the rounds that the South African soccer season could soon fall in line with the international calendar.
Blatter said that by 2016, the tournament must be held in June and July.
Earlier this week the Confederation of African Football (Caf) insisted that biennial competition will continue to kick off in January, however the matter could come up for discussion at special Caf meeting being held in Ghana today.There have been frequent complaints from European clubs who lose key players to the tournament.
“This is a tradition, but one should have now the courage to go into the international calendar and see if it's not possible to deal with it,” said Blatter.
“We put a target for 2016 that by that time the international calendar must be definitely in accordance with the interests of everybody.”
Around 40 African players in the English Premier League will be in Ghana for the Nations Cup.
Caf has maintained that the June weather in much of Africa is not ideal for football.
There would also be the problem of a clash with the World Cup every four years, but Blatter suggested that the Nations Cup could be moved to odd years.
The 2010 Africa Cup of Nations will start 10 days earlier than this year's edition in Ghana as a concession to European-based clubs.
The Confederation of African Football (Caf) said the tournament in Angola would be held from January 10-31.
Diverse climate conditions on the continent have been cited by Caf as the reason for not moving the finals to June or July.
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