Cape Town, July 4 (BUS): The upcoming Africa Cup of Nations will clash again with the European season, likely to provoke more friction between clubs and the country and resentment over the release of players after organizers decided to postpone it until January 2024.
The Confederation of African Football said the decision was announced on Sunday and was prompted by the weather in host country Ivory Coast.
The tournament was originally scheduled to take place from June to July 2023 – a period chosen to coincide with the summer break of the European Championships and formalized in FIFA’s official schedule of international games – but Ivory Coast experiences torrential rains at that time of year that seriously threatens Affect the African Championship.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) said it had received a report from a technical group that holding the mid-year African Cup in Ivory Coast would have “negative” effects, reports the Associated Press.
The European Club Association (ECA) said on Monday that the sudden change without wide consultation sparked an “angry” reaction among its members, who are once again facing mid-season layoffs for national team duty despite CAF’s promise to play in June and July.
But a decision in 2014 to organize three consecutive African Cups in Central and West Africa was undermined by the mid-year weather problem in that part of the continent.
This year’s tournament was scheduled to take place in Cameroon in June and July, but had to go back to January-February due to the monsoon season in Cameroon.
The next Africa Cup will be held after Ivory Coast in Guinea, another West African country, and could pose the same problem that could conflict with the new Champions League schedule starting in the 2024-25 season.
European clubs have consistently complained about being forced under FIFA rules to release some of their biggest African Cup stars, sometimes for more than a month, to start the second half of league seasons.
The Africa Cup is also held every two years and not every four matches like other major international football tournaments.
The CAF will be under more pressure from European clubs from 2025 if it stays in that window from January to February because the renewed and expanded club competitions by UEFA will see Champions League and Europa League matches scheduled for January.
The Confederation of African Football also announced on Sunday that its Executive Committee has given the green light to the new African Super League to be held from 2023, with the support of FIFA.
The Confederation of African Football also announced on Sunday that its Executive Committee has given the green light to the new African Super League to be held from 2023, with the support of FIFA.
insult