Afcon doesn’t get the respect it deserves
Arsenal legend Ian Wright summed it up nicely when he said: “Is there ever a tournament more disrespected than the Africa Cup of Nations? There is no greater honour as a sportsperson than representing your nation. The [Afcon] coverage is completely tinged with racism. We play our Euros across 10 nations in the middle of a pandemic and there is no issue. But Cameroon, a single country, hosting the tournament is a problem.” Wright couldn’t have said it better.
Before the Afcon kicked off in Cameroon recently, European-based players were constantly asked if they will be representing their African countries in Cameroon. And all these questions and doubts were never raised during the Euro 2020 tournament where players, fans and match officials were required to travel across different countries.
The risk of getting infected by COVID-19 during the Euro 2020 was far greater than at the 2022
Afcon hosted by a single country, Cameroon. Euro matches were played at full capacity while matches in Cameroon are played in half empty stadiums with some matches having no fans at all. This is totally wrong and undermining.
And Afcon is still regarded as a small tournament by some European coaches and media. The European Nations League, which is a glorified friendly tournament, gets better coverage and more respect than the Afcon.
During the early 1990s there were fewer African players playing in Europe compared to now and we all understand the need for European clubs to have their best players during the most critical time of the season.
But these countries need to understand that Afcon is to Africans what Euro is to Europeans and what the Copa America is to South Americans. All these tournaments must be treated with the same respect.
And CAF must not change timing of Afcon in order to suit the interest of European clubs. Africans must do what they do and Europeans must do what they want to do.
FIFA, on the other hand, were meant to host the Club World Cup in December but postponed and now the tournament has been rescheduled to take place just three days after the end of Afcon.
This itself also shows the little respect FIFA has for Afcon because as a result of this clubs will be missing key players who are at Afcon, with Al Ahly mostly like to be affected by the decision. This is something that could have been avoided.
Yes, CAF is not perfect and is full mistakes and flaws, and the classic example of that is the comical decision by referee Janny Sakizwe, who blew the final whistle five minutes before the 90th minute.
These are things that we don’t see in Sunday League let alone the highest level of football.
Poor match officiating, poorly maintained facilities, broadcasting rights issues – there are many things CAF need to do to get their house in order.
But at the same time this doesn’t mean that we don’t deserve the same respect as Europeans.
Turn to page 40 to read Part 1 of our interview with Safa president Danny Jordaan about the state of African football.