The AFCON in June in places like Nigeria.

[folem]

My personal issue with playing the AFCON in June and July is that it means that players from African countries who qualify for both the AFCON and the WC may in some cases have to play tournament football for 3 straight summers (or 3 out of 4 summers), which may end up effectively putting them in uncompetitive positions at their clubs - if they are allowed to join later than others to preseason training (especially when/if they are moving to a new club).

You will see more players boycott the Afcon citing nagging end of season injuries like V Moses.

Won't be as many if things didn't change. Injuries are part of football.

[Eaglezbeak]

Let African countries build roof

And then get to match venues in canoes, right?

Thank you,just like I explained to Ohenhen,if African nations haven't sorted out basic infrastructure that keeps a modern nation functioning why should they even bid to host a tournament and of cause the nature of sub saharan Africa's tropical rain fall is something that will obviously continue and as mentioned such rain fall would be hard to drain out even in the most organised nations but that is only because their systems where not designed for tropical flash floods and seasonal torrential rains but obviously such a system can be built (is innovation dead in Africa?)but that of course will never be priority for most African governments!

[Prince]

Let African countries build roof

And then get to match venues in canoes, right?

No build a canal, and make sure the roads have proper drainage, we rise up to challenges

[Eaglezbeak]

Let African countries build roof

And then get to match venues in canoes, right?

No build a canal, and make sure the roads have proper drainage, we rise up to challenges

You'd like to believe that but this has been going on for a long time football tournaments aside but not many sub Saharan governments have thought about rising to any challenge!

[Eaglezbeak]

My personal issue with playing the AFCON in June and July is that it means that players from African countries who qualify for both the AFCON and the WC may in some cases have to play tournament football for 3 straight summers (or 3 out of 4 summers), which may end up effectively putting them in uncompetitive positions at their clubs - if they are allowed to join later than others to preseason training (especially when/if they are moving to a new club).

Great point, that's another issue.

Not really a big point. Currently that's the way it goes for players at the very best performing nations. e.g. Chile @ WC 2014, Copa 2015, Copa Centenario 2016, CC 2017, possibly WC2018 & Copa 2019 etc. Some other Teams e.g Germany, Mexico, Australia, Portugal are currently facing similar schedule or even more. Spain played 2008 Euros, CC 2009, WC 2010 with 2 championships.

Yes the Summer is usually occupied by international football dates!

[Prince]

Let African countries build roof

And then get to match venues in canoes, right?

No build a canal, and make sure the roads have proper drainage, we rise up to challenges

You'd like to believe that but this has been going on for a long time football tournaments aside but not many sub Saharan governments have thought about rising to any challenge!

My take on it is simple, are our best players going to be on display..yes, are we going to make more money during this period..yes......People pay to see the best in Africa........

[ohenhen1]

My personal issue with playing the AFCON in June and July is that it means that players from African countries who qualify for both the AFCON and the WC may in some cases have to play tournament football for 3 straight summers (or 3 out of 4 summers), which may end up effectively putting them in uncompetitive positions at their clubs - if they are allowed to join later than others to preseason training (especially when/if they are moving to a new club).

You will see more players boycott the Afcon citing nagging end of season injuries like V Moses.

Won't be as many if things didn't change. Injuries are part of football.

Not many boycott the Afcon in January/Febuary. V Moses helped Nigeria win the nations cup in 2013. Didn't show up for Afcon qualifiers in June.

You think players won't boycott the tournament.

Afcon 2019
Afcon 2021
World cup 2022
Afcon 2023
Afcon 2025
World cup 2026
Afcon 2027

The excuse will be end of season surgery, need time to heal, fighting for place at his club

It will be a lot worse than the the current situation.

African leaders are mugus. Well most of them.

[folem]

My personal issue with playing the AFCON in June and July is that it means that players from African countries who qualify for both the AFCON and the WC may in some cases have to play tournament football for 3 straight summers (or 3 out of 4 summers), which may end up effectively putting them in uncompetitive positions at their clubs - if they are allowed to join later than others to preseason training (especially when/if they are moving to a new club).

You will see more players boycott the Afcon citing nagging end of season injuries like V Moses.

Won't be as many if things didn't change. Injuries are part of football.

Not many boycott the Afcon in January/Febuary. V Moses helped Nigeria win the nations cup in 2013. Didn't show up for Afcon qualifiers in June.

You think players won't boycott the tournament.

Afcon 2019
Afcon 2021
World cup 2022
Afcon 2023
Afcon 2025
World cup 2026
Afcon 2027

The excuse will be end of season surgery, need time to heal, fighting for place at his club

It will be a lot worse than the the current situation.

African leaders are mugus. Well most of them.

7 Cameroon players boycotted the last tournament prompting the need for change.

[ohenhen1]

My personal issue with playing the AFCON in June and July is that it means that players from African countries who qualify for both the AFCON and the WC may in some cases have to play tournament football for 3 straight summers (or 3 out of 4 summers), which may end up effectively putting them in uncompetitive positions at their clubs - if they are allowed to join later than others to preseason training (especially when/if they are moving to a new club).

You will see more players boycott the Afcon citing nagging end of season injuries like V Moses.

Won't be as many if things didn't change. Injuries are part of football.

Not many boycott the Afcon in January/Febuary. V Moses helped Nigeria win the nations cup in 2013. Didn't show up for Afcon qualifiers in June.

You think players won't boycott the tournament.

Afcon 2019
Afcon 2021
World cup 2022
Afcon 2023
Afcon 2025
World cup 2026
Afcon 2027

The excuse will be end of season surgery, need time to heal, fighting for place at his club

It will be a lot worse than the the current situation.

African leaders are mugus. Well most of them.

7 Cameroon players boycotted the last tournament prompting the need for change.

7 Cameroon players boycotted because of a feud with fecafoot and other reasons. Not because of club vs country conflict.

Liverpool’s Joel Matip is one of seven Cameroon players who have said they do not want to go to the Africa Cup of Nations, which begins on 14 January.

The defender cited a “bad experience” with the previous coaching staff, according to a Cameroon football association (Fecafoot) statement.

http://voicefmonline.com/seven-cameroon ... fcon-2017/


Jumping through a lot of hoops. If they are boycotted because of pressure from their club. FIFA would have stopped them from playing for the clubs.

[folem]

▲

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer ... KKBN1492GR

“These players have put personal interest above those of the national team and the federation reserves the right to take action against the players in accordance with FIFA regulations,” said Broos in a statement on Tuesday.

The other six are Andre Onana (Ajax Amsterdam), Guy Roland Ndy Assembe (Nancy), Allan Nyom (West Bromwich Albion), Maxime Poundje (Girondins Bordeaux), Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Olympique Marseille) and Ibrahim Amadou (Lille).

Nyom told Broos he wanted to stay at West Bromwich Albion to keep his place in the team, a sentiment shared by Amadou, Ndy Assembe, Onana and Zambo Anguissa.

[ohenhen1]

▲

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer ... KKBN1492GR

“These players have put personal interest above those of the national team and the federation reserves the right to take action against the players in accordance with FIFA regulations,” said Broos in a statement on Tuesday.

The other six are Andre Onana (Ajax Amsterdam), Guy Roland Ndy Assembe (Nancy), Allan Nyom (West Bromwich Albion), Maxime Poundje (Girondins Bordeaux), Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Olympique Marseille) and Ibrahim Amadou (Lille).

Nyom told Broos he wanted to stay at West Bromwich Albion to keep his place in the team, a sentiment shared by Amadou, Ndy Assembe, Onana and Zambo Anguissa.

FIFA can stop them from playing for their club.

In June, FIFA can't do anything.

[folem]

▲

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer ... KKBN1492GR

“These players have put personal interest above those of the national team and the federation reserves the right to take action against the players in accordance with FIFA regulations,” said Broos in a statement on Tuesday.

The other six are Andre Onana (Ajax Amsterdam), Guy Roland Ndy Assembe (Nancy), Allan Nyom (West Bromwich Albion), Maxime Poundje (Girondins Bordeaux), Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Olympique Marseille) and Ibrahim Amadou (Lille).

Nyom told Broos he wanted to stay at West Bromwich Albion to keep his place in the team, a sentiment shared by Amadou, Ndy Assembe, Onana and Zambo Anguissa.

FIFA can stop them from playing for their club.

In June, FIFA can't do anything.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_In ... h_Calendar

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affeder ... _ii_74.pdf

[ohenhen1]

▲

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer ... KKBN1492GR

“These players have put personal interest above those of the national team and the federation reserves the right to take action against the players in accordance with FIFA regulations,” said Broos in a statement on Tuesday.

The other six are Andre Onana (Ajax Amsterdam), Guy Roland Ndy Assembe (Nancy), Allan Nyom (West Bromwich Albion), Maxime Poundje (Girondins Bordeaux), Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Olympique Marseille) and Ibrahim Amadou (Lille).

Nyom told Broos he wanted to stay at West Bromwich Albion to keep his place in the team, a sentiment shared by Amadou, Ndy Assembe, Onana and Zambo Anguissa.

FIFA can stop them from playing for their club.

In June, FIFA can't do anything.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_In ... h_Calendar

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affeder ... _ii_74.pdf

No EPL games to play in June.

You really think players won't boycott the nations cup. Playing 3 straight summers with the national team?

[Enugu II]

▲

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer ... KKBN1492GR

“These players have put personal interest above those of the national team and the federation reserves the right to take action against the players in accordance with FIFA regulations,” said Broos in a statement on Tuesday.

The other six are Andre Onana (Ajax Amsterdam), Guy Roland Ndy Assembe (Nancy), Allan Nyom (West Bromwich Albion), Maxime Poundje (Girondins Bordeaux), Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Olympique Marseille) and Ibrahim Amadou (Lille).

Nyom told Broos he wanted to stay at West Bromwich Albion to keep his place in the team, a sentiment shared by Amadou, Ndy Assembe, Onana and Zambo Anguissa.

FIFA can stop them from playing for their club.

In June, FIFA can't do anything.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_In ... h_Calendar

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affeder ... _ii_74.pdf

No EPL games to play in June.

You really think players won't boycott the nations cup. Playing 3 straight summers with the national team?

Ohenhen1,

Your wasting time arguing on this issue. Anyone following what happens globally can easily predict that club v country will not end with AFCON being played in June. The conflict will happen and the players affected will still face losing their club positions because of playing with African teams and the excuse will be because they needed a rest and then they have to become fit to play again having missed the preseason. You can take that to the bank. To claim that club v country will be solved by playing in June is disingenuous to be frank. What CAF should be worried about is playing the tournament when it suits Africa best and within window agreed by FIFA and not to focus on solving a problem that European clubs do not intend to solve. It is really surprising to think otherwise. Here is a piece to read and think through what that means:

Soccer Players’ Fatigue Grows as Matches Go on, and on, and on
By JAMIE TRECKERJUNE 16, 2016
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/spor ... tigue.html


Chile’s Alexis Sánchez has played in 52 games for club and country in his 2015-16 season, which began last summer. His Arsenal teammate, Germany’s Mesut Özil, has taken part in 55. And the Argentine ironman Lionel Messi — despite missing a number of games this season to injury — racked up his 56th appearance this week.

A game a week might not seem like a lot to a casual fan. But soccer is one of the world’s toughest endurance sports, and clubs and national teams are testing the limits of what players can handle.

The very best players now appear in as many as four major club competitions in a season, tournaments that have expanded under pressure from television, and even more games as members of their national teams. In each game, a top player will run an average of seven and a half miles.

Make up for all that with a restful off-season? Good luck. Those have virtually disappeared from the modern game: If there is not a continental or world championship on the calendar, club teams travel to the United States, or the Middle East, or Asia, on marketing trips whenever they have a break.

Summer tournaments also have swelled: This year’s European Championships grew by eight teams, to 24 from 16, meaning more slots for more national teams — but also more games. The Copa América includes many of the same stars who competed in the same tournament last summer in Chile. This summer’s International Champions Cup exhibition circuit will send top club teams to a half-dozen countries on four continents.

“There are now more games and more competitions, and what the data is showing is that the games have gotten faster as well,” said Dave Tenney, who leads the sports science and performance program for the Seattle Sounders of M.L.S. “There is more money, more pressure. There are managers that also don’t rotate players as often. All that has a higher cost on the players.”

There have always been tensions between the clubs — which pay the players’ multimillion-dollar salaries and rely on them for their own success and revenue — and the national teams and governing federations. Injuries bring those tensions to the surface: Barcelona, fearing overwork, persuaded Brazil to leave Neymar off its Copa América roster, and it probably wishes Argentina had done the same with Messi, who has yet to start a game in the Copa as he recovers from an injury.

And while Özil remains a fixture in Germany’s lineup at the Euros, Arsenal Manager Arsène Wenger openly criticized the sanctioning of back-to-back Copa Américas, saying last year’s tournament led to the hamstring injury that dogged Sánchez for much of the Gunners’ season.

“It had an impact on him this season, I think,” Wenger said on the eve of Arsenal’s final league game. “I think he suffered physically this season from that.”

Clubs and leagues share blame for what is known as fixture congestion. A team in England’s Premier League, the world’s richest domestic league, will participate in three guaranteed competitions — the league, the F.A. Cup and the League Cup. And if a team is lucky, it also will take part in one of Europe’s two continental club tournaments, the Champions League or the Europa League.

Tenney said that Sevilla, winner of this year’s Europa League, played a staggering 62 games this season.

Argentina Manager Gerardo Martino laid some blame on that arduous schedule for the injury Ángel Di María picked up against Panama last Friday that may sideline him for the rest of the Copa América. Di María, who plays for Paris St.-Germain, has sustained significant injuries in each of the last three summer tournaments.

“He has the obligation to push the game faster and run longer for us,” a clearly frustrated Martino said after the Panama game. “So perhaps the fact that he has been playing a lot of games may have something to do with it.”

Tournament travel, especially in a country as large as the United States, is another factor. The United States national team crossed the country for its first three Copa América games — from Santa Clara, Calif., to Chicago to Philadelphia — before it turned around and flew to Seattle for a quarterfinal match against Ecuador. Ecuador and Chile, another quarterfinalist, also have crossed the country twice.

Get the big sports news, highlights and analysis from Times journalists, with distinctive takes on games and some behind-the-scenes surprises, delivered to your inbox every week.

“That’s huge,” Tenney said. “The average player in the Copa América is not used to these extensive changes in climate and distance, and you have to think about time zones as well. All that affects practice times, sleep cycles, when you travel to a game — these are some major things.”

The retired American goalkeeper Brad Friedel, the Premier League’s record-holder for consecutive appearances with 310 games, said those travel demands were the major reason he ended his national team career early.

“You only have a certain shelf life as a pro, and I retired from international play at an earlier age to help prolong my life at the club,” said Friedel, who is covering the Copa América as an analyst for Fox Sports. “Flying back and forth thousands of miles for a game was a possible problem I saw, and you have to take that into consideration.”

Marcelo Balboa, a starter on the 1994 United States World Cup team, said playing too frequently nearly cost him his spot on the squad, and effectively shortened his career. “I ran myself into the ground,” he said. “From 1991 to 1993, I played in everything possible because I wanted to play. But I paid the consequences.”

Players who persevere through a full cycle of games are susceptible to what is increasingly known as a tournament hangover, the fatigue that carries over from the summer into a player’s league season.

“The tournament itself isn’t the hard part,” Friedel said. “It’s monitoring the vacation, then going into the preseason, and then getting into the actual season fully fit. The physical stuff isn’t always the hardest part; it’s once it is over, how do you get focused and re-established?”

Tenney said that while sports science had made big gains in player health, there was only so much that could be done.

“The game has become so fast, and become such a grind, that guys get worn down,” he said. “Despite the advances in sports science and nutrition and sleep, we’re just playing catch-up.”

He said players in the optimal age range — about 23 to 29 years old — could stand a threshold of about 50 games a season. “The problem,” he said, “is with the increases in group stage play, and qualifying for various tournaments, the number of games just keeps going up.”

The easiest solution — fewer games — is not in the cards. The new FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, has floated the idea of expanding the World Cup to 40 teams from 32, and UEFA is examining expanding the Champions League.

For the Manchester City players competing in the Copa and the Euros — a group that includes Argentina’s Sergio Agüero, France’s Bacary Sagna and Spain’s David Silva — that tournament kicks off in mid-August.

[folem]

You will see more players boycott the Afcon citing nagging end of season injuries like V Moses.

Won't be as many if things didn't change. Injuries are part of football.

▲

[folem]

Hmm.

[aruako1]

Let the North Africans host it until Nigeria and guinea join the human race and introduce drainage .

Even with excellent drainage would you want to watch the tournament under torrential rainfall?

[Eaglezbeak]

The Romans were using drainage systems 2000 years ago so nations that can't sort such a thing out don't deserve to host football tournaments,Nigeria and all the other deprieved nations need to sort out their priorities before wasting money on hosting Afcons,people are obviously in need of sanitised running water and concealed sewage systems!

[Eaglezbeak]

Nigeria is basically Africa, 180 million people and growing.

But Nigeria can't cater for its large population can it?