FIFA’s player release date leaves African teams unprepared

With the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) set to take off this month, FIFA has ruled that players need to only be released to their national teams on December 15, leaving African players with planned schedules unprepared, Reuters reported on December 4th.

Previously, national teams could have access to their players by December 8th, giving ample time for training and preparation. But the new decision has hindered their plans.

The tournament will be held from December 21st to January 18th in Morocco. Most of the 24 countries competing in the Cup of Nations finals rely on African players from European clubs, which would normally have been required to release them after the weekend, on December 8th.

Angola’s French coach Peatrice Beaumelle expressed his frustration with FIFA’s decision: “What’s frustrating and exhausting is that since the last international window, we’ve been finalising the preparations.”

“We wanted to start the camp on December 8 in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. I’ve been travelling to the site for a month and a half now. We’ve prepared everything, worked on the content of the training sessions, the venues for the friendly matches. Now everything is at risk.” he added.

The coach said the team must be in Morocco by the 18th to play their match on the 22nd. And because of the limited time, it won’t be a proper training camp anymore.

The Senegal national team have cancelled their training camp in Tunisia, while Congo, Mozambique, and Ivory Coast are reconsidering their plans in Portugal and Spain.

FIFA has said that its decision was made while consulting the Confederation of African Football and other stakeholders to “reduce the impact on various parties”, with no explanation. But coaches have criticised the decision, citing that FIFA was given prior notice for the tournament and therefore ample time to make a decision earlier.

Mali’s head coach, Tom Saintfiet, made a statement saying, “I think the world needs to respect African football.” He also pointed out FIFA’s alleged bias, saying, “There is no respect for football in Africa, Asia, Oceania, Concacaf… For FIFA, the center of football is Europe and that’s all that matters. The money from European clubs is all that matters.”

Whereas Angola’s coach Beaumelle said this was a recurring pattern of disregard for African football.

Last month, Italian coach Gennaro Gattuso sparked controversy by saying Africa was given too many spots in the FIFA World Cup, suggesting that it makes it harder for European teams to make the cut, after his team failed to qualify. 

While FIFA has its first tournament with 48 nations, nine African nations have already qualified and taken their spots. Morocco, called the ‘favourites’ of African football seem to be determined to show that the 2022 World Cup was not a streak of luck, but the result of a clear project.

Reuters, Foot Africa, Africa Top Sports, BBC, Maghrebi.org