One of the greatest honors for a footballer is representing their country. The 2024 AFCON tournament kicks off on January 13th, where African players from 24 nations will travel to Ivory Coast to participate. Unfortunately, AFCON doesn’t get the respect it deserves from the footballing world.
Many football fans aren’t happy with the scheduling conflict that AFCON has with European clubs and competitions. Fans dislike how their best players are missing during the season; for example, Liverpool fans will hate being without Mo Salah for a month in the middle of a title race. It's an understandable concern, but something fans would have been aware of, so why is disrespect needed? Fans should enjoy African players playing for their club and also respect their international commitments.
This year, Manchester United and Cameroon had to come to terms on a bizarre agreement so Andre Onana could play in this year’s tournament.
Onana will travel to AFCON straight after United’s meeting with Tottenham on January 14th and then play in Cameroon's match against Guinea on January 15th. Although it’s commendable that both parties reached an agreement for Onana to play, should it really come to a situation where a player will be playing two games in two days in two different continents?
In August 2022, Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis said he would only sign African players if they signed a waiver stating they would not represent their country in AFCON.
There was little outrage about this from the footballing world. Can you imagine how many other clubs feel like this behind the scenes? It's an unnecessary burden put on African players.
In January 2021, Sebastien Haller was asked if he would be participating in AFCON; he responded by saying, "Would this question ever get asked to a European player ahead of the EUROs? Of course, I am going to the Africa Cup." Fortunately, Haller stood up for himself, but imagine the double standards that surround African players' participation in the tournament.
AFCON should be celebrated for bringing Africa together through football and providing a chance for African football to be the center of attention.