FOOTBALL DAILY: AFCON 2022

As the year is drawing to a humble close, one of the events set to happen in the next year is the African Cup of Nations. It commences on Sunday 9th January 2022 and it is going to be launched with a match between the hosts Cameroon and the Stallions of Burkina Faso.

Most Countries have called up most and a lot of their players from both their clubs overseas and at home to represent them. Names like Mohammed Salah(Egypt), Sadio Mane(Senegal), Edouard Mendy(Senegal), Thomas Partey(Ghana), Kamaldeen Sulemana(Ghana), Mohammed Kudus(Ghana), Victor Osimhen(Nigeria), Kelechi Iheanacho(Nigeria), Riyad Mahrez(Algeria), Achraf Hakimi(PSG); just to mention a few, would all feature in this tournament.

The African Cup of Nations was first held in 1957 and the rest is history; great history. The Pharaohs of Egypt is the country with the most AFCON titles(7), then The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon(5) and then the Black Stars of Ghana(4). The current holders of the title are the greens of Algeria(2). I am proud that my country is a part of the recognised countries on the continent. I look forward to Ghana making it 5 AFCON titles this here.

This is what the groupings of the tournament look like;

My only problem with this AFCON is with the Football Associations across the world. While the AFCON tournament is in session, every other continent would continue to play their club leagues. This doesn't show respect and fairness to the players on any grounds, and in the long run, affect some of the clubs whose star players are African. Clubs like Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and many others are bound to miss out on a number of their key players during the period of the tournament. Every club has at least one African player, so I deem it necessary to place a hold on the various club competitions as every Football Association did during the Euros and Copa America. It is disappointing that this has to happen in this modern day and age of football.

In the sight of that, there are a lot of fixtures to look up to and they are quite interesting. Ghana's group looks competitive but I believe we could even top the group. Likewise Group D, Egypt and Nigeria would be a very nice match up and with the calibre and squad depth both countries possess, you just can't fathom the possibilities and the history this competition is going to make.