Fifa president Sepp Blatter has told the BBC that the timing of the Africa Cup of Nations must be changed. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/7194966.stm What do think about this? Morocco wants to organize it and if they get it, it would be better if they hold it in the summer cause Morocco unlike other african countries is very cold(rain and snow included) in december and january. http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/sport/morocco_to_present_b/view
It is moronic beyond belief that the African nations cup is held during a World Cup year. Could you imagine the European Championships held in the same year as the World Cup, it would be insane. How tired would those players be after a full European League season to then face two international tournaments in 6 months. CAF and FIFA need to wake up.
A similar problem will be caused by the Asian Cup next January. It would be better from a player-welfare perspective if these were held in 'off' years, but it's not always possible. 2 out of every 4 northern hemisphere summers are occupied by the World and Confederations Cups. Another one is occupied by the European Championships, which would destroy the value of viewing rights for the Cup of Nations/Gold Cup/Asian Cup if those tournaments went up against them. So that leaves pretty much one northern summer in the cycle free. Even aside from that, plenty of countries are too hot in June to host tournaments and need the January window. It's hard to find a January that doesn't back onto another tournament in either the preceding or following June. At the end of the day, quite a few of these players would be playing club football if they weren't at the Cup of Nations anyway.
The fact that it's in the middle of the European season wouldn't bother me as much if it was only once every four years.
Give CAF 10+ teams in WC and then there would be no need for a biannual Cup of Nations. Else Blatter should stop bitchin.
It's true that the two confederations who get the greatest percentage of their teams in the World Cup, UEFA and CONMEBOL, have confederational tournaments every four years compared to every two years for CONCACAF and CAF, but is the frequency of the confederational tournament because of how many teams the confederation gets in the World Cup? CAF certainly doesn't deserve 10 or more teams in a 32 team World Cup.
I think the point is; whether CAF deserves 10+ spots or not, they need to organise competition matches for their members. At least CONCACAF and AFC have regional tournaments. There is a reason why CECAFA has the only proper tournament in Africa..
North Africa has it's own tournaments too. Like u-17 u-20 , champions cup, cup holders cup, cup runnersup etc.
The fact that it's in the middle of the European season wouldn't bother me as much if it was only once every four years. four