the African Cup of Nations, an eternal stone in the shoes of European clubs

Idrissa Gueye (left), who plays for Paris Saint-Germain, is one of the players selected for the Africa Cup of Nations. Here, during a PSG-Club Brugge match at the Parc des Princes, in Paris, on December 7, 2021. CHRISTOPHE ENA / AP

Until a few days before the kick-off, the Covid-19 pandemic and the spread of the Omicron variant threatened the holding of the African Cup of Nations (CAN) in Cameroon (from January 9 to February 6) . In this uncertain context, the big European clubs threatened not to release their players summoned for the 33^e edition of the competition.

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In a letter to the International Football Federation (FIFA) in mid-December, the European Club Association (ECA) expressed concern about the lack of a health protocol: “To our knowledge, the African Football Confederation has not yet made public a suitable medical and operational protocol for the CAN tournament, in the absence of which the clubs will not be able to release their players for the tournament” , wrote the body headed by Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, the president of PSG.

Relaxed rules

Olympique Lyonnais (OL), one of the sixteen founding members of the ECA, saw three of its players fly to Africa: “When we received the summons for the selections at the end of December, we had no indication of compliance with a health protocol, says Vincent Ponsot, general manager of OL football. The ECA then pushed with the African Football Confederation [regroupant les fédérations nationales de football du continent], which allowed us to know the conditions under which our players were going to be accommodated. “ The leaders of the European clubs pointed out above all the risk of an absence of the internationals longer than the period of availability envisaged, because of the « quarantines and movement restrictions » linked in particular to the emergence of the Omicron variant.

Since 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic, FIFA relaxed the rules for the release of internationals: clubs can retain their players if « quarantine of at least five days is mandatory from arrival » at the place « where the national team match is supposed to be played » of the athlete, or at the place of the latter’s club on his return.

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Still Nigeria coach at the beginning of December – he has since been dismissed from his post – Gernot Rohr recounts the preparation for his selection’s trip to Cape Verde on September 7, 2021: “Seven of our UK players were unable to make it to Cape Verde, which was on the UK government’s Covid-19 red list. They should have done a ten-day quarantine when returning to their club, which was too restrictive. “

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