Hello everyone,

I hope you are all having a wonderful week and looking forward to the upcoming International Tournament in Africa, welcome to CryptoGod-1's blog on all things sports. In today's post I will be looking at the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), which English Premier League Players will be heading there, the schedule, and a general run down of the tournament including the favourites and which teams to watch out for.

What is AFCON?

The African Cup of Nations is the International Tournament held for African countries in decided who the best side in the continent is. Similar to the European Championships or the COPA America, it is a prestigious tournament and an honour for all players representing their sides.  It is sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), similar to UEFA in Europe, and was first held in the year 1957. The current tournament will be held in Cameroon. It was due to take place in 2021, and although it was agreed in 2019 to move the tournament to the Summertime, the impact of Covid-19 saw it postponed until January 2022. This will be the 33rd edition of the tournament, and see the largest participants with 24 teams competing. 

Why is it being held mid-season?

The tournament will be held from January 9th until February 6th 2022. It was originally scheduled to be played in June and July 2021, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic it was rearranged to allow for vaccines and better preparations to take place. This will allow more fans to travel to Cameroon to enjoy the festival of football, and hopefully wont be thrown off course due to Covid-19 variants.

History

The first tournament comprised of three teams only, and was won by Egypt. There have been three different trophies used throughout the history of the competition. In 1978, Ghana were awarded the Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem Trophy permanently when it became the first country to win the tournament three times. The next trophy, which was known as the African Unity Cup, was awarded permanently to Cameroon in 2000 when they won their third championship between 1980 and 2000. In 2002 a new trophy called the Cup of Nations was introduced.

The interesting thing about the awarding of the trophies permanently is that a country has to win that particular trophy three times to keep it. To highlight what this means, Egypt have won the tournament a record 7 times but never got to keep the trophy. This included a run of three times in a row between 2006 and 2010, but unlike the previous trophies, the Egyptians were instead presented with a full sized replica of the Trophy. This was to ensure that the tournament retains the same award and trophy going forward into all future editions. Sadly, Egypt’s former Football Association vice-president Ahmed Shobeir announced the trophy was missing while preparations were ongoing to build a museum for all the titles won by the country. It is believed it was destroyed in a fire in Cairo in 2013.

In terms of awards, The CAF gives 30 gold medals to the winning team, 30 silver medals to the runner-ups, 30 bronze medals to the third placed winner, and 30 diplomas to the team which finishes fourth in the final tournament.

Finals were changed to odd-numbered years from 2013, to avoid being in the same year as the FIFA World-Cup.

Schedule & Structure

The teams competing are broken in six groups with four teams in each. The group games run from January 9th until the 20th, meaning all players participating will be unavailable for their clubs until at least after that date.

Each team plays each other once during the group stage. At the end of the three matches, the top two teams from each group qualify, along with the four best third placed teams. These 16 teams then compete in the knockout stages, from the round of sixteen, then the quarter-final, the semi-finals, and the final.

The schedule and breakdown of the groups are shown below, and you can find a link to this poster here: AFCON Schedule

English Premier League Players Involved

Below is a list of all players currently playing in the Premier League which have been called up to play in the tournament by their respective Nations. Other African Players, such as Hakim Ziyech was left out of the Morocco squad, while Watford blocked their star player Dennis going to the tournament.

Arsenal: Thomas Partey (Ghana), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon), Nicolas Pepe (Ivory Coast), Mohamed Elneny (Egypt), Omar Rekik (Tunisia)

Aston Villa: Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso), Trezeguet (Egypt)

Brentford: Frank Onyeka (Nigeria), Julian Jeanvier (Guinea), Tariqe Fosu-Henry (Ghana)

Brighton: Yves Bissouma (Mali)

Burnley: Maxwel Cornet (Ivory Coast)

Chelsea: Edouard Mendy (Senegal)

Crystal Palace: Cheikhou Kouyate (Senegal), Jordan Ayew (Ghana), Wilfried Zaha (Ivory Coast)

Everton: Alex Iwobi (Nigeria)

Leicester: Kelechi Iheanacho (Nigeria), Wilfred Ndidi (Nigeria), Daniel Amartey (Ghana), Nampalys Mendy (Senegal)

Liverpool: Mohamed Salah (Egypt), Sadio Mane (Senegal), Naby Keita (Guinea)

Man City: Riyad Mahrez (Algeria)

Man Utd: Eric Bailly (Ivory Coast), Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast), Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia)

Southampton: Moussa Djenepo (Mali)

Watford: William Troost-Ekong (Nigeria), Imran Louza (Morocco), Adam Masina (Morocco), Ismaila Sarr (Senegal)

West Ham: Said Benrahma (Algeria)

Wolves: Willy Boly (Ivory Coast), Romain Saiss (Morocco)

Favourites and Underdogs

According to various bookmakers, and from looking at form and recent history, Egypt, Algeria, and Senegal are the three frontrunners for this competition. It many be clear as to why, three names: Salah, Mahrez, and Mané. Those are the three best current African footballers in the world, and any of the three could easily tilt the competition in their nations favour. All are considered vital cogs for their nations, and while there are other superstars in each Nation, those three stand above the rest, Algeria may have the more balanced squad and are the current holders of the title, but Senegal showed in 2019 they are capable of getting all the way to the final. As for Egypt, their Egyptian King in Salah can produce moments of magic like none other, with many believing him to be the best footballer on the planet at the moment.

Outside bets would also include Cameroon as the host nation, Nigeria would have been big contenders but will be dismayed at Watford blocking Dennis from representing his country, with Mali having the likes of Yves Bissouma and Haidara, while Ghana have decent squad brimming with young talent plying their trade across European football.

Controversy 

There has been conflict in Cameroon since September 2017, when war broke out in the English speaking regions of the country. The escalating violence in predominatlely located in the country's Anglophone regions, which pose a threat to both spectators and team safety. The clashes are between Cameroonian government forces and armed separatist groups, with both sides of the conflict committing widespread human rights violations in 2020. These have included executions and mass murders in Cameroon's Anglophone regions, as reported by Human Rights Watch. 

Limbe's Omnisport Stadium, located in the Anglophone zone, will host matches from Group F comprising Tunisia, Mali, Mauritania and Gambia. The group's first game will be between Tunisia and Mali on January 12. Nearby, its regional capital of Buea, where some Group F training will take place, was struck by two explosions in November 2020 which included one in a university that wounded 11 students. Fears have been expressed for the safety of fans and players/coaching staff from all nations, who may all be seen as targets during the conflict.  

The Cameroon authorities allegedly wish to push on and host AFCON because of the status this will give them, on the continent and beyond. Many believe that President Biya is only allowing the tournament to take place in the hopes of winning the votes of young Cameroonians by hosting the matches. The Cameroonian government has consistently responded to peaceful protests with violence and military action, losing support and driving more youth to take up arms against the regime, which has been in power since 1982.

Thanks very much for reading and I hope you enjoyed the article. Hopefully you will get to view the games and enjoy the action of the tournamant, which will have no issues from Covid-19 or anything else.

Have a great day.

Peace. CryptoGod-1.

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