The AFCON is a Goddam major tournament!
The TotalEnergies Africa Cup Of Nations has been the talking point within the past week due to demeaning remarks by Liverpool’s cult hero, Jamie Carragher.
The Sky Sports pundit had been discussing Mohamed Salah’s chances of winning the Ballon d’Or, saying playing for Egypt rather than a European or South American nation would count against him.
Carragher said: “I think the problem is the fact he’s with Egypt, and he’s probably not playing in the major tournament as such, or maybe got a great chance of winning, I think it’s either the Champions League or the major tournament. Normally, the player who excels in that [wins it].”
Carragher, 47, received backlash from former and current players, holding him accountable for what has been considered a sheepish, if not, sweeping statement.
Some key football stakeholders have resolved that, just maybe, Carragher was ignorant while making his statement, or utterly disrespected the continent. For the ignorant ones who know nothing about the AFCON, here are some facts;
The TotalEnergies AFCON is the flagship tournament of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) with 54 members, only surpassed by UEFA (55) in the FIFA-affiliated continental confederations.
The inaugural edition of the AFCON was in 1957. Only the AFC Asian Cup (1956) and the Copa America (1916) are recorded to have earlier starts.
With 34 editions since inauguration in 1957, the AFCON has had the second most number of tournament finals only behind the Copa America with 48 editions.
The AFCON equals the most number of participating teams (24) in major continental competitions. Only the UEFA European Championship, and the Asian cup matches that tally in regional confederations.
From 1992 – 2017, only AFCON winners had the sole prerogative to represent the African region at the now, former FIFA Confederations cup, formerly reserved for winners of other flagship Confederations’ tourneys.
In terms of prize money, only the UEFA European Championship and the Copa America equals or surpasses the AFCON.
Under current CAF president, Patrice Motsepe, the AFCON prize money skyrocketed to $7,000,000 million dollars, while runners-up receive $4,000, 000.
In each of Europe’s so called top five leagues, they’re AFCON participants dominating with outstanding performances.
Dortmund’s rare gem – Serhou Guiracy, Atalanta’s main man Ademola Lookam, and Achraf Hakimi of PSG, all find the AFCON super competitive.
The aforementioned players are top ranked in their respective leagues but the AFCON is no man’s bread and butter, not even for the great Mohamed Salah, currently the best performer in Europe (25 goals and 17 assists) in 28 league games, has won an AFCON trophy.
A clear example of the AFCON doggednes is Morocco as case study. Morocco’s performance at the 2022 FIFA World Cup where they ended 4th, had them named favorites for the AFCON, with a “Galacticos” set-up of talents.
However, the Atlas Lions crashed out to a well organized South African side in the round of 16s. If that isn’t an ingredient for a major tournament, then, the word has to be revised.
The AFCON is Africa’s pride, a heritage, their culture. George Weah conquered the world as a product of the AFCON.
The EX Liberian president helped his country qualify for the African Cup of Nations on two occasions: He represented his country in the 1996 and 2002 editions of the tournament, but Liberia failed to make it out of their group both times, suffering first-round eliminations.
Due to his performances with both Paris Saint-Germain and Milan, in 1995 Weah was the recipient of several individual awards: he won the Ballon d’Or, the Onze d’Or, and was named FIFA World Player of the Year, becoming the first and, currently, only African player (by FIFA nationality) to win these awards, and second African-born player to do so after Eusébio. The AFCON must not be underlooked!
