OPINION:AFCON SHOULD BE PLAYED IN 4 YEARS

This week Confederation of African Football(CAF) is hosting their annual football awards in Cairo, this opens doors for us to zoom into the competition and scan it’s ups and downs.

​The Africa Cup of Nations(AFCON) tournament which is the flagship of CAF played every two years is bringing in many cons than pros.

Firstly, the competition Afcon does not provide passion and love to the players and fanatics because of its scheduling.

For a while before the tournament was moved to winter, players abroad ditched the competition citing it’s not important than their respective clubs and playing every two years was a superior factor. It was difficult for players to break every January while their  spot at their clubs is under threat.

In Africa, infrastructure is a problem and we have to be vigilant when dealing with issues like this, AFCON 2019 was supposed to be hosted by Cameroon but due to its delays in completion of their stadia, they were robbed the opportunity to Egypt. This could have been minimal or somehow eradicated if the tournament was held every 4 years to give countries enough opportunity to prepare.

In Europe, Euro is hosted every 4 years like the world cup and the host gets ample time of about 7-8 years to prepare for the tournament. This could also provide the excitement to the sports fanatics and bring the competition to a level of Euro where supporters go to an extent of resigning from their jobs for a full month of ecstasy.
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Let’s revive the spirit of our African football to make it more exciting to every one and stop depending on Euro and Copa America for a good continental break. ​

BY:Tirelo Mosielele[BA(HONS) IN BROADCASTING AND JOURNALISM/CO-FOUNDER OF SPORTSNATION]