The Africa Cup of Nations reminds us that little has changed in football
Image: BBC
As the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) kicks off this week, we have been reminded once again of the rampant disrespect that this tournament is forced to endure at the hands of the media and the footballing world at large. As former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright so accurately put it, “There is no greater honour than representing your country. The coverage is completely tinged with racism.”
Despite AFCON being a longstanding tournament founded in 1957, a few years before the inaugural Euros took place, it is still treated as an afterthought in the football world. While African players continue to dominate leagues all over Europe and beyond, their national call ups are not often met with the same reverence as those of their peers. Anyone who knows even a little bit about football will know the culprit for these attitudes isn’t that complicated. It’s the same culprit that Black players across basically every professional league are still contending with - racism.
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And of course staying true to its long history of disappointing fans of the game, rather than be a part of the solution, many argue that FIFA (the highest governing body in international football), is just as complicit in the disrespect against AFCON. In the run up to the tournament’s kickoff, FIFA announced the dates for the rescheduled FIFA Club World Cup as 3 February to 12 February 2022, directly conflicting with the AFCON which is due to conclude on 6 February.
Former Tottenham and Egypt striker Mido rightly called out FIFA on social media saying, “FIFA deciding to hold the Club World Cup while AFCON is going on is a sign of disrespect to African football…Can the International Federation hold the tournament at the same time as the European Nations Cup or at the same time as Copa America? Of course not!”
While the problems that hold African national teams back are well documented and shouldn’t be ignored, the deep seeded reach of racism remains an overbearing plague that has yet to be stamped out of the game so many of us love.
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