African coaches fuming after new FIFA decision over AFCON

FIFA have made many controversial decisions since Gianni Infantino took over – from World Cup in mid-season in Qatar to expanding FIFA‘s Club World Cup and today they added another one, which angered African national coaches. FIFA amended its rules to soften the blow for clubs who will lose their players due to AFCON by delaying the release date by a week. Top European clubs such as Salah's Liverpool, Mbeumo's Manchester United and Hakimi's Paris Saint-Germain face losing key players for up to five weeks for the 24-nation tournament in Morocco from December 21 to January 18. Now, they have been given extra week (until December 15th) which is seriously changing preparation plans for all coaches.

The decision came after "fruitful consultations led by FIFA with key stakeholders and thanks to the spirit of solidarity demonstrated by CAF to reduce the impact on various parties," FIFA said in a statement, referring to the tournament organizers, the Confederation of African Football.

"It was also decided to encourage member associations participating in the 2025 AFCON and clubs releasing players... to engage in good faith bilateral discussions in order to find appropriate individual solutions" FIFA added.

But the coaches are furious.

"We've all prepared well in advance. This jeopardizes our training camps. Plane tickets have been booked, the training locations, the hotels, the pitches, the buses—everything is arranged. We've even arranged visas for some countries to train in Europe. We're jeopardizing our entire organization. My complaint is directed at FIFA. When it comes to using the continent for elections or anything else, they do, but they don't respect the Africa Cup of Nations. All the clubs are interested in signing African players. But you have to understand that when players come, it's because they've had a good run in the Africa Cup of Nations or the African Nations Championship. This is the continent of football. The Africa Cup of Nations is a magnificent competition that the whole world will follow" said Patrice Beaumelle, head coach of Angola.

African stars want to leave Nice

Before FIFA's ruling, players had been required to show up for international duty by December 8, meaning that English Premier League clubs could have been without vital players for up to seven or even eight league matches during a particularly busy part of the season. Liverpool will be without Egypt forward Salah, Manchester City will have to do without his international team-mate Omar Marmoush and Algeria's left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri, while United will lose Cameroon's Mbeumo, Ivory Coast winger Amad Diallo and Morocco full-back Noussair Mazraoui. French and European champions PSG will lose Hakimi, Bayern Munich's Senegal forward Nicolas Jackson, on loan from Chelsea, will be at the tournament but will not miss many Bundesliga games as the league will be on its winter break from December 22 to January 8. In France, RMC Sport writes that Paris FC, plans to let its international players leave after the 16th matchday of Ligue 1, which takes place from December 12 to 14. Le Havre, Angers, Monaco, Metz, and the vast majority of other teams involved—if not all—will also do so. That's less than a week before the tournament kicks off.