ACTUALITE |
26.12.2007
African Players Choose Club or Country
By JACK BELL
Every two years, as the start of the African Cup of Nations tournament approaches, coaches and club officials throughout Europe whine, gnash their teeth and lament the departure of their African players.
Red Bulls Champions League UEFA Cup Other International Cup International Leagues The Cup of Nations, being staged Jan. 20-Feb. 10 in Ghana, will whisk away some of the top players in the English Premier League and other leagues for a month or more.
Arsenal Manager Arsène Wenger told BBC Sport that tournament organizers “know more players play in Europe for the big clubs, who don’t want to pay the price.”
“That means it will be detrimental to the African players, as the big clubs will not give them a chance anymore,” he added.
The first-place Gunners are likely to be missing Kolo Touré and Emmanuel Eboué, who both play for Ivory Coast. The club’s high-scoring striker, Emmanuel Adebayor, however, plays for Togo, which failed to qualify for the 16-nation tournament.
Another Premier League club, Chelsea, could be devastated by players departing for the Cup of Nations. Chelsea stands to be without Michael Essien (Ghana), John Obi Mikel (Nigeria) and Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou (Ivory Coast). Chelsea is already missing Drogba, who had knee surgery this month.
By contrast, Manchester United does not have an African player on its senior roster. In France, many of the top clubs rely on players from Africa, and many of them will be missing as league seasons heat up all over Europe. In Spain, Barcelona stands to lose Samuel Eto’o to Cameroon and Yaya Touré to Ivory Coast.
The club-versus-country issue pervades the game worldwide, but especially in Europe, where clubs assert that they pay the wages and should have a veto over a player’s decision to leave and play for his national team. FIFA, the sport’s worldwide governing body, however, takes the opposite view. It asserts that clubs must release players for sanctioned international events, including the Cup of Nations.
In recent years, European teams have turned to less-expensive players from Africa, Asia and the United States (to a lesser extent). For the Europeans, the issue about the Cup of Nations is timing. They point out that nearly every other major international competition — from the Concacaf Gold Cup to the Copa América to the European Championship — is played in the summer, when the top European leagues are in the off-season.
Even some African players in Europe are not thrilled with the timing because the event takes them from their clubs and could jeopardize their future.
Steven Pienaar, who plays for Everton in England on loan from Borussia Dortmund in Germany, has been called to South Africa’s team by Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira. Last week, Pienaar said that his hope of landing a lucrative contract could be hurt because his starting position with Everton could evaporate while he is in Ghana.
“Yes, it’s a problem,” he told the Daily Telegraph of London. “Things are going so well and you think, ‘Why’s it coming up now?’ Going away makes it a difficult situation.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/25/sports/soccer/25soccer.html?_r=1&ref=soccer&oref=slogin
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