It’s the biggest and most prestigious competition in African football, but Premier League managers have mixed feelings when the African Cup of Nations comes around.
The bi-annual tournament is played in January through to the first week of February, when many leagues are taking a break, but with the relentless nature of the Premier League, it can be seriously disruptive for English clubs.
And with the 2017 tournament due to begin in Gabon on January 14, certain clubs (and the matches) will miss some of their most crucial players.
Champions Leicester City will suffer badly, with four players likely to miss a month of the season that has seen The Foxes back to their more traditional position at the bottom end of the table. Algeria will call up star midfielder Riyad Mahrez and striker Islam Slimani, who was the club’s record signing, as they take on a tough group including Senegal, Zimbabwe and north African rivals Tunisia. Claudio Ranieri will also have to do without Danel Amartey, the Ghana midfielder who was signed to replace N’Golo Kante in the summer.
Winger Jeffrey Schlupp will also leave Leicester to join up with Ghana, whose preparations will begin some time before their first match, against Uganda on January 17. In that period Leicester face Chelsea and Manchester United at home as well as visits to Southampton and Burnley, plus at least one FA Cup tie.
Sunderland will be hit as heavily as Leicester, with four players likely to be away from the stadium of light for up to six weeks in what is always a busy period, with Premier League and FA Cup fixtures coming thick and fast. The Black Cats are stuck at the bottom of the table and rooted in a relegation battle again, and can barely afford to lose key players such as Ivorian Lamine Koné, Papy Djilobodji of Senegal and record signing Didier NDong, who will represent hosts Gabon. Sunderland’s other absentee will be Wahbi Khazri, who plays for Tunisia, as David Moyes’ men battle against relegation.
But at the opposite end of the table, the biggest losers will be Liverpool, for whom Sadio Mane has been instrumental in their flying start to the season. The Senegal winger, who was signed from Southampton in the summer for £30m, will miss the crunch game at Manchester United on January 15, when he will be lining up against Tunisia. Also absent from the Liverpool side will be Cameroon defender Joel Matip, who has been a sensation since signing from Schalke and kept Zlatan Ibrahimović quiet when the two sides met at Anfield recently.
With the Reds making a strong challenge for the title again, Jürgen Klopp will not be pleased to lose two key players for up to six weeks, depending on how far their countries progress. The quarter-finals are on January 28 and 29, the semi-finals take place on the first two days of February, and the final is February 5.
The big surprise is that Nigeria failed to qualify for the second time running, to the relief of Antonio Conte, Arsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola, who would have lost players of the quality of Victor Moses, Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho.
But United could also be without the man who has helped stiffen their defence. Eric Bailly, signed from Villareal for £30m will be called up for defending champions Ivory Coast, who beat Ghana on penalties in the 2015 final.
Also among the favourites will be Democratic Republic of Congo, who will again call on Everton’s Yannick Bolasie and top scorer Dieumerci Mbokani, who moved from Norwich to Hull City in the summer.
The big surprise is that Nigeria failed to qualify for the second time running, to the relief of Antonio Conte, Arsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola, who would have lost players of the quality of Victor Moses, Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho.
AFCON tournament dates:
Group stages: January 14-25; quarter-finals: Jan 28-29; semi-finals: Feb 1-2; final: February 5
Competing teams: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, DR Congo, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Morocco, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zimbabwe.