African celebrities in both football and music do not support the FIFA president’s idea of playing the African Cup of Nations (CAN) every four years instead of every two years.
CAN after every 4 years? It’s “archival“! The muscular reaction is from the Congolese song star, Fally Ipupa who was the guest, this Tuesday February 11, 2020, of RFI. He was commenting with listeners on the program “Appel sur l’actualité” hosted by Juan Gomez whose subject was precisely the idea of playing CAN or not after 4 years.
On February 1, 2020, in Salé, Morocco, during a seminar on the development of competitions and infrastructures in Africa, Gianni Infantino called on CAF to reflect on the frequency of the CAN that he wanted to see play after 4 years. A proposal that does not pass among the majority of Africans. It even continues to make much talk on the continent…For Fally Ipupa, Africans watch the CAN every two years. We must not break this habit there.
About the sports infrastructure which does not allow the majority of African countries to hold this African mass every two years. Fally Ipupa thinks that not everyone can organize this competition. “We can choose countries that are ready,” he says. Giving the example of Belgium which, according to him, never organized the World Cup. So, not all countries can organize the CAN if they are not ready, he insisted.
Apart from Fally Ipupa who refused the idea, journalist Juan Gomez also revealed that the former Cameroonian international, Samuel Eto’o, who is nevertheless close to the president of FIFA, does not approve the proposal. Even less the former Senegalese international and current consultant at Canal +, Habib Bèye. The two rejected this idea during the program “The African debate” by Alain Foka which will be broadcast exclusively on Sunday, also on RFI.
But this debate on the frequency of CAN is not new. Already with the arrival of the Madagascan Ahmad Ahmad at the head of the African Football Confederation (CAF), the shift in competition had left the months of January-February to June-July, a reform that put the majority of Africans d ‘agreement, given the travel problems that the majority of African internationals playing in the European championships were experiencing. But to make the CAN go from two to four years apart, that, obviously not!
In fact, the former Langa de la Teranga right-back was categorical in 2017. “The Can is an exceptional competition for African football. It is better to organize it every two years instead of four years. This, even if many African players playing in Europe are under enormous pressure from their employer clubs in each phase …
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