Blatter wants Cup of Nations move

[kyan]

Blatter wants Cup of Nations move

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has told the BBC that the timing of the Africa Cup of Nations must be changed.

Blatter said that by 2016, the biennial tournament must be held in June and July like other major tournaments.

Earlier this week, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) insisted that the competition will continue to kick off in January.

There have been frequent complaints from European clubs who lose key players to the tournament.

"This is a tradition, but one should have now the courage to go into the international calendar and see if it's not possible to deal with it," said Blatter.

"We put a target for 2016 that by that time the international calendar must be definitely in accordance with the interests of everybody."

Around 40 African players in the English Premier League will be in Ghana for the Nations Cup.

Caf has maintained that the June weather in much of Africa is not ideal for football.

There would also be the problem of a clash with the World Cup every four years, but Blatter suggested that the Nations Cup could be moved to odd years.

BBC SPORT | Football | Africa Cup of Nations | Blatter wants Cup of Nations move

What are your views on this?

I don't think the time should be changed. Aren't most African countries going to be too hot for it to be humane to play football at the top level in the summer? I know South Africa are hosting the next World Cup but they're a bit further away from the equator...

And also it isn't really fair for the Africans to be forced to adhere to the European structure just because the money's in Europe. Everyone knows that African players leave their clubs once every 2 Januarys, the managers know that when they sign them, it's always going to dent a team when players like Drogba or Eto'o leaves u for a month, but teams should be able to cope.

[Dellas]

Originally Posted by kyan

BBC SPORT | Football | Africa Cup of Nations | Blatter wants Cup of Nations move

What are your views on this?

I don't think the time should be changed. Aren't most African countries going to be too hot for it to be humane to play football at the top level in the summer? I know South Africa are hosting the next World Cup but they're a bit further away from the equator...

And also it isn't really fair for the Africans to be forced to adhere to the European structure just because the money's in Europe. Everyone knows that African players leave their clubs once every 2 Januarys, the managers know that when they sign them, it's always going to dent a team when players like Drogba or Eto'o leaves u for a month, but teams should be able to cope.

I personally think that it should be changed... Kyan I think that if you had as many African players as Chelsea and Portsmouth have then you would understand what it feels like to see those players leave and not have the same level replacements.

However I don't want the ACN to be forced to change its timing, I would prefer it chose by itself to change the time when the cup takes place.

If the ACN cannot be moved then the teams shouldn't expect their players to be there 10 days before the actual competition... I personally think the players should go with about 4 days to spare. This year Nigeria and Cameroon (all that i know) allowed their players to stay with their clubs and play an extra game before going. Why do the other countries refuse to let this happen it is imo not fair...and I know for a fact that wenger has got in a fair few fights with the Ivory Coast because they want their players as soon as possible. Yes they will train together but still 10 days...is 5/4 not enough.

[kyan]

Originally Posted by Dellas

I personally think that it should be changed... Kyan I think that if you had as many African players as Chelsea and Portsmouth have then you would understand what it feels like to see those players leave and not have the same level replacements.

who gives a damn what it feels like for Chelsea or Pompey, nobody's put a gun to their heads and forced them to buy truckloads of African talent, and even if they have, they knew that they'd have this problem once every 2 years, so it's their own problem caused by themselves. The squads should be strong enough to cope with 3 or 4 players leaving especially when u know years in advance that this is likely to be happening.

However I don't want the ACN to be forced to change its timing, I would prefer it chose by itself to change the time when the cup takes place.

Tough, u can't have it both ways, stop trying to be PC and just make an opinion one one side or the other.

If the ACN cannot be moved then the teams shouldn't expect their players to be there 10 days before the actual competition... I personally think the players should go with about 4 days to spare. This year Nigeria and Cameroon (all that i know) allowed their players to stay with their clubs and play an extra game before going. Why do the other countries refuse to let this happen it is imo not fair...and I know for a fact that wenger has got in a fair few fights with the Ivory Coast because they want their players as soon as possible. Yes they will train together but still 10 days...is 5/4 not enough.

no, 4 or 5 days isn't enough for a team to get used to playing with players they haven't played with for months or to learn the way a coach wants them to play. 10 days is barely enough, how come it took Drogba 2 years to settle in England, wouldn't 5 days have been enough? The situations are different yes, but these players don't play with each other all that often.

And who gives a fuck if Wenger throws a hissy-fit, who's he to say the Premiership takes priority over the players' countries' ambitions?

[Sven]

who gives a fuck .. nice, obviously most people involved will give a fuck.

I have two opinions .

1. Want it changed so my team doesn't lose world class players.

2. I like having a tourniment to watch in Jan/febuary every 2 years.

Either it gets moved to June/ July.

or it's every 3/4 years like the other tourniments. Or keep it the same, it's not like it's gonna make an impact in the next 5 years anyway, Copa america smarten up making it every 4 years now instead of 3, maybe they should look into some change, it couldn't hurt.

[kyan]

No, actually most people wouldn't bother listening to most of Wenger's whining so most people wouldn't give a toss what he says or does about it, he's got no authority on the matter.

[Dellas]

Originally Posted by kyan

who gives a damn what it feels like for Chelsea or Pompey, nobody's put a gun to their heads and forced them to buy truckloads of African talent, and even if they have, they knew that they'd have this problem once every 2 years, so it's their own problem caused by themselves. The squads should be strong enough to cope with 3 or 4 players leaving especially when u know years in advance that this is likely to be happening.

no, 4 or 5 days isn't enough for a team to get used to playing with players they haven't played with for months or to learn the way a coach wants them to play. 10 days is barely enough, how come it took Drogba 2 years to settle in England, wouldn't 5 days have been enough? The situations are different yes, but these players don't play with each other all that often.

You don't really care about the ACN because you don't have any African players, if you had any you would rather it would be changed.

Why is 5/4 days not enough? there is a massive difference between Drogba adapting to the EPL and him joining his nation again. In one case he has to play with completely new players and in the other he just has to remember the style they use and perhaps learn some new plays...When there are national team games (for example the qualifiers for a competition) how long are they given to train with their national team?

And who gives a fuck if Wenger throws a hissy-fit, who's he to say the Premiership takes priority over the players' countries' ambitions?

Well I do thats why i brought it up...I believe he has a point just because Nigeria let their players stay with their clubs for a bit longer doesn't mean they don't care about the cup as other teams do, they are just being courteous to the clubs which I think is how it should be.

Tough, u can't have it both ways, stop trying to be PC and just make an opinion one one side or the other.

Is it wrong to have two opinions on the matter....and btw I'm saying I want the cup timing to be changed but i don't want Europe to force them to change it....it just should be the African nations choice.

[kyan]

Originally Posted by Dellas

You don't really care about the ACN because you don't have any African players, if you had any you would rather it would be changed.

So what? You're acting as if you had no idea there was this thing called the African Cup of Nations every other January. Stop playing the victim, all clubs with African players KNOW that the ACN happens once every 2 years. Forgive me for not pitying anyone who didn't pay attention when they mentioned that...

Why is 5/4 days not enough? there is a massive difference between Drogba adapting to the EPL and him joining his nation again. In one case he has to play with completely new players and in the other he just has to remember the style they use and perhaps learn some new plays...When there are national team games (for example the qualifiers for a competition) how long are they given to train with their national team?

There isn't that much difference. Footballers evolve their style of play, and they play differently with their clubs and countries, for a player to learn to ignore how he plays with his club and start playing in a different role for his country in 5 days is difficult to say the least. Then you've also got to remember if the players are going to Africa with 4 days to a tournament then one of those days will be taken up by travelling, and it might take another day for them to get used to the different time zones etc. And the player has to adapt to his environment, I'm pretty sure the weather in Ghana is different to that in England atm for example.

Well I do thats why i brought it up...I believe he has a point just because Nigeria let their players stay with their clubs for a bit longer doesn't mean they don't care about the cup as other teams do, they are just being courteous to the clubs which I think is how it should be.

Yes, but who is Wenger to be talking about this? You're only interested in what he has to say because he has the same opinion as you. But even if he is a manager of a top club in England, he's got no authority to decide what African countries should do with their players. And why shouldn't the clubs be courteous to the countries?

Is it wrong to have two opinions on the matter....and btw I'm saying I want the cup timing to be changed but i don't want Europe to force them to change it....it just should be the African nations choice.

I know you're saying that but do you not realise how naive that sounds? If Africa does change the time it'll be because Europe has put pressure on it to change! Not out of choice, otherwise they've had plenty of tournaments held at this time of year and not wanted to change it...

[Dellas]

So what? You're acting as if you had no idea there was this thing called the African Cup of Nations every other January. Stop playing the victim, all clubs with African players KNOW that the ACN happens once every 2 years. Forgive me for not pitying anyone who didn't pay attention when they mentioned that...

I don't expect you to pity me as I wouldn't pity you if you lost some of your most influential players half way through the season.

And why shouldn't the clubs be courteous to the countries?

They are courteous, they let their players go with plenty of time before the competition starts, if the clubs wanted and could they would keep the players and let them go at the last minute...however this doesn't happen, the clubs respect the wishes of the countries. So why can't the countries help the clubs out a bit?

[Sven]

United do have a African player.

[kyan]

Originally Posted by Dellas

I don't expect you to pity me as I wouldn't pity you if you lost some of your most influential players half way through the season.

Right, so don't say things like "if you had any you would rather it would be changed" etc.

They are courteous, they let their players go with plenty of time before the competition starts, if the clubs wanted and could they would keep the players and let them go at the last minute...however this doesn't happen, the clubs respect the wishes of the countries. So why can't the countries help the clubs out a bit?

Because by ur reasoning, someone's got to be discourteous, either the clubs for taking the players earlier than they have to or the clubs for keeping the players longer than the nations would prefer....

And u do realise the clubs aren't being courteous anyway, they're only releasing the players at that time because of FIFA law...

I think the law is actually that players should be allowed to join up with their NTs at least 14 days before a major competition, and if that's true then the nations are already being more courteous than the clubs.

Originally Posted by Sven

United do have a African player.

Very good, we do have an African player who's never even trained with our squad but not sure of the point ur trying to make here... Maybe that gives my opinions more weight now!

[Podolski]

Originally Posted by Dellas

I don't expect you to pity me as I wouldn't pity you if you lost some of your most influential players half way through the season.

As kyan said earlier.. someone didn't put a gun to your head and force you to buy an African player. When you bought your african players, you took a risk and made a choice. 'Every 2 years this player could be absent from our club for a few months. He could be an influential player and when he leaves this could disadvantage us severely. Do we still want to buy this player?' and you answered
yes. Now, you're paying the price. Why should anyone pity you?

[Sven]

I think the point I was making was.

United do have a African player. don't think I could of been more clearer.

The 3rd in your history I believe.

[Dellas]

Originally Posted by kyan

Right, so don't say things like "if you had any you would rather it would be changed" etc.


Very good, we do have an African player who's never even trained with our squad but not sure of the point ur trying to make here... Maybe that gives my opinions more weight now!

Just because I don't expect to get pity from you doesn't mean I can't say that. What I'm trying to say is that if you had African players that were important to your first team you would take the same view as me and want the ACN to be moved to a more convenient time.

@ Podolski I never said that teams are forced to buy African players all I said is from my teams and my point of view the ACN should be moved to a more convenient time. And I never expected to get any pity, I'm just answering the question Kyan stated in the opening post of this thread.

Sven was just pointing out that you have an African player as I kind of implied that you didn't have one because he just came to you and he isn't a first team player so he really doesn't count imo.