English Premier League club Sunderland stands to lose as many as seven players to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. (Photo: Alex Livesey / Getty Images) 
It’s the same story every two years, when the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) takes place. European club owners are frustrated with the reality of losing some of their most influential African players for a month. And amid their frustration, some undermine the prestige of the biennial continental showpiece.
In a 2022 interview with Wall Street Italia, Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis publicly expressed his disdain for Afcon, saying he would no longer be signing any African players unless they put it in their contracts that they would not represent their countries at the tournament.
“Enough of African players. Or they should give up playing in the Africa Cup of Nations. I won’t be buying them anymore for this reason,” De Laurentiis said. “We pay the salaries to send them around to play elsewhere in the middle of the league championship.”
“I love them. But they should sign something confirming they’ll back out of playing the Africa Cup of Nations. Otherwise, between that tournament and the World Cup qualifiers in South America, these players are never available,” the film producer added.
/file/attachments/orphans/2249579456_979768.jpg "Napoli’s Aurelio De Laurentiis during the Gran Gala’ Del Calcio Aic in Milan on 1 December 2025. (Photo: Image Photo Agency / Getty Images)")
As expected, De Laurentiis’s remarks sparked a widespread backlash. Former Napoli defender and captain Kalidou Koulibaly said his stance was disrespectful to African countries.
The Confederation of African Football (Caf), the custodian of African soccer, also hit back hard at De Laurentiis, saying it was “appalled by the irresponsible and unacceptable remarks” by the club boss.
Same old story
Yet, as players prepare to join their countries in Morocco for the 2025 Afcon, there are certainly other club bosses who feel the same way as De Laurentiis. They just wouldn’t express those feelings as openly and bluntly as the Napoli president did.
While De Laurentiis’s words were harsh and showed a lack of tact, his frustration is not unwarranted. Losing some of your best players, under any circumstances, is not ideal. It can be disruptive from a momentum perspective. And players might return from Afcon with long-term injuries.
However, it’s important to consider Afcon’s history. It was conceptualised as a result of Africa’s initial exclusion from the Fifa World Cup. Because they weren’t guaranteed a slot at the global showpiece, Africans needed their own national team tournament to advance the continent’s soccer landscape – on and off the field.
To avoid clashes with other major global tournaments, which would dilute the impact of the tournament, Afcon has historically taken place in January/February – to the irritation of Europe’s top clubs.
Having already made a resolution to switch the hosting of the tournament from even years to odd (to avoid clashes with the World Cup and the Euros), another major decision was taken in 2017, for subsequent editions to be hosted in June/July, when European club soccer is on a hiatus.
Nevertheless, disruptions such as Covid-19, torrential rain or extreme heat meant Caf has not stuck to the revised schedule. It was only during the Egypt-hosted 2019 tournament that the June/July resolution could be observed.
Player release date shift
The 2025 edition in Morocco too was scheduled for June/July, but the expanded Fifa Club World Cup held at the same time meant Caf once again had to scramble to find a slot for its marquee tournament.
To the vexation of a number of countries, Fifa announced that teams could now keep their Afcon-bound players for an extra week.
Soccer’s global governing body said it came to the decision after consulting with “a number of key stakeholders”, including Caf. Initially, the date for the release of players was 8 December, since Afcon kicks off on 21 December.
/file/attachments/orphans/2220636370_703819.jpg "Fifa vice-president Patrice Motsepe and president Gianni Infantino before a Club World Cup group F match between Ulsan HD and Mamelodi Sundowns in Orlando, Florida, on 17 June 2025. (Photo: Dan Mullan / Getty Images)")
The original date would have given participating nations ample preparation time. Now, with just a week of pre-tournament preparation, the technical teams will have to work extra hard to create synergy within their respective teams before their first matches. These take place in a fortnight.
“What most clubs and managers don’t understand is what it means to us. Until they do, it’s going to be a problem. They don’t see it as important. When I was growing up, there weren’t a lot of African teams in the World Cup so I couldn’t connect with it. It was all about Afcon,” former Ivory Coast defender Sol Bamba told The Athletic.
From a South African perspective, Bafana Bafana mostly comprises locally based players, so Hugo Broos does not have to stress too much about the synergy of his players.
In fact, the bulk of his squad is already in camp. Only someone such as England-based striker Lyle Foster will be affected by the biennial tug-of-war between club and country.
However, for a number of high-profile Afcon contenders (such as hosts Morocco) it’s a waiting game. DM