No club can prevent me from playing AFCON, says Emmanuel Adebayor
21 days more to the start of AFCON 2021
Cameroon and Burkina Faso to get AFCON 2021 underway
Former Togo captain Emmanuel Adebayor has despised European clubs for refusing to release African players to honour the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in January 2022.
According to the former Arsenal and Real Madrid striker, no club can prevent him from representing his country at Africa’s biggest showpiece.
His comment is in reaction to European Clubs Association’s (ECA) release on 10, December 2021, which stated that its members are not bound by any rule to release their players for AFCON.
Adebayor reacting to the release said the posture taken by the clubs is disgusting.
“There’s no coach in this world that will prevent me from playing at the AFCON. It is disgusting that some persons are trying to prevent African players from playing at the AFCON” he said quoted by BBCsports contributor, Njie Enow.
Part of the ECA release reads: “As you know, the pandemic and its associated implications raise three fundamental concerns for clubs when it comes to the release of players to national teams: first and foremost, the clubs’ duty to ensure each and every player’s wellbeing is properly protected; second, that clubs are not forced to be without players for club competition matches; third, that all players resume their activities with their clubs following national duty in a timely fashion, as per the applicable rules.”
Despite the controversies, the AFCON is set to start with Cameroon and Burkina Faso getting the 36th edition underway on January 9.