It seems like opinions on The African Cup of Nations will vary depending on who you talk to. It often produces some great games and you can see some unknown names burst onto the scene, but it has it’s downsides.
Fans of any clubs who are heavily reliant on African stars will probably be unhappy that their best players can be gone for a month, while the empty stadiums usually show the tournament in a bad light.
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Despite all of that there’s nothing better than seeing a player do great things and bring glory for their country. The scheduling for the 2021 tournament has just been announced, and it could pose a serious problem for Liverpool:
Confirmed – the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations will take place in January and February next year.
That means it’ll be in the middle of the Premier League season.
It means Salah, Mane, Aubameyang, Zaha, Ndidi, Mahrez etc could miss up to 6 Premier League games next season.
— John Bennett (@JohnBennettBBC) January 15, 2020
In all honesty they probably would’ve survived that this season, the league is sewn up and it turns out they could beat Everton in The FA Cup using a youth team, so the impact wouldn’t be as big.
You have to think that their form might tail off a bit next year and the bigger clubs might get their act together, so losing Mo Salah and Sadio Mane for up to six matches could be a huge blow.
There’s also the travelling and possible recovery after the tournament to take into account, so that could have a big impact on the outcome of the league next season.