Africa Cup and the great impact on the major leagues in Europe: exodus of more than 100 players for almost a month

The COVID-19 pandemic He has altered many plans in the world of football. This has been reflected in several competitions of the beautiful game in the last two years. Unfortunately, the global health crisis persists and the impact remains the same. This time, the Africa Cup 2022, which should have been played in June 2021, will be played in the first month of this year, which will greatly affect the major leagues in Europe.

The uncertainty remained until the end. The constant increase in cases of the Omicron variant in the world, especially in the African continent, put the continental competition of the CAF at risk. It was even considered to cancel the tournament, but finally it was decided to go ahead.

In fact, There are a total of 130 African players from the five major leagues in Europe who will have to leave their clubs -in four or five league dates- in order to represent their country in the continental tournament. Even during this period, local competition matches such as the FA Cup, Copa del Rey, DFB Pokal, among others, are also scheduled.

In any case, it is a catastrophe in the Old Continent.

Ligue 1 (France)

As already mentioned, the League 1 It is the most affected league competition in Europe. But that is not all. The great relationship between France and the African continent has not only caused 55 players to be short in the First Division. .

The situation is dramatic. The only club that will not lose a footballer is Lille, which has Cheikh Niasse in its ranks, but was not called up by Senegal.

Following that line, the most affected team in the French league is Metz, which will lose seven members of its squad to the 2022 Africa Cup at a very difficult time in the French league (it is the third to last in the tournament). They are followed by Nantes (8th) and Saint-Étienne (20th) with five casualties each.

As for PSG, the undisputed leader of the tournament, it will suffer from the absence of three important players: However, with its roster of stars, the Parisian team could calmly deal with the absence of the three African players.

Premier League (Inglaterra)

The Premier League has many African stars in various clubs. .

Arsenal, Watford and Leicester City are the most affected teams in the Premier, losing four players from their squad each. On the contrary, precisely, the last two teams mentioned are struggling to escape from the relegation zone, so they will benefit from the fact that they have no casualties this month.

Of course, in Liverpool there is concern. The ‘Reds’ will lose three hierarchy and fundamental players to fight among the top positions in the English league. .

As for the other two teams fighting at the top of the table, Manchester City will only lose Riyad Mahrez and Chelsea will suffer the same with goalkeeper Édouard Mendy. The aforementioned losses can transcend into the next results, so many things can change.

Serie A (Italy)

Up to 14 clubs in the Italian league will lose at least one African player this month. The only ones who are saved are Inter Milan, Juventus, Atalanta, Empoli, Genoa and Udinese.

As for the other teams, those most affected by the African Cup are none other than Napoli and AC Milan, who have an interesting fight with Inter Milan and Atalanta for the leadership of Serie A..

Franck Kessié (Ivory Coast) and Ismael Bennacer (Algeria), two pillars of the Milan midfielder, added to Fodé Ballo-Touré (Senegal), are absent from the ‘Rossoneri’ this month in the Italian league. On the other hand, Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal), André Zambo Anguissa (Cameroon) and Adam Ounas (Algeria) are the casualties of Napoli.

Bundesliga (Germany)

The fourth most affected domestic competition is the Bundesliga. , so they will miss some important dates with their clubs.

For the Bavarian team, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (Cameroon) and Bouna Sarr (Senegal) will be absent, but the important thing is that there is support in the squad to fill the void, in addition to that those led by Julian Nagelsmann are very entrenched in the first place.

Meanwhile, Leverkusen will suffer the losses of Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso) and Odilon Kossounou (Ivory Coast). While Leipzig will not be able to count on Amadou Haidara (Mali) and Ilaix Moriba (Guinea), who has had very few minutes in the team.

The rest of the affected clubs only have a drop in their squad, but for Union Berlin and FC Köln they are very important. In the case of the Berlin team, Taiwo Awoniyi (Nigeria) He is the team’s top scorer and the absence of his goals can mean a hard blow for his team. As for the goats team, the playmaker Ellyes Skhiri (Tunisia) He is fundamental in the scheme, being the second top scorer for the club this season, so he will leave a big void these days.

LaLiga Santander (Spain)

By last, La Liga Santander it is the least affected of the big five in Europe. Neither Real Madrid nor Barcelona will be affected this time.

Aïssa Mandi (Algeria), Boulaye Dia (Senegal), Serge Aurier (Ivory Coast), Samuel Chukwueze (Nigeria) are the players who will not be available at this time for the ‘Yellow Submarine’.

It is followed by Sevilla, who will lose three players to the Africa Cup.

Another team that will be seriously affected is the Alaves, that not only will suffer the loss of Mamadou Loum (Senegal). It happens that before the call of the youth goalkeeper Jesús Owono (Equatorial Guinea), who was a starter in the last match against Real Sociedad), The ‘Babazorros’ would be left without a guard in the goal these days, since Fernando Pacheco and Antonio Sivera, goalkeepers of the first team, tested positive for COVID-19 a few days ago.

It should be noted that the Barcelona he also planned an absence from his campus. .