The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has stirred controversy by excluding Algeria from a gathering of previous African Cup of Nations (AFCON) champions.
CAF invited 10 leaders who had previously won AFCON titles, alongside Ghana’s Abedi Pele as a special guest, to a meeting scheduled for today, Saturday, on the eve of the anticipated final between host country Ivory Coast and Nigeria.
The African governing body clarified that this event, set to take place after the pre-final press conference, aims to create a unique atmosphere for the media ahead of the final.
A la veille de la finale de la Coupe d’Afrique des Nations TotalEnergies Côte d’Ivoire 2023, la CAF organisera une table ronde avec des capitaines vainqueurs de la CAN ce samedi 10 février 2024.https://t.co/1qM3cyRTPw
— CAF Media (@CAF_Media) February 10, 2024
Notably, the CAF’s snub of Algeria’s 1990 AFCON-winning captain Rabah Madjer and Riyad Mahrez, the captain during the 2019 triumph, has raised eyebrows.
It’s worth mentioning that CAF, which began summoning AFCON-winning captains starting from the 1988 edition, skipped five consecutive editions between 2000 and 2010.
This decision was made because it had previously invited captains from earlier tournaments (2000 and 2002 Cameroon, 2006-2008-2010 Egypt).
The list of captains invited to the meeting convened by CAF is as follows:
1988: Roger Milla (Cameroon)
1992: Djadjie Seli (Ivory Coast)
1994: Kanu Nwankwo (Nigeria)
1996: Neil Tovey (South Africa) and Lucas Radebe (South Africa)
1998: Hossam Hassan (Egypt)
2004: Riadh Bouazizi (Tunisia)
2012: Christopher Katongo (Zambia)
2013: Joseph Yobo (Nigeria)
2017: Benjamin Moukandjo (Cameroon)
Special Guest: Abedi Pele (Ghana)
The decision to exclude Algeria, despite its significant contributions to African football history, has raised questions about the criteria used by CAF in selecting attendees for such events, stirring debates among football enthusiasts across the continent.
