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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
CAF president Patrice Motsepe faces the biggest test of his leadership shrewdness following a massive pressure from European clubs to postpone the upcoming African Nations Cup finals set to roar into life in Cameroon next month.

There has been incessant yet extremely shocking pressure from the European Club Association (ECA), a board that claims it represents more than 230 football clubs in Europe, to cancel the 33rd edition of the Afcon finals due to what they claim is the rapid spreading of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

The ECA executive board led by chairman and the president of Paris Saint-Germain Nasser Al-Khelaifi met in Paris, France on December 2 and later released a list of what they discussed where they also expressed their deep concerns around player safety and welfare ahead of the African Nations Cup and upcoming international windows in early 2022, particularly in light of the worsening public health situation and the severe challenges faced during recent international windows.

“The Board agreed to engage urgently with Fifa to ensure all necessary precautions are in place to protect players and club interests as the health situation continues to deteriorate at an alarming rate.”

According to the usually reliable French media outlet RMCsport, the ECA wrote an email to Fifa last Friday advising that in the absence of a suitable medical and operational protocol for Afcon, its clubs will not release their players.

“To our knowledge Caf has not yet made public a suitable medical and operational protocol for Afcon tournament, in the absence of which the clubs will not be able to release their players for the tournament,” read part of the email according to the French media outlet.

All this is naturally meant to cow Caf into submission and eventually force a cancellation of the tournament because if it goes ahead it will naturally lose its appeal in the absence of Europe-based stars like Sadio Mane, Mohammed Salah, Marvelous Nakamba, Marshal Munetsi, Pierre Aubameyang among a host of stars.

Motsepe must therefore stand firm and refuse to be shoved around by these European clubs, whose stance smells of racism and blatant undermining of the African tournament.

The European Championships as well as the Copa America were held under the same Covid-19 environment but there was no such misplaced and completely foolish outcries. As we speak the Arab Cup is ongoing in Qatar and we are right in the midst of the Omicron variant, why an African tournament? Infact the Arab Cup started four days after the outbreak of the variant.

Africa still remembers Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp’s infamous words, “a little tournament in Africa,” in reference to the continent’s flagship football tournament.

The world is now a global village and when Fifa elections come, Africa has 54 votes, just one less than Uefa but crucially, those 54 African votes can decide who wins or losses the race for the Fifa presidency and the next elections are just two years away.

Africa is for Africans and its affairs is decided by its people and not those who are only after its resources.

It is therefore an insult to the African population for the European clubs to make noise in the pretext that  Caf has not yet made public a suitable medical and operational protocol for Afcon tournament. ECA is just a pressure group of football clubs which is not even recognized by Fifa structures. Caf reports to its members and it is these members who must be kept update on safety measures that have been put in place.

The 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations set for Cameroon must and should go ahead and if it is to be cancelled, it must be simply because the host country and organisers of the tournament have declared a major disaster and failure to provide the necessary safety protocols, not because of these European clubs’ selfish and greedy reasons.