Jamie Carragher’s AFCON comments reflect a wider issue of disrespect towards the tournament

The Africa Cup of Nations must be the most disrespected competition in football.

Too many people think it is an inconvenient mid-season distraction for their club’s African stars. Why should they bother trying to win a trophy with their own country when FA Cup or Premier League glory is on the line?

Jamie Carragher’s remarks on Sunday evening after Egypt’s Mohamed Salah scored for Liverpool in a 2-0 victory over Manchester City were disappointing in that context but not hugely surprising. Carragher was talking on Sky Sports about Salah’s chances of winning the Ballon d’Or when he dismissed AFCON’s credentials as a “major tournament”. Carragher did not admit any error when corrected by fellow panellists Micah Richards and Daniel Sturridge, instead responding by saying, “Oh my God” and making a face towards the camera. He looked like a child who had been scolded by his teacher but was still refusing to take any blame.

The former Liverpool centre-back tried to explain his rationale on social media on Monday evening. In posts on X, Carragher said: “Salah is at a disadvantage playing for Egypt in terms of him winning the Ballon d’Or” because “I don’t think AFCON carries the weight of other tournaments” and “it’s not disrespectful if I feel the (World Cup, European Championship and Copa America) are better tournaments it’s just my opinion when I watch them”.

He added: “Saying it wasn’t a major competition was clumsy but I think most people watching could understand the point I was trying to make. The face I pulled when Micah interjected was nothing to do with the merits of the tournament, I just knew as soon as he did what the reaction was going to be! I get a lot people didn’t like what I said and that’s fine.”

The 47-year-old’s comments do, though, damage the reputation of a tournament that lots of people already view as an easy target. If its quality is so low, why has Salah never won it?

Sadio Mane finished second behind Karim Benzema in the voting for the 2022 Ballon d’Or. Mane scored 23 times in all competitions for Liverpool that season as they won the FA Cup and Carabao Cup under Jurgen Klopp. It is a decent return but hardly spectacular.

Maybe the forward’s displays for Senegal, who won AFCON for the first time that year, had a bigger impact on the people who voted. Mane was directly involved in five goals during the tournament, including scoring and setting up Bamba Dieng in a 3-1 victory over Burkina Faso in the semi-finals, and converted the winning penalty in the final against Salah’s Egypt.

It is too easy to criticise the quality of African football without actually experiencing it. Some people assume the tournament is dominated by countries whose best players are in the top five European leagues.

If that was the case, then surely Ivory Coast would have won on multiple occasions when they had a squad which included Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure, Kolo Toure, Salomon Kalou and Wilfried Bony? Ivory Coast’s golden generation lost the 2012 final on penalties to Zambia and only won it once, in 2015, after the former Chelsea and Marseille striker Drogba had retired from international duty.

Ahead of the 2023 edition, which was held in Ivory Coast at the beginning of 2024, it was widely assumed Morocco would win after their historic run at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, in which they became the first African side to reach the semi-finals. Morocco’s squad included Paris Saint-Germain full-back Achraf Hakimi and then-Manchester United midfielder Sofyan Amrabat. They finished top of their group before they were eliminated by South Africa in the round of 16. The majority of South Africa’s squad played football domestically.

Algeria, who were seen as Morocco’s biggest rivals along with Senegal, did not win a game and finished bottom of Group D. Champions Senegal were knocked out by Ivory Coast, who had only qualified for the round of 16 as one of the best third-placed teams.

AFCON is an unpredictable and difficult competition to win and is always filled with drama. Last year’s edition featured one of the most remarkable comeback stories in recent sporting history as Sebastien Haller scored Ivory Coast’s winning goal in the final against Nigeria 18 months after being diagnosed with and receiving treatment for a testicular tumour.

Ivory Coast won despite sacking their manager Jean-Louis Gasset after the group stages and they were led to glory by interim head coach Emerse Fae.

Sebastien Haller scored the winner as Ivory Coast won AFCON in 2024 (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)

Carragher should know that AFCON holds significant importance to Salah. Egypt have won it a record seven times, including three tournaments in a row between 2006 and 2010. Their squad contained a couple of players with Premier League experience, including Ahmed Elmohamady and Hossam Ghaly but, crucially, not Salah, who did not earn his first senior international cap until September 2011.

It is vital for the 32-year-old’s legacy in his own country that he wins AFCON at least once before he retires. Why do you think, after suffering a hamstring injury in the group stages of last year’s tournament, he planned on returning to Liverpool to complete his rehabilitation before flying back to Ivory Coast if Egypt progressed further in the competition? He was, and is, desperate for success with Egypt. He would have done it by now if it was so easy.

Some people use the timing of the tournament — it is normally held in January in the middle of the domestic season for most European leagues — as a reason to criticise it. In an interview with Wall Street Italia in August 2022, Napoli’s owner, Aurelio De Laurentiis, said: “Guys, don’t talk to me about the Africans anymore. I love them, but either they sign a waiver and pull out of playing in the AFCON, otherwise, between the AFCON and the Copa America (players), they are never available. We are the suckers who pay their wages.”

The late Sol Bamba told The Athletic in 2024 that clubs “will try to pressure you” to miss games and, on occasion, he was forced to report late for international duty. “What most clubs and managers don’t understand is what it means to us and until they do, it’s going to be a problem,” he said. “They don’t see it as important. When I was growing up, there weren’t a lot of African teams in the World Cup, so I couldn’t connect with it. It was all about AFCON. I would miss school to watch the games.”

The first edition of AFCON was held in 1957 in Sudan across a single week in February. Why should African football change its traditions to accommodate the needs of European football?

The answer, of course, is that they should not have to. At a 2017 Confederation of African Football (CAF) meeting, a decision was taken to switch the tournament to the middle of the year to avoid any clashes. But harsh weather conditions made this difficult, which is why Cameroon and Ivory Coast, the 2021 and 2023 hosts respectively, reverted back to the original time of year.

The next edition is being held in December of this year and will run into January 2026 — but FIFA is partially responsible for that mess. Morocco publicly expressed their desire to host it this summer but it was pushed back to accommodate the first edition of FIFA’s Club World Cup.

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“The announcement of the dates of the CAF TotalEnergies AFCON Morocco 2025 took much longer than expected, as there were complex and at times challenging discussions with various interested parties, in the light of the extensive international and domestic match calendars,” said CAF president Dr Patrice Motsepe in June 2024.

“CAF is committed to protecting and advancing the interests of African players, playing in football clubs in Europe and worldwide. CAF is also committed to building mutually beneficial relationships with the ECA, UEFA, other football confederations and FIFA.

“We will continue to make significant progress in developing and ensuring that African football is globally competitive and amongst the best in the world.”

But if FIFA is appearing to give priority to a competition that is struggling to attract sponsors and generate ticket sales over a tournament which has been running for nearly 70 years, it is no wonder some people dismiss its importance. The prize money for the winners of the competition has significantly increased in recent years, but FIFA should still do a lot more to promote AFCON and recognise its cultural significance.

African football has its own unique culture and taps into a different rhythm to European football. The fans sing and dance in the crowds but that does not prevent them from producing fiery atmospheres. When Ivory Coast beat Senegal in the round of 16 at last year’s tournament, Senegal fans were wearing lion masks, letting off red flares and chanting throughout. Guinea fans passionately sing that “the elephant is coming”.

I watched Ivory Coast beat Mali in extra time in the quarter-finals in a bar in the country’s economic capital Abidjan, a game that drew huge interest. A couple of on-duty police officers even snuck in for a drink, while afterwards, worshippers at a nearby mosque spilt into the streets to join the celebration. AFCON is an incredible carnival that unites people. Try telling any of those supporters that it is not a major tournament.

Sebastien Bassong told The Athletic last year about how people need to be “educated” on the importance of AFCON. “The world is evolving and Africa is moving forward,” the former Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur defender said. “People need to respect AFCON and understand it is not the same as the Euros or the World Cup.

“What makes AFCON special is the environment and the party atmosphere. When you gather all the African teams together, there’s rivalry, camaraderie and friendship. That’s what people don’t want to miss. We have got to show people the beauty of the African game.”

It is time that the rest of the world realised how special AFCON is and stopped disrespecting it.

(Top photos: Getty Images)