The Confederation of African football, CAF has urged football leading body, UEFA to take action over Napoli’s President, Aurelio De Laurentis demeaning rant on Afcon.
De Laurentiis revealed that he will no longer sign African players unless they sign an exception not to participate in Afcon games owing to the fact that the competition clashes with the crucial parts of the club season.
He lamented about having to pay huge salaries to these players while they are on duty for their countries although he admitted his love for African players.
In response to this, CAF released an official statement which read; CAF is appalled by the irresponsible and unacceptable remarks made by Napoli President, Mr. Aurelio De Laurentiis on African players and the Africa Cup of Nations.
“By publicly declaring that players who sign for Napoli must sign a waiver denouncing participation in the Africa Cup of Nations as a condition of employment, De Laurentiis’ comments [are] likely to fall under Article 14 of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulation. CAF, therefore, urges UEFA to initiate a disciplinary investigation against him.”
His actions are being questioned to know if he will melt out the same treatment to non- African players, he isn’t the only one to be found guilty of such demeaning comments, Klopp tagged the tournament’s little tournament.
“Are we to assume that the chairman of Napoli is going to include similar restrictive conditions to players from South America, Asia, and other confederations prohibiting them from playing in their continental competitions which are important for the development and growth of football globally?” the statement continued.
“CAF is committed to the role that football plays in Africa, Europe, North and South America, Asia and globally of bringing together and uniting people of different cultures, language groups, races, ethnic groups, and religious backgrounds,” it said.
“The African Cup of Nations is the flagship competition of the African continent and one of the leading global football competitions. Its last edition in Cameroon was shown in more than 160 countries and attracted more than 600 million viewers.”
Afcon takes place every two years and runs for a month from January midway through the season of Europe’s elite leagues.
The 2021 tournament was played this year due to the pandemic which prevented it from happening the previous year so there will be back-to-back tournaments with the 2023 edition coming next January.
