Football: Afcon 2019: Changes to Afcon provides boost to Seychelles’ qualifying chances |10 August 2017

Despite losing their first game of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers, Seychelles chances of qualifying have been given a boost as the tournament’s final will now feature 24 teams compared to 16 as was the case previously and also the finals will now also take place in June and July rather than in January and February.

The changes were rubber-stamped by the Confederation of African Football (Caf) executive committee in a meeting in the Moroccan capital Rabat recently.

Africa's flagship sporting event had featured 16 teams since 1996. The expansion of the tournament could create problems for Cameroon, who will host the next finals, with the Central African nation's sports minister having to deny reports that preparations were behind schedule.

The competition will continue to be held every two years, in Africa and only with African countries. Caf was considering whether to allow countries from other continents to compete ‒ or even host the tournament.

The announcements follow a two-day symposium organised by Caf president Ahmad to discuss the state of African football.

Seychelles are drawn in group E of the qualifiers along with Nigeria, South Africa and leaders Libya. In fact, in the first match of the qualifiers, Seychelles lost 1-5 to Libya on neutral ground in Egypt. South Africa are second after their 2-0 win over Nigeria.

Currently ranked 194th in the latest Fifa world ranking, Seychelles will play their next group match in March when they will face 39th placed Nigeria at Stad Linite. It should be noted that Seychelles are still winless since Rodney Choisy took over as head coach and he will be hoping the team can get some practice games in order to bring some confidence back into the team.

The new format will now mean that all group winners and runners-up qualify for the tournament, rather than only the group winners and best second-place finishers, as was the case in previous years.

A “summer” Afcon presents a major problem given the prevalent rainy weather conditions in many parts of the continent. For example, the rainy season in Cameroon, hosts of the 2019 Afcon, is “most intense” between June and October. For Guinea, hosts of the 2023 event, the monsoon season also lasts from June to October.

However, European clubs are likely to be pleased by the change of timing with many usually caught up in rows with African national teams over player call-ups for Afcon in January. This is when all top European club soccer seasons are in full flow. Clubs have often complained about losing players, some on multi-million-dollar contracts, for up to six weeks.

In the past, national teams have won that battle by citing Fifa regulations which mandate the clubs to release any invited players, but more recently, the dynamic has changed with players now refusing national team call-ups for Afcon due to fears over losing their place at their clubs.

Earlier this year, several players turned down their national teams’ invitation, choosing instead to remain with their clubs. In the past, European clubs have refused to sign African stars citing the possibility of losing them to Afcon but already some soccer agents already claim that the summer switch will see increased patronage of Africans by European clubs. Given the adverse weather, many Africans are likely to view this shift in timing as Caf simply bowing to pressure from wealthy European soccer clubs rather than as a move that’s best for the continent’s game.