Carragher, Barton’s Underrating of AFCON a Wake-up Call

A call has gone out to football enthusiasts in Africa to promote local competitions while taming their devotion to the premiership tournaments of countries and continents outside their own. This was the consensus of opinions on X in response to the unsettling suggestion by former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher that the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) is not a major tournament.  

While commenting on Liverpool’s recent 2-0 victory over Manchester City, Carragher insinuated that Salah’s nationality and Egypt’s international record could prevent his chances of claiming football’s most prestigious individual award – the Ballon d’Or.

His exact words: “I think the problem [is] the fact he’s with Egypt, and he’s probably not playing in the major tournament as such or maybe got a great chance of winning.

“I think it’s either the Champions League or the major tournament. Normally, the player who excels in that, like Vini Jr. and (Kylian) Mbappe right now, Real Madrid looking really good going for the Champions League.”

Even when fellow pundit and former Manchester City defender Micah Richards pushed back by insisting that “AFCON is a big tournament, just so you know,” Carragher doubled down on his view questioning whether Salah’s Egypt stand the chance of winning the World Cup. He was equally unyielding when former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand said on his podcast that Carragher's comment was "an ignorant thought process" and Afcon should be "respected more than it is". Responding on Ferdinand's Instagram account, Carragher called his former England team-mate a "clown" and suggested he was "playing to the gallery".

Righteous Indignation and Backlashing without Missing the Point

The former Liverpool defender has since come under intense criticism since airing his views with most insisting he apologises or be banned. Some of the reactions aren’t just flat-out condemnation of the pundit but point to what needs to be done to redeem the dignity of AFCON and shut up those looking down on the continental championship. Sportblot has curated some of the reactions, starting withformer Aston Villa and Egypt captain Ahmed Elmohamady who tweeted that: "Jamie Carragher doesn't know what major tournaments [are] because he never won one. Afcon is a major tournament. So proud to [have] won it twice." 

“Carragher will be forced to apologise, and rightfully so. But he isn't the only one who thinks of the AFCON in this way; he's just the one who voiced it out. This should make us Africans reflect on our zeal to boost and hype up the leagues of other countries and continents outside our own. In history, the European leagues weren't always the best until they started paying big bucks to attract the finest talent. If we build our leagues up and kept our talents, we'd have a world cup winner and we'll be more respected. it starts with us.” @Erformar

“It's time Africans come home to develop sports in this continent. These insults has to stop. Africans give these European competitions the flavour it currently has.” @_DrFrank

“Jamie Carragher is very disrespectful and show his ignorance. The AFCON is one of the oldest and most prestigious football competitions in the world, and for him to scoff at it just highlights his complete disregard for African football.” @visse_ss

“This is the colonialist imperial mindset regarding 54 countries and over a Billion people. For context Europe is 44 countries but winning the Euros is a major achievement while winning AFCON is not. Yet millions of Africans camp by their TVs, week in week out cheering clubs and players who have no respect or regard for them or their race.” @danoladoja

“The last Afcon was far better than the last Euros and Copa America If we’re being fair,what significant achievement has Jamie over some of the legends of the game from Africa like Sammy Kuffour,Drogba etc for player who achieved zero trophies internationally to look down on Afcon get me 😡 but it’s Jamie what do u expect from him.” @_Roofman2131gh

“The Africa Cup of Nations isn’t a major championship. Copa América, the European Championship, and the World Cup are your major international tournaments. Unfortunately, AFCON isn’t one of them.”

Carragher Finds Corroborator in Joey Barton

Credit: Sky Sports

The fact that Carragher has since been under fire for his controversial assertion didn’t deter former England footballer Joey Barton from siding with him by pointing out AFCON’s failings and vices. “The Africa Cup of Nations isn’t a major championship. Copa América, the European Championship, and the World Cup are your major international tournaments. Unfortunately, AFCON isn’t one of them,” he said.

Barton went on to cite bribery, poor pitch conditions, and incidents of violence as factors that are undoing AFCON, recalling the disallowed goal in Nigeria’s match against Ghana in 2010, the attack on the Togo national team bus in the same year, which resulted in multiple fatalities as well as the refereeing issues in the 2021 edition of the tournament.

In a video posted on his X page, he said, “You’ve also had Ebola outbreaks, like when Morocco pulled out in 2015. There was also fan violence that year, causing a game to be abandoned and restarted later.

“And people forget that in 2010, the Togo team bus was attacked, and I think Emmanuel Adebayor was on it. Sadly, some people lost their lives. These are things you just don’t see at major tournaments.

“The biggest one for me was in 2021-22 when a referee, who must have bought his watch from a street vendor, stopped a game in the 85th minute, restarted it, then stopped it again at the 89th minute — well short of the allotted time — and then tried to get the players back on the pitch. It was Tunisia on that occasion. You just don’t see things like that at major championships.”

The former Newcastle United and Manchester City star then asserted: “Apart from the African countries, it (AFCON) doesn’t capture the world’s imagination like some of the other major tournaments do.”

Conclusion: Winning with the Belittling of AFCON

Credit: TheCable

While it is understandable for Africans to rush in defence of AFCON as the pride of Africa while lashing out at Carragher, they can’t ignore the inconvenient truths particularly as marshalled out by Barton. They will be living in denial by so doing. It is worthy of note that what both pundits pointed out are what several others outside the continent think even if they lack the courage to express them. For instance, Barton claimed that celebrated Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson reportedly hesitated to sign African players due to the scheduling of AFCON in the middle of the European season.

It is noteworthy that no African nation has ever won the World Cup. Only one, being Morocco during Qatar 2022, was able to reach the semi-finals. In a comparison of the wealth of the federations, while Ivory Coast received $7m (£5.5m) for winning the 2023 AFCON, Argentina got $42m (£33.3m) for winning the last World Cup. With Spain receiving approximately 28m euros (£23.4m) in prize money for winning Euro 2024, more investments in AFCON will go a long way in enhancing its value.

This is therefore not the time for the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and other stakeholders to play the ostrich. If AFCON were to be pulling its weight okay, Africans would be giving it more attention than they give football championships elsewhere. Even African players with dual nationalities won’t be opting to represent countries outside the continent.   

While it’s understandable for their reactions to be guided by sentiments and nationalistic fervour, Africans must see what was let out by Carragher and Barton as a wake-up call to fix and focus on AFCON. That is the only way the tournament can measure up and hold its own on the global stage!