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Newcastle set to benefit from African Cup of Nations change

7 years ago
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The African Cup of Nations saw Newcastle United lose three players right bang in the middle of the Championship season.

Mohamed Diame, Christian Atsu and Chancel Mbemba all headed off in January to play for their countries and undoubtedly part of Rafa Benitez’ thinking in having built such a large squad in summer 2016, was to help deal with that eventuality.

A fourth Newcastle player, Henri Saivet, was also taking part, but that didn’t affect the promotion charge with the midfielder out at St Etienne on loan.

Two other players, Achraf Lazaar and Cheick Tiote, could also have been involved but were not selected by their respective countries.

Newcastle have been even harder hit in the past, when it was key players such as Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse and Cheick Tiote, who would go missing at such a key time of the season.

This is something that Premier League (and other European) clubs, as well as those in the Championship, have had to factor in when deciding whether to buy African players.

However, those concerns appear to be at an end.

At a committee meeting in Morocco on Thursday, new proposals have been put forward for the African Cup of Nations, with the finals expanding from 16 to 24 countries and most importantly, the tournament moved from January to June.

The Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) executive committee are meeting today and they will need to give the final go ahead for the changes but it is expected to go through without a hitch.

This would mean the next African Cup of Nations finals would take place in June 2019 and then every two years after that.

Pressure had been applied by FIFA to make the changes happen but it is a win win surely for everybody, with more and more money being paid by clubs for players, losing star performers for crucial games couldn’t be allowed to continue.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said about the move:

“This could be a crucial day for African football and it could mark a real change.

“All stakeholders have to work to develop African football and bring it to where it belongs – at the top of world football.”

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