The Africa Cup of Nations is being "disrespected" by some negative media coverage, says former England and Arsenal striker Ian Wright.

The 24-team competition begins on 9 January and will feature a host of Premier League and European stars.

Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira is among those to also call for the tournament to be given more respect.

"Is there ever a tournament more disrespected than the Africa Cup of Nations?" Wright said on Instagram.

On the media coverage around Afcon he claimed: "There is no greater honour than representing your country. The coverage is completely tinged with racism.

"We played our Euros across 10 countries in the middle of a pandemic and there's no issue at all. But Cameroon, a single country hosting a tournament, is a problem.

"There are players getting asked if they will be honouring the call-ups to their national teams. Imagine if that was an England player representing the Three Lions. Can you imagine the furore?"

Ajax's Ivory Coast striker Sebastien Haller said the suggestion a player would want to miss the tournament to play for their club "shows the disrespect for Africa".

He told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf: "Would this [question] ever have been asked to a European player towards a European Championship?

"Of course I will go to represent Ivory Coast. That is the highest honour."

However, the 27-year-old said having to miss club games "is very frustrating". Haller added: "I hate having to choose between my country and my club."

Although several Premier League clubs will be without key players in January - including Crystal Palace who are set to lose Cheikhou Kouyate, Wilfried Zaha and Jordan Ayew - Eagles boss Vieira echoed Haller's sentiments.

"I respect and understand the passion and the importance to players to go and represent their country so I will never stop any player going to play the Africa Cup of Nations," said Vieira, a World Cup and European Championship winner as a player with France.

"I believe that competition needs to be more respected - because this competition is as important as the European Championships."

Title hopefuls Liverpool face significant absences, with the Premier League's leading scorer Mohamed Salah, fellow forward Sadio Mane and midfielder Naby Keita set to take part in the tournament.

Leaders Manchester City will lose Riyad Mahrez, while second-placed Chelsea will be without goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and West Ham's Said Benrahma will be with Algeria.

Leeds United, Newcastle United, Norwich City and Tottenham are the only Premier League clubs not losing any players for the tournament.

Players are allowed to play for their clubs until 3 January before leaving for the Africa Cup of Nations after Fifa rules stating clubs must release players by 27 December was changed "in the spirit of goodwill and solidarity".

"Loads of the best players in Europe right now are African," said Wright.

"If we love them at club level why can't we love them at international level like their counterparts across the globe? Why is this tournament constantly getting so much flak?

"I have got to give a shout out to the players like Sebastien Haller who are taking a stand against the media backlash, plus Patrick Vieira for coming out and speaking about this.

"This is why it is important to have a black manager who can let people understand where his roots are and how important this tournament is for African people.

"I want to wish Cameroon every success in hosting this tournament and and all the very best to the players and the fans."

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/59825904

Even Africans are disrespectful to Africa. Most Africans, including the ones living in the west, are actually not proud of their roots. A typical example from this article, we can see that only ONE out of the hundreds of Europe based African players have spoken out in defence of AFCON amidst the western media backlash. I listened to Trevoh Noah talking about his African roots with great pride on American national TV without any apology and I was like, this is it. If all Africans talked like this about Africa, trust me we've gotten on the right track.

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Europeans are FUNDAMENTALLY racists.

still don't know why this year AFCON kum Carry alot of controversies about African players representing their country..
are they scared of covid or wat? we are Africans n immune to that stuff n returning players can easily be tested n isolated before joining the rest of the team..
I was pained after seeing dt haller interview, he said ajax asked him to choose between representing his country or the club, like WTF is dt rubbish, this guys are all racist abegi, no matter how hard dey try to hide it..

ArchiLimited:
Even Africans are disrespectful to Africa. Most Africans, including the ones living in the west, are actually not proud of their roots. A typical example from this article, we can see that only ONE out of the hundreds of Europe based African players have spoken out in defence of AFCON amidst the western media backlash. I listened to Trevoh Noah talking about his African roots with great pride on American national TV without any apology and I was like, this is it. If all Africans talked like this about Africa, trust me we've gotten on the right track

comrade u are talking a totally different thing...
Ian is just asking for more respect from the European media n u talking about Africans outside the shore that aint proud of dier Roots, dt wan is based on their own personal reasons naa..
they is special factor dt builds loyalty to ones roots n it also gives d pride n drive to speak up for ur root no matter were u are..
That's a personal decision dts in each individual mentality based on his own perspective about wat he is fighting for n it can't be enforced on humans..
for example, a rich kid dt is being sponsored from a rich home in Nigeria, travelled out n he is doing well in England can be easily convinced to come play in Nigeria team even if England also Gv him a callup bcoz Nigeria really favored him tru his rich background,
unlike a poor struggling guy dt hustled his way out of the shores of this country n also did well in England n get a callup, the poor guy will easily choose England than playing for Nigeria dt failed him wen he was here n dnt deserve his service...
loyalty cnt be given to a system that once failed you, mayb the blacks av seen a better system outside n dey would easily relate to dt side than their African roots...
Na personal stuff bro

GodIsBiafran:
Europeans are FUNDAMENTALLY racists.

azin eeh, i no kum even understand again....their joy is to here that AFCON is postponed till after the season or hearing dt all European based wont travel to represent their country but it won't happen..
the worst is dt they are very quick to carry signs n display "say no to racism" or "black life matters"
how racist can they get? jus like Eto once said "racism in football is like cancer, it maybe controlled but it cnt be cured"

paulolee:

comrade u are talking a totally different thing entirely....Ian is just asking for more respect from the European body n u talking about Africans outside the shore that aint proud of dier roots based on their own personal reasons..
they is something about being loyal to your roots n dts wat command pride n ready to die for your roots...its a personal decision n it can be forced on someone..
for example, a rich kid dt is being sponsored from a rich home in Nigeria n doing well in England can be easily convinced to come play in Nigeria team even if england also Gv him a callup than a poor struggling guy dt hustled his way out of the shores of this country n also did well in England n get a callup, the poor guy will easily choose england than playing for Nigeria...
this is simply bcoz Nigeria favored the rich kid n he would be proud to serve. die for his country but if failed the poor lad n to him, Nigeria do not deserve his service...
loyalty cnt be given to a system that once failed you.....its personal stuff

In other words, the African system failed all African players in Europe? And for that they don't owe Africa any loyalty? I wonder why they're coming to play for their African countries then since they don't owe them any loyalty, they should all change nationality to Europe. Your talk no follow abeg

ArchiLimited:


In other words, the African system failed all African players in Europe? And for that they don't owe Africa any loyalty? I wonder why they're coming to play for their African countries then since they don't owe them any loyalty, they should all change nationality to Europe. Your talk no follow abeg

are u trying to say all the African players are silent about wats going on..
u are asking for them to start speaking up forgetting dt they are all professionals under contracts n such action may cause problems with their clubs..
its stated in FIFA rule dt a club cnt stand against a player representing his country n they see no reason to rant online instead of discussing with their respective clubs amicably to avoid problems..
all African players would be in AFCON n even aubameyang is already in Gabon, the worst their clubs can do is to bench them n gv dm less game time wen de return just as conte did to mikel bk den wen he went for Olympic against his wish bt dey cnt stop them..
Ain wright is just calling for more respect from media to Africans bcoz this issues won't spring up if its an European competition involved, unlike wat u saying n asking footballers to start speaking up....who u wan put for wahala??

paulolee:

are u trying to say all the African players are silent about wats going on?? are u trying to say if the club stand against them coming to AFCON, they would silently stay n do nothing??
u are asking for them to start speaking up forgetting dt they are professionals under contract which will cause problems with their clubs..
its stated in FIFA rule dt a club cnt stand against a player representing his country n they see no reason to rant online instead of seeing reasons with their respective clubs amicably to avoid problems..
am African players are coming n even aubameyang is already in Gabon, the worst their clubs can do is to bench them n gv dm less game time wen de return just as conte did to mikel bk den wen he went for Olympic against his wish..
the point is dt Ian wright is calling for more respect from clubs to African football bcoz this issues won't spring up if its an European competition involved, unlike wat u saying n asking footballers to start speaking up....who u wan put for wahala??

All this long note comrade
Who ask you

"Loads of the best players in Europe right now are African," said Wright.

"If we love them at club level why can't we love them at international level like their counterparts across the globe? Why is this tournament constantly getting so much flak?

Hmmmmm, this is deep!

Anyways,
Na dem media sabi.

We love our
AFRICAN STARS laidat.

GOD BLESS AFRICA.

Okay...

I blame Africans for this.
We could not develop our local leagues, our stars have to travel abroad to play for foreign teams.
Where are the standard sporting facilities?
Where are the coaching institutions?

We worship foreign leagues.
Who can tell me the coach of Wiki Tourists without surfing the net.

In the Nations Cup, there are lots of substandard and abysmal performance from coaches and staff.
Poor preparations and wrong timing.


We deserve everything we get.

Nice one from Ian Wright!

This AFCON pain Jurgen Klopp well well!

By the end of the Tournament, Liverpool and Chelsea wiill be battling for top 6 in the EPL.

This I have seen!..

...
Nobody takes the blackman serious..


Na that yeye Liverpool coach first start am..

Why can't they play the competition in June/July like everyone else?

Super Eagles will crash out at the group stage

TBH, Ian is very right.
We keep having this European clubs underplaying the importance of African players featuring for country during AFCON.
Painfully, I don't the problem going away anytime soon until FIFA does something about it.
Meanwhile,
Eagles for the title!
Naija4Life

When you focus on being a blessing, God make sure that you are always blessed in abundance

AFCON losing its values

Just yesterday dem teach you Yahoo, you don begin wear socks.

What's your point exactly sir?
You ended up saying nothing useful

paulolee:

comrade u are talking a totally different thing entirely....Ian is just asking for more respect from the European body n u talking about Africans outside the shore that aint proud of dier Roots, dt wan is based on their own personal reasons naa..
its personal stuff

I dont think the Afcon is getting as much flak is it is potrayed to have. In my opinion, i think its just hard to sell the Afcon to the rest of the world because of the timing. The organizers ought to understand that even the World Cup is played in the summer when all other major leagues are on break.
If Afcon were to be played in the summer, it would get as much coverage as possible. Lets not get ahead of ourselves, even the European Championship cannot compete with the Leagues in terms of coverage. The Qatar world cup is getting as much flak due to its timing as well.
With this outburst, clubs will start to boycot African players. CAF should move the competition to the summer.

Ian Wright or whatever

Can you come back to Africa your motherland


If not

Shut up forever


African is a continent nobody is proud to come from


Shittty continent filled with shiity humans

I watched the clip earlier online and he said nothing but the truth