ACTUALITE |
16.01.2002
Africa`s best on show from Real Madrid to Harrow Borough
BAMAKO,
African footballers will converge literally from around the world for the African Nations Cup finals, will kicks off in Mali on Saturday.
The 352 players representing the 16 finalists ply their professional trade across four continents and in some of the more obscure footballing corners of the world.
Players from clubs in 42 countries have been chosen for the tournament, coming from all the major footballing countries but also destinations like Albania India, Israel and Malta and even one from non-league football in England.
The vast majority of competitors are based outside of Africa with Cameroon and Senegal, both World Cup finalists, bringing teams exclusively made up of players on the books of clubs outside of their country`s borders.
There will be one player from the Senegalese league on view - but Naricisse Yameogo is an international for Burkina Faso.
A total of 75 footballers at the Nations Cup are based in France, the country that by far provides the most of the players for the African championship.
Every country, save for Egypt, South Africa and Zambia, has a French-based player in their squad, ranging from top teams like Lille, Monaco and Paris St Germain to amateur clubs in the regional leagues.
Senegal has called up 19 of its 22 squad members from France, almost all of them first division players.
Germany, Belgium and Italy also provide large contingents and there are record number of 15 English-based players at the Nations Cup including Mali`s reserve goalkeeper Karamoko Keita, who plays for Harrow Borough in the Isthmian League, effectively the regional sixth division in England where Harrow`s home crowds hover around the 250-mark for league games at best.
BIG CLUBS TOO
Keita could find himself playing against players from some of the world`s biggest clubs too as players from the likes of Ajax Amsterdam, Manchester United, Real Madrid and European champions Bayern Munich will all be taking part.
But there are also players from SK Tirana in Albania, Sliema Wanderers of Malta and Slovan Liberec in the Czech Republic - unusual destinations indeed for African footballers.
More exotic are the clubs outside of Europe which have players on view in Mali: Teams from Angola and Niger, two African countries who did not qualify for the Nations Cup finals plus India, Mexico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the USA are represented.
Peru might even have been added to the list had Ghana`s Prince Amoako not recently moved from Sporting Cristal to Saturn in Russia.
Zambia have the biggest contingent of locally-based players in their squad with all but six of the 22 playing league football in their home country.
But only Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia can also boast the majority of their squad members playing with clubs in their domestic league.
ASEC Abidjan from the Ivory Coast have more players than any other club at the Nations Cup finals - six in the Ivorian team and Togo`s striker Kossi Noutsoudje.
Not far off that mark is Italy`s Serie B outfit Genoa with four Tunisians and Ghana`s John Mensah absent from the club for at least the next three weeks.
Egypt`s 35-year-old Hossam Hassan, formerly the world`s most capped international, will be the oldest player at the finals, but is just five days older than Tunisian goalkeeper Chokri El Ouaer.
The youngest is Togo defender Maman Gafarou from Gomido Kpalime, who turned 16 last August.
He is too old, however, to break the record set two years ago by Chiva Star Nzigou of Gabon, who was 16 years, two months and 30 days old when he played for his country against South Africa in Kumasi in the first round of the 2000 edition.
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