Confederation of African Football (CAF) has increased the number of players for each country ahead of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations from 23 players to 28.
The move is to allow participating countries to have a larger squad to cater for event should there be an issue of players testing positive for Covid-19 during the tournament.
This means Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr now have additional five players to solidify his team.
This will also give room for more players to get a chance to represent the country at the biennial tournament.
The decision was contained in a letter signed by Samson Adamu, Director of Competitions at the continent’s football governing body and sent to Member Associations on Sunday, October 24, 2021.
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The letter reads in part:
“In the occasion of the upcoming final tournament of the TOTALENERGIES Africa Cup of Nations – Cameroon 2021, we would like to provide you with the following decision:
1. Number of additional players – The Organizing Committee of the Africa Cup of Nations has decided to increase the number of players to 5 additional players. Consequently, the list of players could be increased to a maximum of 28 players. This decision was taken to allow the participating teams have a larger squad list for the competition in case some players test positive for COVID 19.
2. On the other hand, please note that your federation will bear the cost of the international travel as well as the accommodation of these additional players on the final list. In view of the above, we would like to inform you that the registration of the 5 additional players is only an option and not an obligation.
3. Number of substitute players: Concerning the number of substitutions, CAF will apply the law of three substitutions per match (+ 1 additional substitution in case of extra time) during the final tournament of the Africa Cup of Nations,” the statement read.
Cameroon will host the competition from January 9 to February 6, 2022.
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COMMENTS
I don see where d push for Ighalo return dey come from… No wahalla, na Afcon cup we need!
I really don’t believe having Ighalo back is altogether a forward step for the SE.
I really don’t believe having Ighalo back is altogether a forward step for the SE.
So for instance now, we take him along to the AFCON tourney, and then the WC in Qatar abi?
What exactly are we bringing him back for that we can’t achieve with our current pool of strikers, if supplied by a very efficient midfield?
I really don’t know how Pinnick thinks. Someone is getting himself ready for SE retirement…he even alluded to that when he said he is happy to let younger players exhibit themselves after the last AFCON. Why then are we going backwards? I have nothing against Ighalo btw, but all these runs by Pinnick goes to show (for me) that he’s the one running the SE invariably. He’s publicly second-guessing the coach; it only shows our coach doesn’t know his onions.
How does this move impact on the development of younger strikers in the SE?
We know where the problem is but we just love chasing shadows. I taya for dis country.
Weldon ighalo can make the team now will need exprience player.
Sorry to burst your bubble
WHAT A CHEERING NEWS FOR AVERAGE RATED PLAYERS THAT CANNOT MAKE MAIN 23-MAN SQUAD.
More troubles for European clubs
There comes the opportunity to satisfy some confused people with all 10 CFs they want to see in the SE all at the same time………LMAOOoooo.
But CAF, why are you people always backward in your thinking…what’s this nonsense
“….your federation will bear the cost of the international travel as well as the accommodation of these additional players on the final list….”
So what is the essence of having a host and multitude of sponsors for the AFCON if federations would still be the one bearing the cost of accommodation and logistics of these 5 additional players…?
Does this not give undue advantage to “richer” federations…?
Hawuu…?! You will think you have seen it all, until CAF appears and shows you African wonders.
Victor Moses,Ademola lookman,Odion ighalo,ovie ejaria and tyronne ebuehi
Now those players who should give way for other more enterprising players will definitely be in the team even if its to add more caps to their name.
Will Victor Moses still want to play for Nigeria? l don’t think so. May be if they have changed it to thirty players, perhaps, he would have done so. Ha ha ahh. Guys, forget about Moses. Ighalo will shine again if Rohr uses him. No parking the Buses. Ighalo will bust it. Have a good day.
Let me guess, it’s because Ighalo is from Edo state abi?
Maybe. But osimhen is edo too sha
Even with this opportunity, I don’t think the gaffer can achieve anything with the team. He and his crew doesn’t have it.
The squad he took to the last Afcon was good enough to beat Algeria inside out but Nigerian team crashed out of the tournament because of inability of the coaching crew to read game and interpret it on the pitch.
However, This is a very fanterbulous idea from CAF. I’m in support of this.
Now, this is another opportunity for Oga Rohr to select the best squad for Nigeria.
This is his last chance and he have to take his time to select the best squad.
I must ask the gaffer if I don’t see Dessers, Nwakali, Nwobodo and Dennis in Cameroon to represent Nigeria.
Between now and January if I were Oga Rohr, I will invite those players I mentioned above to camp to see what they can add to the current Super Eagles squad.
I am not impressed with the idea of automatic shirt in the Super Eagles. Every player should fight for shirt and this will bring competition in the team but am sorry, I am not seeing that happening under the current gaffer of the team.
Between now and January, we will know where we going to with the coaching crew of the Super Eagles.
I love this idea of CAF so much because Oga Rohr, NFF and Oga Rohr followers have no excuse if Eagles do not fly in Cameroon.
This is so encouraging and I hope the coaches will prove me wrong in Cameroon.
Otherwise, Amunike and the rest of our own are ready to make Nigeria proud in Cameroon.
Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
@omo9ja why are you always negative. Can you wait till the end of the your tournament before you begin to condemn. I believe you must have been part of the crowd that said keshi would not do anything in 2013.
This is what you people said during the next level of president Buhari and now you can’t stop complaining about our president. .
This is what you people said when Amaju Pinnick and his company signed a 419 contract with our world class coach upon all the players we have, common tea cup the coach failed to win .
Now, you are still asking me to wait Kai, how long do you want me to wait for gentleman?
How long did it take Keshi to win Afcon trophy with his inexperienced team that managed to win that continental title?
How many star players was in that team?
Did they play really well during the tournament as a team?
Did they have a style of play still, they won the Afcon trophy.
With the star studded in our team currently, common CAR, Super Eagles was struggling to beat and you are still asking me to be patient.
Patient kę? Lagomelo? Lolz.
The coach and his boss Amaju wanted to manipulates Ighalo way in so that Super Eagles will be scoring goals for fun. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way because it is not possible to drive a vehicle without having tyres.
When we were beaten in Lagos by CAR, you didn’t call that a negative result but whenever I call a spade a spade then you people will paint me as a bad person because our Oyinbo coach.
Anyway, there’s time for everything though. I won’t say beyond that. God bless Nigeria!!!
@Omo9ja, I have never seen you make any comment without mensioning Rohr, did the man collect your wife? You are sounding like if Rohr is sacked today and we bring Amuneke, then AFCON and work cup trophies would be guaranteed, That will be a fat lie, You don’t celebrate when we win, you always say it’s the players hard work that won us games, then when we lose, its Always Coaches fault, We lost at home to CAR, it was a the coaches fault, the same coach changed the formations and we beat the same CAR at away, you refused to give the coach kudos rather you said it was the player hardwork, like they didn’t work hard when we lost at home???. You now know why most forumites don’t take you serious, myself inclusive. Honestly you can’t convince even a toddler with your assertions
i don’t know why i don’t read omo9ja post any more, i always scroll pass it, its now by default, i rather read the responses to his post, if there is any, the guy matter………
Of course you won’t because you like the way Super Eagles has been playing under our world class coach.
Common CAR and Cape Verde our team were struggling to beat them so, you still don’t know why omo9ja is fighting for your right?
You will understand soon. God bless Nigeria!!!
I detest your comments honestly. You may not be right upstairs. ‘common Cape Verde and CAR’….. before Rohr took charge of super eagles, we were ranked 15th in Africa and 72nd in the world. Please go and look at the 14 teams that were placed higher than us you mook
Did i hear you say you have been fighting for my right? i carry God beg you don’t fight for my right again, i know what’s best for me at any giving time.
Lol. Wahala
Bringing Moses and Ighalo back will really destroy the confidence of many forward players in SE……. Bringing them back Will Make our forward players feel unimportant…… Bringing them back will cause bitterness in the team…….If we are really looking for team cohesion and harmony then we should avoid that idea like a plague.
The coach is being micro-managed by an NFF boss who lacks an appreciable level of discretion. This proxy arrangement is visible from miles away. It’s not because the NFF boss is an astute, no nonsense perfectionist of an administrator. Rather, it is because Rohr is his shit, a kind of shit only he is benefitting from.
I don’t know why some people are still holding brief for this coach really. How normal is it to any right sounding mind, that we’re hearing about the possible return of a former SE striker to the team from the NFF boss?
It is absurd and reeks of all sorts of incompetence from all angles.
It clearly shows Rohr is not in charge of the SE. I have been sounding out my thoughts on this man’s humongous incompetence for quite some time now. I really hope I’m proved wrong. I stopped seeing him as a coach of any mettle when, at the 2018 WC, we couldn’t even get a draw against an embattled Argentina team, which was in sixes and sevens, despite the presence of their palpitating demigod, Maradona.
No matter how star-studded a squad may be there will always be critical times when they need to draw confidence from their gaffer, to be assured that they can emerge victorious against a fearsome opposition if they put in their best. This was the only thing we lacked in that match. Argentina’s defense was no where in that match, but our coach was more timid than our strikers that day.
I’m sure someone suggests all the various excuses he comes up with after every disastrous SE performance. Pinnick won’t be wanting in doing this.
For instance the “…we missed Iwobi and Ndidi…” excuse was a very lame excuse. I wonder what he thought of that excuse after the SE rallied to a 2-0 win in Douala. I’m really fed up with this coach. But obviously the people benefitting from his appointment, who know next to nothing about coaching, know he’s just a figure head and are trying to further patch up his shortcomings.
Iwobi has hitherto been the only recognized creative outlet in the midfield of the SE. Aside from one or two excellent performances here and there, he has huffed and puffed in many other games because he’s still developing; but Rohr went ahead to declare that he’s no longer admitting new entrants into the SE. Pls if that’s the case, then why is he all over the news searching for new number 10s?
With the crop of players we have now (maybe except the midfield area), we just have to focus on making the right technical and administrative decisions and we will be world beaters like the SE of ’94 again.
I’m not saying the present SE players are the best in Africa right now. But there’s one trait they largely share with our ’94 team before the ’94 WC: inexperience and hunger. Any 2 cents coach will get to the latter stages of any tourney with any averagely skilled team that fears no foe. This was singularly the only thing that made Senegal special at the 2002 WC. They didn’t have a special coach. They just had self belief, something the SE lacked in 2018 against Argentina and more recently against Algeria at the semis of the AFCON. I can’t remember reading anything from this coach that seemed to spur confidence among fans or in the players. I think that’s because he lacks confidence himself.
I don’t see this Gernot Rohr winning any major trophy with the SE in the next 5 years. But once again, I hope I’m wrong. I am a SE fan after all.