French Clubs Hardest Hit By Nations Cup Absentees

French clubs again lead the way in providing players to the 16 competing countries at the MTN Africa Cup of Nations finals but their traditional dominance is being threatened by the English.

A total of 58 French-based players, drawn from 26 clubs, have been named to compete in the tournament, which starts in Ghana on Sunday.

But the tally is closely followed by English-based clubs, who have been forced to give up a total of 42 players for the next three weeks of competition.

French clubs Nice and Le Mans, with five players each at the tournament, are matched for the first time by an English outfit – Newcastle United, who also have five competitors at the continental championship.

A total of 29 players are drawn from South African clubs but the numbers from Belgium and Portugal, who have consistently provided at past tournaments, are down.

In all, the 368 players at the tournament are drawn from 209 clubs in 46 countries, across four continents.

Players from clubs in 17 African countries and 22 in Europe are also joined by internationals based in the Middle East, Mexico and the USA.

Top teams like Barcelona, Benfica, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Real Madrid and German champions VfB Stuttgart are represented as is the likes of Accrington Stanley, Swiss amateur team FC Bagnes and Red Star from the fourth tier of French football.

Four players are unattached, hoping the Nations Cup will provide a shop window for further employment. They include Senegal's Lamine Diatta, who has just had his contract with Turkey’s Besiktas cancelled.

The tournament sees players from clubs in all but one of the 16 competing countries, with Senegal the exception.

All Sudan’s 23 squad members are home based, drawn from just two clubs in what is an anomaly for modern-day African football.

Sudan champions Al Hilal provide 12 players and cup winners Al Merreikh 11, as the north Africans compete in the final tournament for the first time in more than three decades.

The oldest player at the tournament is Benin defender Alain Gaspoz, who will turn 38 in May.

The youngest is the 17-year-old Zambian striker Emmanuel Mayuka, one of nine teenagers named for the Nations Cup.

But has happened previously in African tournaments, there have been some suspicious changes in the dates of birth of players.

Ghana’s first choice goalkeeper Richard Kingson, who plays for Birmingham City, gave the year of his birth as 1975 when he competed at the 1998 finals in Burkina Faso and the 2000 tournament which Ghana co-hosted with Nigeria.

Official documentation provided by the Ghana Football Association to the Confederation of African Football this week now has Kingson born in 1978.