As reported by L’Équipe, Metz coach Frédéric Antonetti described the organisation of the African Nations’ Cup in January while domestic leagues continued as “rigged” and “distorted.” Struggling Metz are set to lose a large chunk of their first team to the tournament.
“The AFCON takes seven or eight players from us. That’s enormous. It’s a rigged, distorted game. How can we have international competitions during national competitions? It’s not workable. I have nothing against the AFCON, it’s a very good event, but you can’t remove that many players from a team. And we’re not the only ones.”
“When we built our squad, the AFCON was set to be played in June but they’ve changed the rules. When I say it’s rigged, everything is rigged in football… It’s a shame because everything is distorted and rigged and the AFCON is part of it, VAR is part of it, the pressure is part of it.”