FIFA makes African football angry

FIFA's relaxation of the rules for calling up players at AFCON, allowing European clubs to keep players until December 15, has angered many African football federations.

Mbeumo can play for MU for 3 more matches before returning to the national team.

With AFCON 2025 set to kick off on December 21, FIFA has made a controversial decision to allow European clubs to retain African players until December 15, instead of releasing them from December 7 or 8 as originally planned.

This move is considered to favor European clubs (especially the Premier League), but has met with strong reactions from many African Football Confederations, who consider this disrespectful to the regional tournament.

FIFA’s old rules required clubs to release players two weeks before the tournament, to give national teams enough time to prepare, including for important friendlies. However, the new decision will see many African stars miss the first training sessions of their teams.

According to France Football , African football confederations including Senegal, Egypt and Cameroon expressed their disappointment. They said FIFA's decision showed a lack of respect for AFCON, the continent's biggest tournament, and many participating teams also scheduled friendly matches from early December.

FIFA's move will severely disrupt the preparation plans of many teams. On the contrary, this decision is great news for the European giants.

MU is one of the teams that will benefit from this change. Amad Diallo, Bryan Mbeumo and Noussair Mazraoui are likely to still be able to play when the "Red Devils" take on Bournemouth on December 15th following FIFA's decision.

In addition to MU, Liverpool will also be able to keep Mohamed Salah for one more match, when Arne Slot's team faces Brighton on December 13. Similarly, Man City can still use Omar Marmoush, Salah's teammate in the Egyptian national team, when facing Crystal Palace on December 14.

AFCON 2025 is scheduled to kick off on December 21, with around 45 Premier League players leaving their clubs to join the national team.

Two goals in the Chelsea - Arsenal match. Early morning of December 1, Chelsea and Arsenal drew 1-1 in a dramatic match in round 13 of the Premier League 2025/26.

Source: https://znews.vn/fifa-khien-bong-da-chau-phi-noi-gian-post1608036.html