{"id":65882,"date":"2025-12-31T16:17:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T16:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/afcon-2025-hossam-hassan-criticizes-caf"},"modified":"2025-12-31T17:58:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T17:58:34","slug":"afcon-2025-hossam-hassan-criticizes-caf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/afcon-2025-hossam-hassan-criticizes-caf","title":{"rendered":"AFCON 2025 Hossam Hassan Criticizes CAF"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong> <\/span>Egypt coach Hossam Hassan has strongly criticized the proposal to switch to a four-yearly Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).<\/b><\/p>\n

For the Pharaohs legend, this reform serves no purpose other than to satisfy European clubs and schedules at the expense of the identity of continental football.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am an Egyptian who is proud to be African, and I refuse to allow our competitions to be dictated by foreign interests,\u201d he insisted, pointing out that the biennial frequency of the AFCON is essential for local development.<\/p>\n

In his remarks, the Pharaoh\u2019s coach said that this new decision does not serve African football: \u201cOrganizing the AFCON every four years does not serve African football at all. It is a decision designed exclusively for Europe, so as not to disrupt their championships. Why should we sacrifice our passion and our progress for their comfort? Africa is a major football continent that deserves respect and sovereign management. We must protect our tournament, because Africa deserves much better than just crumbs from the global calendar.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a reminder, at the opening of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, the CAF announced that the tournament would now be held every four years starting in 2028.<\/p>\n

Find more news and analyses on Lesotho<\/span> on the Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Egypt coach Hossam Hassan has strongly criticized the proposal to switch to a four-yearly Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). For the Pharaohs legend, this reform serves no purpose other than to satisfy European clubs and schedules at the expense of the identity of continental football. \u201cI am an Egyptian who is proud […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":65880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[245],"class_list":["post-65882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nAFCON 2025 Hossam Hassan Criticizes CAF - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag"> Africa-Press - Lesotho. 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