Ghana's Anthony Baffoe says AFCON is like FIFA World Cup to Africans, calls for respect in Video

• European Clubs Association (ECA) and FIFA have called for the cancellation and postponement of the AFCON citing the covid-19 virus as their main concern
• However CAF and it's member football associations including host country, Cameroon a determined to stage the competition after an initial postponement in 2020
• As the start date for the (CAF) African Cup of Nations (AFCON) draws closer, many have called for more respect of the competition and Ghana's Anthony Baffoe is the latest

Former German-born Ghana Black Stars midfielder, Anthony Baffoe has said the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) was to Africans what the FIFA world cup is to the world.

The 56-year-old noted that as a participant of the African football biggest international competition himself, it was an honor and a great pleasure playing in two editions of the tournament.

The former Fortuna Düsseldorf midfielder joined the recent trend of football figure around the world calling for more respect of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) bi-annual competition.

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"I had the great pleasure to participate in two African Cup of Nations (AFCON). I was the first player to be born in the diaspora to play for Ghana and for me it was a great honor.

"The African Cup of Nations is like our own world cup so it's a very important competition. The only thing I want to add now is to tell you, respect the African Cup of Nations and respect African players", Anthony Baffoe said in a video posted to his twitter handle sighted by sportsbrief.com.

Recently after several calls from Europe and FIFA to again postpone the AFCON, personalities like Samuel Etoo, Ian Wright, Patrick Vieira, and Ajax's Sabastian Haller have responded to such calls with stern words calling for more respect of the continental showpiece.

African players playing for European clubs especially those of the top five leagues have either had to withdraw from the competition because their clubs refuse to let them go or are forced to report late to their individual national team camps to join preparations toward the tournament.

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The African Cup of Nations to be contested by 24 nations will kick of on January 9, 2022 and end on February 6, 2022 in Cameroon.

Samuel Etoo says January's AFCON to prove greatness of African players

Samuel Etoo, newly elected President of the Cameroonian Football Federation (FECAFOOT), has said January's AFCON will prove "greatness of African players".

The FA President of the host nation noted that the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) was more than just a football tournament to the people of Africa.