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HUGO BROOS SLAMS FIFA: LATE PLAYER RELEASE IS "DISRESPECT TO AFRICAN SOCCER"

South Africa coach Hugo Broos fiercely criticises FIFA's decision to delay player release for AFCON, calling it a blatant disrespect, though it favors his Bafana Bafana squad.

Hugo Broos Slams FIFA: Late Player Release is "Disrespect to African Soccer"
FIFA's AFCON Rule Undermines Morocco, Senegal, and Benefits South Africa

South Africa's coach, Hugo Broos, isn't happy with FIFA's call to let clubs keep national team players until just six days before the Africa Cup of Nations in 2025. He sees it as disrespect to African soccer.

But he thinks this might actually help his team, Bafana Bafana. While some of their biggest competitors scramble with a shorter prep time, his mostly local team can spend more time practising together.

They started camp this past Monday with only a dozen players. Later, some Orlando Pirates players joined after getting extra time off after the Carling Cup final.

FIFA, feeling pressure from European clubs, decided teams only need to release players on the Monday before the tournament. This hits teams like Morocco, Senegal, and Cameroon the hardest.

The tournament's timing is tough since it's in the middle of the European season. But it seems crazy that FIFA would make the same decision for a tournament like the European Championships.

Broos told reporters, If players playing overseas can't join their national teams until the 15th, what about teams like Morocco, Senegal, and Nigeria, who only have players based overseas? I don’t know what FIFA thinks about this competition.

Morocco gets their players on the 15th, and six days later, they play their first game. It just shows what FIFA thinks about Africa. I'm sure European clubs pushed them to move the dates.

South Africa will feel the impact, but not as much as other teams.

Striker Lyle Foster has a game for Burnley against Fulham this Saturday, and then he'll join the team. But he's a regular player and knows his role.

The same goes for midfielder Sphephelo Sithole, who plays in Portugal. He also has a game on Saturday. His role on the team is clear, and Broos isn't planning any big changes.

Centre-back Siyabonga Ngezana might be injured, but he might play in a Europa League game tonight. After that, he can join the team since his club doesn't play again until Monday.

Tylon Smith, a young player from Queens Park Rangers, is already in camp. But he's been playing for the club's development team and hasn't been close to the first team this season.

Broos is annoyed by the situation with winger Shandre Campbell. He hasn't played much for Club Brugge this season, but was told to stay in Belgium until the last minute.

Broos said, The day he got called up, we got a letter from Brugge saying he won't be released until the 15th.

I think that's a bit unfair. You could do that with a player who's always in the first team. But Shandre is usually on the bench, or not even on the bench, or only plays for a few minutes.

So why keep him at the club when he could be preparing for AFCON with the national team?

It's worth noting that Broos is a legend at Brugge, winning many titles with them as a player and coach. But that didn't matter in this case.

Bafana's players based in Saudi Arabia, Mohau Nkota and Elias Mokwana, can join the team since their season has a break.

CRISTIANO RONALDO PROTESTS AL-HILAL'S BENZEMA DEAL BY SKIPPING AL-NASSR LEAGUE MATCH

Cristiano Ronaldo is fuming. Discover why the Al-Nassr star skipped his last match and is now threatening to leave Saudi Arabia.

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Ronaldo "considering leaving Saudi Arabia" despite signing 2027 contract extension

Cristiano Ronaldo has been the main attraction in the Saudi Pro League ever since he landed in the Middle East three years ago. Now, for the first time, it looks like he’s actually thinking about leaving. He’s frustrated. He feels the playing field isn’t level, and it’s starting to get to him.

Here’s the deal: Four clubs in the league—Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal, and Al-Ahli—get their backing straight from the state. But Ronaldo sat out Al-Nassr’s match against Al-Riyadh on Monday night. Why? He was protesting. He found out Al-Hilal was about to sign Karim Benzema from Al-Ittihad, and that was the last straw. From Ronaldo’s perspective, Al-Hilal keeps getting more freedom to splash cash than everyone else. They’re the current champions, and Ronaldo still hasn’t managed to win his first Saudi title.

Saudi officials tried to calm him down. According to Diario AS, they reached out and argued that most of Al-Hilal’s extra spending comes from Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, not the Public Investment Fund (PIF). Al-Hilal just brought in Kader Meite for €30 million, Saimon Bouabre for €23 million, and now Benzema. Al-Nassr, on the other hand, only managed two free transfers this winter. Sure, they spent a lot more in the summer, but that didn’t seem to matter to Ronaldo.

Reports from Portugal, cited by AS, say Ronaldo’s not ruling anything out—not even leaving Saudi Arabia this summer. That’s despite just signing an extension with Al-Nassr until 2027.

And honestly, he has a point. Since he arrived, Al-Hilal have spent €647 million, while Al-Nassr have shelled out €410 million and Al-Ittihad €365 million. These numbers probably don’t include salaries—and let’s face it, nobody’s making more than Ronaldo. He’s supposed to return on Friday when Al-Nassr face Al-Ittihad, but right now, no one really knows if he’ll play or if he’s planning his next move.

N’GOLO KANTE SKIPS TRAINING AS AL-ITTIHAD BLOCK HIS MOVE TO FENERBAHCE OFFICIALLY

N’Golo Kante has gone on strike at Al-Ittihad after a paperwork error blocked his move to Fenerbahce. Can he still sign by Friday?

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Paperwork error halts N’Golo Kante’s transfer to Turkey at final hour

N’Golo Kanté didn’t show up for Al-Ittihad training on Tuesday, and it’s not hard to see why. He was all set to head to Fenerbahçe, but the deal fell apart at the last minute—apparently because Al-Ittihad messed up some paperwork. Kante was supposed to fly to Istanbul and sign, but thanks to this administrative slip, he’s stuck in limbo. There’s still a shot at reviving the transfer sinceKanté Turkey’s transfer window stays open until Friday, February 6.

Kante was one of the first big European names to jump to the Saudi Pro League, joining Al-Ittihad in 2023 after seven years with Chelsea. He’s been a key player in Jeddah, helping Al-Ittihad win the 2024-25 league title and the King’s Cup.

Then, in the middle of the January window, word got out that Fenerbahce wanted him. The Turkish club were eager to add a World Cup winner to their squad. The plan was to swap Kante for Youssef En-Nesyri, who’d head to Saudi Arabia. Everything seemed set until deadline day, when news broke that an error by Al-Ittihad in the Transfer Matching System stopped the transfer cold.

Fenerbahce didn’t hold back. They blamed Al-Ittihad directly, saying they’d done everything right: agreements with the players, medicals, paperwork, all wrapped up on time. But Al-Ittihad entered something wrong in the system, and that was that. Fenerbahçe even asked for an extension and reached out to FIFA, but nothing moved. In the end, the deal died, and Fenerbahçe put out a statement saying they understood the frustration and would keep working to strengthen the squad.

Meanwhile, Kante’s making his feelings clear. According to Ben Jacobs, he skipped training on Tuesday, still hoping the move to Fenerbahce can happen. Santi Aouna says talks between the clubs aren’t dead yet. L’Equipe is reporting that Kanté doesn’t want to play for Al-Ittihad while he waits for FIFA’s decision. With the Turkish window open until Friday, there’s still a glimmer of hope for Kante, though En-Nesyri’s move is off the table for now.

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