Rangers in Nigeria block threat as European Club Association gets tough over AFCON protocols

Rangers have joined a host of European clubs who are prepared to block their players from joining up with the national squads for the African Cup of Nations, BSNSports.com.ng reports. Joe Aribo, Calvin Bassey and Leon Balogun are likely to be called up to the Nigeria squad for the tournament, scheduled to kick-off in Cameroon in 9 January. The release dates set out by CAF would mean the tip missing the Scottish Premiership clash against Celtic on 2 January. But these have been challenged by the European Club Association, of which Rangers are a member. In a letter sent to CAF last Friday, the association warned that without strict protocols being put in place as the Omicron variant of Covid spreads across Africa, they wouldn’t be releasing their players to join up with the respective national squads. They also don't find it acceptable that players will be forced to miss club games. The letter read: “As you know, the pandemic and its associated implications raised three fundamental concerns for clubs when it comes to the release of players to national teams: first and foremost, the clubs’ duty to ensure each and every player’s wellbeing is properly protected; second, that clubs are not forced to be without players for club competition matches; third, that all players resume their activities with their clubs following national duty in a timely fashion, as per the applicable rules.” It added: “Please note that, at its meeting of 2 December 2021, the ECA executive board unanimously reconfirmed its position that the three principles referred to above must be strictly respected and, should this not be the case, that players not be released for national team duty. “At present, these three principles are at risk of not being respected in connection with the upcoming January releases. “With regards to applicable protocols, as far as we are aware, CAF has not yet made available a suitable medical and operational protocol for the AFCON tournament, in the absence of which clubs will not be able to release players for the tournament. “For certain clubs expected to release players, including English and French clubs, domestic competition matches are due to take place up until early January and hence the overlap of the 2022 AFCON release dates (with call ups from 27th December) are unmanageable.” There are doubts over whether the tournament will take place at all as Covid cases continue to rise.