Premier League Players who will miss PL due to AFCON/Asian Cup

African Cup of Nations(AFCON) starts on 13 January 2024 and ends on 11 February 2024. 32 teams from Africa will be involved in this competition. Several Premier League stars like Mohammed Salah(Liverpool) and Andre Onana(Manchester United) will be involved in the AFCON tournament and are likely to miss some Premier League action. In this article, let us take a look at the AFCON schedule, How it affects the PL calendar, and the Premier League Players who will miss the PL due to AFCON(Team wise).

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Latest News:

AFCON Schedule

Group Stages	13 January- 24 January
Round of 16	27 January- 30 January
Quarter Finals	2 February- 3 February
Semi Finals	7 February
Finals & 3rd place	10 February- 11 February

AFCON Group Stage Draw:

How will AFCON affect the Premier League in terms of schedule?

The mid-season player break will take place between Jan 13-Jan and 27, with Gameweek 21 of the Premier League split across the weekends of 13-14 and 20-21 January 2024.

Here is how the English football Calendar will look in correspondence to the African Cup of Nations(AFCON)

Date	English Football	AFCON
30 December- 3 January	PL Gameweek 20/FPL GW20(If a double gameweek is announced it will be an extended gameweek)
6 January	FA Cup third round
8 January	Carabao Cup semi-final first leg
13 January	PL Gameweek 21 begins/FPL GW21 Deadline	AFCON Group Stage begins
13-27 January	Mid-season player break(with one PL game for every team as seen above)
22 January	Carabao Cup semi-final second leg	AFCON Group Stage
24 January		AFCON Group Stage ends
27 January	FA Cup fourth round	AFCON Round of 16 begins
30 January	PL Gameweek 22 begins	AFCON Round of 16 ends
2 February		AFCON Quarter Finals
3 February	PL Gameweek 23 begins	AFCON Quarter Finals
7 February		AFCON Semi Finals
10 February	PL Gameweek 24 begins	AFCON 3rd place match
11 February		AFCON final
17 February	PL Gameweek 25 begins

Key Takeaways:

• All the Players involved in AFCON will surely miss Gameweek 21
• If their national team qualifies for the Round of 16, they will miss Gameweek 22 as well
• If their national team qualifies for the Quarter Finals, they will miss Gameweek 23 as well
• If their national team qualifies for the Semifinals, they will miss Gameweek 24 as well

Which Premier League teams will be least affected due to AFCON?

Manchester City and Newcastle with their current squad will not have any players involved in AFCON.

Which Premier League teams will be most affected due to AFCON?

Nottingham Forest(7) and West Ham(4) are expected to be the two clubs who will be losing most players due to AFCON.

Premier League Players who will miss PL due to AFCON(Team wise)

Arsenal

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 2

• Thomas Partey (Ghana)
• Mohamed Elneny (Egypt)

Aston Villa

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 1

• Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso)

Bournemouth

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 3

• Antoine Semenyo (Ghana)
• Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso)
• Hamed Traore (Ivory Coast)

Brentford

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 3

• Bryan Mbeumo (Cameroon)
• Yoane Wissa (DR Congo)
• Frank Onyeka (Nigeria)

If the expected FPL DGW20 is announced for Man City and Brentford, there is a chance that the three Brentford players could miss the 2nd game of the double if they are asked to report for National team duty ahead of AFCON. This might ultimately depend on when the national teams ask the players to report for duty.

Brighton

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 3

• Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast)
• Tariq Lamptey (Ghana)
• Carlos Baleba (Cameroon)

Burnley

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 2

• Lyle Foster (South Africa)
• Anass Zaroury (Morocco)

Chelsea

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 1

• Nicolas Jackson (Senegal)

Crystal Palace

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 3

• Jordan Ayew (Ghana)
• Jeffrey Schlupp (Ghana)
• Cheick Doucoure (Mali)

Everton

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 2

• Abdoulaye Doucoure* (Mali)
• Idrissa Gueye (Senegal)

Fulham

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 3

• Alex Iwobi (Nigeria)
• Calvin Bassey (Nigeria)
• Fodé Ballo-Touré (Senegal)

Liverpool

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 1

• Mohamed Salah (Egypt)

Luton Town

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 2

• Issa Kabore (Burkina Faso)
• Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu (DR Congo)

Manchester United

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 3

• Andre Onana (Cameroon)
• Sofyan Amrabat (Morocco)
• Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia)
• Amad Diallo(Ivory Cost)

Nottingham Forest

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 7

• Taiwo Awoniyi (Nigeria)
• Ola Aina (Nigeria)
• Serge Aurier (Ivory Coast)
• Willy Boly (Ivory Coast)
• Ibrahim Sangare (Ivory Coast)
• Moussa Niakhate (Senegal)
• Cheikhou Kouyate (Senegal)

Sheffield United

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 4

• Ismaila Coulibaly (Mali)
• Anis Ben Slimane (Tunisia)
• Benie Traore (Ivory Coast)
• Yasser Larouci (Algeria)

Tottenham

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 2

• Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal)
• Yves Bissouma (Mali)

West Ham

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 4

• Mohammed Kudus (Ghana)
• Said Benrahma (Algeria)
• Nayef Aguerd (Morocco)
• Maxwel Cornet (Ivory Coast)

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Number of players expected to be involved in AFCON: 2

• Rayan Ait-Nouri (Algeria)
• Boubacar Traore (Mali)

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Asian Cup

The AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 includes 24 qualified teams, drawn into six groups of four with the tournament running from 12th January to 10th February.

Players who will miss some gameweeks due to the Asian Cup would be the below-listed players:

Not a lot of players are involved which was the case with AFCON but popular FPL assets including the likes of Son and Mitoma could be away for a while!

South Korea: Heung Min Son, Hwang Hee-Chan
Japan: Mitoma, Tomiyasu, Endo
Iran: Saman Ghoddos

Asian Cup 2023 Schedule

Key Takeaways:

• All the Players involved in the Asian Cup will surely miss Gameweek 21
• If their national team qualifies for the Round of 16, they will miss Gameweek 22 as well
• If their national team qualifies for the Quarter Finals, they will miss Gameweek 23 as well
• If their national team qualifies for the finals, they will miss Gameweek 24 as well

Date	English Football	Asian Cup
30 December- 3 January	PL Gameweek 20/FPL GW20(If a double gameweek is announced it will be an extended gameweek)
6 January	FA Cup third round
8 January	Carabao Cup semi-final first leg
12 January		Asian Cup Group Stage begins
13 January	PL Gameweek 21 begins/FPL GW21 Deadline	Asian Cup Group Stage
13-27 January	Mid-season player break(with one PL game for every team as seen above)	Asian Cup Group Stage
22 January	Carabao Cup semi-final second leg	Asian Cup Group Stage
25th January		Asian Cup Group Stage ends
27 January	FA Cup fourth round
28th January		Asian Cup Round of 16 begins
30 January	PL Gameweek 22 begins
31st January		Asian Cup Round of 16 ends
2 February		Asian Cup Quarter Finals
3 February	PL Gameweek 23 begins	Asian Cup Quarter Finals
6 Febraury		Asian Cup Semi-Final
7 February		Asian Cup Semi-Final
10 February	PL Gameweek 24 begins	Asian Cup Final
17 February	PL Gameweek 25 begins

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Premier League Players who will miss PL due to AFCON
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