Premier League Stars Gear Up for International Duty: Afcon and Asian Cup Challenges Ahead

The Africa Cup of Nations and the Asian Cup are set to kick off in January, prompting numerous stars from the Premier League to participate in these competitions.

Afcon is scheduled to run from January 13 to February 11 in Ivory Coast, while the Asian Cup is taking place in Qatar from January 12 to February 10.

Despite the tournaments overlapping with winter breaks in some European leagues, Premier League clubs are poised to navigate several weeks without key first-team players.

Jurgen Klopp, the manager of Liverpool, expressed the need for clubs to plan ahead for such situations, acknowledging the absence of top scorer Mohamed Salah, who will be representing Egypt.

"We knew the Africa Cup of Nations from time to time appears, and Mo has to go," Klopp remarked. "We have [Wataru] Endo as a participant in the Asian Cup as well, so it is like it is. We have to deal with it, and we will."

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou, who led Australia to Asian Cup glory in 2015, emphasized the significance of both tournaments for players from their respective regions.

"I rank it pretty highly; I think it's pretty important," Postecoglou stated. "A lot of European people think the European Championships are pretty important - well, it's the same for the Asian Cup or the African Cup of Nations."

While some squads have been finalized for Afcon, including Angola, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia, others like Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Zambia, and Tanzania have only named provisional squads.

For Afcon, the final list of up to 27 players per national team must be submitted by January 3, 2024.

Similarly, Australia, Iraq, Malaysia, and South Korea have announced their final 26-man squads for the Asian Cup. Some nations, such as China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Qatar, Syria, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam, have named provisional squads.

Squads for the Asian Cup need to be finalized by January 2, 2024. Despite the current information, there might still be some late additions and withdrawals before the tournaments commence.