Dylan Bettencourt
The national football teams of Gambia and Malawi have complained about the poor living conditions they have to endure during this year’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament.
Gambia’s head coach Tom Saintfiet voiced his frustration at the off-field conditions his side have had to deal with thus far. Saintfiet claimed several members of his staff had to share beds and that players were made to share single rooms.
“We have six players sleeping in one room in the middle of Covid,” he said.
“There is a lack of logistics at Afcon. We travel two hours before each game. I worked 14 years in Africa but this is unheard of. We are not respected by the organisation and it is a real shame.”
Malawi’s head coach, Mario Marinica, confirmed his side have also struggled with poor living conditions. He claims that there is a conscious bias against what he called the smaller teams at the tournament.
While Malawi qualified for the first-ever knockout stage at Afcon their preparations for the game against Morocco have been strained.
Food poisoning, lack of basic commodities and shortage of facilities for washing clothes has hampered the Flames’ preparations for their encounter against Morocco.
“You wouldn’t see Sadio Mane washing his own underpants and hanging them on a bush to dry,” Marinica told ESPN.
The Romanian manager said questions have to be asked as to why these situations only fall on the smaller teams at Afcon, claiming that the organisers want the bigger teams to progress rather than the underdogs.
Marinica said his side have lodged a formal complaint about the poor conditions they and other small teams have had to face during the tournament.
“I’ve asked my colleagues and team leaders to lodge formal complaints. I complained to the managers of the estate and we struggled for three days before things were sorted out at the hotel,” he said.
Malawi, only at their third Afcon, come up against Morocco in their round of 16 fixture on Tuesday night with kick off set for 9pm.
Image source: @Football256
