Jamie Carragher has admitted he was wrong to dismiss the Africa Cup of Nations as not a ‘major tournament’ – but stands by his reasoning behind a ‘clumsy’ comment.
The Liverpool legend believes there may be a ‘bias’ against AFCON in Ballon d’Or voting which holds back stars such as Mohamed Salah.
Carragher faced widespread criticism, as well as support, when he made the claim on AFCON’s status, and insists he meant no offence to anybody.
‘I have got very strong opinions on the game, I love debate, and that will never change,’ he told CBS Sports’ Golazo Show.
‘But what I would never want to be described as, as a pundit, is ignorant or disrespectful so that was never my aim. And whether that’s to a player, a club, a country, a continent, a continental tournament, whatever that may be.
‘What I would say is, where I got it wrong was, I was clumsy describing AFCON as not a major tournament. I was trying to explain the merits of Mo Salah winning the Ballon d’Or, and I feel that not just AFCON, I would say the Asia Games, the Gold Cup, not so much the Copa America, but there are five major tournaments out there besides the World Cup that are for their continent and are a major tournament.
Jamie Carragher has admitted he was wrong to call AFON not a ‘major tournament’
However, he stands by the reasoning behind his ‘clumsy’ comment, arguing the Ballon d’Or still favours European football over other tournaments
‘But some of them don’t resonate with the people who vote for the Ballon d’Or. And that for me was not an opinion, that was a fact in terms of looking who had won the Ballon d’Or in the last 40 or 50 years.
‘Yes, I’ve been banging the drum for Mo Salah to become the first African player to win the Ballon d’Or since George Weah in the mid ’90s. As I said, I should have been a lot tidier with my language around that, so yes, that’s something I’ll look at.
‘But as I said, you do look at the Euros, where it’s at right now, and other competitions, and some of them resonate with the Ballon d’Or voters, who sometimes are journalists, national coaches, national captains.
‘And one of the reasons might be, sometimes we forget, the Ballon d’Or was the European Footballer of the Year. So maybe there is a bias towards the Euros or European football in the past.
‘It was definitely not my aim to offend anybody – I know I’ve done that a lot in the past in different guises about different players and teams. But that was certainly not the case. yes, hopefully that’s now addressed it.’
Carragher was originally called out by Daniel Sturridge and Micah Richards during Sky Sports’ post-match analysis of Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Manchester City on February 23.
Since then, he has faced the heat from the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Ahmed Elmohamady, Jay-Jay Okocha, and John Obi Mikel, who told him in no uncertain terms to ‘f*** off’.
However, there was also a lot of sympathy for Carragher from people who felt he had simply been misunderstood in explaining why Salah is at a disadvantage when it comes to AFCON voting.
Carragher claimed Salah’s hopes of winning the Ballon d’Or are impacted by playing for Egypt
Jay-Jay Okocha threw shade at Carragher, claiming ‘you wouldn’t want your son to be like Carragher’
Rio Ferdinand also spoke out against Carragher and said it was an ‘ignorant thought process’
Carragher broke his silence on the matter with a lengthy post on social media
Ballon d’Or winners have often tasted glory in either the Champions League or an international tournament – typically the European Championship or Copa America. No African star has won the gong since George Weah in 1995, while Sadio Mane finished second in the 2022 edition.
Carragher had originally said: ‘I think the problem (is) the fact he (Salah) is with Egypt, and he’s probably not playing in a major tournament as such, or maybe got a great chance of winning, I think it’s either the Champions League or the major tournament (that is needed to win the award).
‘Normally, the player who excels in that (wins it), like Vini Jr and (Kylian) Mbappe right now, Real Madrid are looking really good going for the Champions League.
‘Liverpool will be in that conversation, but right now (Real) are certainly the front runner.’
Richards hit back: ‘Just to say, AFCON is a major tournament because a lot of people are at home saying “they aren’t taking it serious”. AFCON is a big tournament, just so you know.’
Carragher then responded by asking whether Egypt would be in contention to win the World Cup next year, to which the former Man City defender responded: ‘No, but AFCON is big, isn’t it?
‘You remember when him and Mane was going for it and…’
Carragher then replied ‘Oh God’, before Sturridge brought the matter to a close: ‘It’s a fact. It’s a fact. It’s a fact. If you win the Euros or Copa America it’s deemed to be big so the AFCON is in the same level.’
Former President of Liberia George Weah is Africa’s sole Ballon d’Or winner, doing so in 1995
Ahmed Elmohamady was the latest individual to take exception to the former Liverpool defender’s remarks
Elmohamady’s comments come after after Carragher was also labelled as ‘unforgivably ignorant’ by former Sky Sports presenter Richard Keys
Former Chelsea star John Obi Mikel took aim at Jamie Carragher in a furious X-rated rant
Plenty of ex-pros were unhappy. John Obi Mikel, a 2013 AFCON winner with Nigeria, said on his The One Obi Podcast: ‘It’s so disrespectful what he said, and this is coming from someone who never won any major international competition with England.
‘His statement was absolutely wrong. I hope he will come out and make a massive apology because he owes people around the world an apology. [It was] ignorant to disrespect such a wonderful tournament.
‘If you think that the Premier League would be what it is today with just the English players you’re f***ing having a laugh mate.
‘The smirk on his face, the arrogant f***ing smirk on his face to dismiss… That smirk on his face is absolutely what tipped me off. You have people trying to correct you and you’re coming out and attacking absolutely everyone else and discrediting this wonderful tournament.
‘The guy says so many things on TV, never won the Premier League, analyses teams and tells them you have to win the Premier League.
‘You never won it, you don’t know what it takes to win the f***ing Premier League, you don’t know what it takes to win with your national team. You can’t discredit such a wonderful, wonderful tournament. People in Africa die for the Africa Cup of Nations.
‘I am f***ing angry, I am f***ing angry, he spent so many years playing for Liverpool, he didn’t win the f***ing Premier League. He sits there week in, week out, telling and teaching people trying to tell people how to win the Premier League. You haven’t won it.
‘Africans watch you on the weekend and you sit there, open your mouth and discredit the whole f***ing African continent. He can f*** off. We know in Africa what we bring to the Premier League.
‘If you won the Euros with England I might understand that, if you won a major tournament with England I might understand that. You won f*** all with England. F*** all. And you try to discredit the tournament that I won, shed blood and tears for?’
Okocha, who scored 14 goals in 73 games for Nigeria and won AFCON in 1994, said: ‘There are some players that will say something, but you just overlook it.
‘If you look at their career, if you look at the type of football they played… then you can understand.
‘I mean you wouldn’t want your son to be like Carragher. So you can never appreciate African football (if you’re like that) – and all the talents that are coming from Africa.’
More to follow.
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