{"id":522162,"date":"2025-12-26T00:40:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T19:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadpakistan.com.pk\/news\/?p=522162"},"modified":"2025-12-26T00:40:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T19:40:53","slug":"nigerias-chukwueze-calls-for-afcon-to-get-same-respect-as-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadpakistan.com.pk\/news\/nigerias-chukwueze-calls-for-afcon-to-get-same-respect-as-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria\u2019s Chukwueze calls for AFCON to get same respect as World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> MOROCCO<br \/>\nNigeria forward Samuel Chukwueze believes the Africa Cup of Nations should be given the same level of respect as the World Cup and the European Championship following controversy over the timing of the tournament in Morocco.<br \/>\nInitially scheduled to take place in the summer, this year\u2019s AFCON was scheduled for December 21-January 18, depriving \u200cleading European clubs \u200cof key players \u200cparticipating \u2060in it \u200cat a crucial stage of the domestic season. \u201cEverybody wants to play in AFCON. It\u2019s one of the best competitions in the world,\u201d Chukwueze told On Sports TV.<br \/>\n\u201cYou have to respect the AFCON \u2060the same way you respect the European Championship \u200cor World Cup.\u201d The Fulham winger \u200dwill miss six \u200dgames for his club if Nigeria \u200dreach the round of 16. \u201cWe understand they scheduled it at the wrong time of the year, but when it\u2019s important, if you get recalled you have to go,\u201d he said.<br \/>\n\u201cYou don\u2019t have \u2060any choice, your club can\u2019t stop you and no one should say anything bad about the AFCON. Yes, they put it at the wrong time, but saying it\u2019s not a good competition or a great competition is unacceptable.\u201d Chukwueze helped Nigeria secure an opening 2-1 win over Tanzania in Group C \u200cahead of their second game against Tunisia on Saturday. \u2014 DNA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MOROCCO Nigeria forward Samuel Chukwueze believes the Africa Cup of Nations should be given the same level of respect as the World Cup and the European Championship following controversy over the timing of the tournament in Morocco. Initially scheduled to take place in the summer, this year\u2019s AFCON was scheduled for December 21-January 18, depriving [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-522162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nigeria\u2019s Chukwueze calls for AFCON to get same respect as World Cup<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/leadpakistan.com.pk\/news\/nigerias-chukwueze-calls-for-afcon-to-get-same-respect-as-world-cup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nigeria\u2019s Chukwueze calls for AFCON to get same respect as World Cup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MOROCCO Nigeria forward Samuel Chukwueze believes the Africa Cup of Nations should be given the same level of respect as the World Cup and the European Championship following controversy over the timing of the tournament in Morocco. Initially scheduled to take place in the summer, this year\u2019s AFCON was scheduled for December 21-January 18, depriving [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/leadpakistan.com.pk\/news\/nigerias-chukwueze-calls-for-afcon-to-get-same-respect-as-world-cup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daily Lead Pakistan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DailyLeadPak\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-25T19:40:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Web Desk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@DailyLeadPak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@DailyLeadPak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Web Desk\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" 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