[ 2015-01-20 ]

Afconthe vital statistics 2015:
With the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations already
kicking off, Goal's guest writer brings to the
fore some notable statistics that could define the
competition

The participating nations at this year's edition
of the Africa Cup of Nations submitted their list
of 23 players to the Confederation of African
Football on January 7.

Of the 16 teams, South Africa bring the highest
number of home-based players to the party, with 18
of those named by coach Ephraim Mashaba plying
their trade in the country's Premier Soccer
League. Three clubs Kaizer Chiefs dominate the
squad with five players, while Orlando Pirates,
and Bidvest Wits have three apiece.

Tunisia's roster follows with 13 local players.
Zambia have 11, Congo eight, DR Congo seven,
Equatorial Guinea five, Cote d'Ivoire three,
Algeria, Cameroon ,Gabon, Guinea, Mali (two each),
while neighbours Burkina Faso and Ghana have no
more than one.

Cape Verde and Senegal are without local players.
But while all of the 23 Teranga Lions play outside
the continent, Cape Verde at least have two of
their men based in another part of Africa:
Angola.

Thirty-two European football leagues have players
representing their countries at Equatorial Guinea
2015. Germany, England, Spain, Italy and France
contribute a combined tally of 136, with France's
70 the highest. Spain are next (26), then England
(23), Italy (10) and Germany (7).

The maximum coming from France for one team, nine,
would be in Senegal's camp. Guinea and Gabon have
eight, Cote d'Ivoire and Mali each invited seven,
and six for both Burkina Faso and Cameroon. Congo
trail with five, while Tunisia (4), Algeria, Cape
Verde and Ghana have (three each) and D.R Congo
(1) all weigh in with their respective figures.

Though absent from Afcon 2015, Morocco have two
players in their league appearing for Mali, Gabon
and Congo respectively. Angola's league has three
players - two for Burkina Faso, one with DR Congo
- while Burkina also called up a duo who play in
the Egyptian league.

On the African continent, South Africa's PSL,
already mentioned, has five more representatives,
split 3:2 between Cape Verde and Ghana. Tunisia
are second on that chart, with 16 players from
their league competing.

At club level, Kaizer Chief's aforementioned five
is only beaten by TP Mazembe's seven, making the
pair the African outfits sending out the most
players to the 2015 Afcon.

Source - Goal.com

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