Pinnick: African football will grow

President of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, says changes in the CAF African Cup of Nations will improve the game on the continent.
Speaking to the BBC website, the NFF boss reckons the game will not suffer because there are 24 teams set to participate at the tournament.
The changes in the continental showpiece were introduced by CAF last week during a football symposium held in Morocco.
Pinnick presides over CAF’s Nations Cup Organising Committee and believes African football will be ‘redefined’ as a result of the changes, citing benefits with regard to business, infrastructure and the sport itself.
Although he believes there will be setbacks, Pinnick believes the African game can only benefit even if the tournament may suffer early on.
“At the beginning, you will see some problems but later it will start building up to the quality people know it for,” the Nigerian said.
“Trust me, it is not going to reduce the quality. You will now starting seeing big money for African players – massive transfers because they are now in line with the footballer calendar.
“I don’t think there is any major concern. I called nine Nigeria internationals (to check) and they said it was not an issue. I also asked my marketing agent who called some big African names in the Premier League and they said the same thing.”
The tournament will now be staged between June and July instead of January-February as it was the norm in previous years.