It was player pressure, more than the bleating of club managers, that finally saw African football make a firm decision to move their Cup of Nations finals from the opening months of every second year to a slot in the off-season.
Increasingly torn between club and country, footballers were threatening to forsake the tournament, even under the threat of ending their international careers, if it was not moved to a date that would not force them to make the difficult choice between club and country.
The club versus country tug of war was never an issue at the Cup of Nations until1988 when restrictions on professional players competing were
