CAN 2025: Italian coach launches harsh criticism at Arsène Wenger | OneFootball

Tom Saintfiet

Tom Saintfiet, Mali's head coach, has taken aim at Arsène Wenger, the legendary former Arsenal manager.FIFA's decision to delay the release date for players ahead of the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations by one week has sparked a strong backlash across the continent in recent days. Originally scheduled from December 21 to January 18 in Morocco, the tournament was set to allow national teams access to their players from December 8. However, on Wednesday, FIFA made official a change that caught the national teams off guard. Clubs will now have until December 15 to release their selected players. FIFA presents this measure as the result of “fruitful consultations” and claims it is intended to “reduce the impact” for all parties involved.

These explanations have failed to quell the anger of several African managers, who accuse FIFA of disrespecting their competitions. Among them is Mali's head coach, Tom Saintfiet. Speaking to AFP, he directly targeted Arsène Wenger, FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development. “The problem is that FIFA’s technical director, Arsène Wenger, knows nothing about international football. Apart from two seasons in Japan, he has only worked with top European clubs, Arsenal and Monaco. And that’s what he’s doing now—working for the big clubs, not for national teams. A technical director for FIFA should be a former national team coach who understands the world and the job of a national coach,” complained the Belgian tactician.

He went further, denouncing the way non-European continents are treated in FIFA’s decision-making: “There is no respect for football in Africa, Asia, Oceania, Concacaf… For FIFA, the center of football is Europe and that’s all that matters. The money from European clubs is all that matters.”