Ligue 1: update on African World Cup players' return to club duty
Ligue 1 update on the return of African World Cup players. Fourteen of the twenty-one players, from the fifteen clubs that supplied them, have returned.
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Fifteen Ligue 1 clubs had sent twenty-one African players to the 2022 World Cup. They came from the five countries represented (Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia). The biggest contingents came from Rennes and Marseille, with three players each. Alfred Gomis (Senegal), Kamaldeen Sulemana (Ghana) and Christopher Wooh (Cameroon) for the Brittany club. Pape Guèye, Bamba Dieng (Senegal) and Simon Ngapandouetnbu (Cameroon) for the Phocéens.
At both of these Ligue 1 sides, all the African World Cup players are back in training, according to L’Équipe, which has taken stock of how the World Cup internationals are returning to their clubs after the tournament in Qatar. That is the case at almost every other team in the French league. For some, it is time to build on their form, while others will need to make amends at club level. A third category already has their minds elsewhere.
At Monaco, for instance, Krépin Diatta and Ismaïl Jakobs (Senegal) are available. So are the Ghanaians Mensah (Auxerre), Seidu (Clermont), Djiku (Strasbourg) and Samed (Lens), the Cameroonians Toko Ekambi (Lyon) and Castelletto (Nantes), as well as the Tunisian Talbi (Lorient).
The exception of Khazri, and the Moroccans
The other Eagles of Carthage player at the World Cup from Ligue 1, Wahbi Khazri, injured in Qatar, is sidelined. He has not yet resumed full team training at Montpellier.
The Moroccans have not either. As their team played in the World Cup third-place match, they were given extra recovery days. So for Ounahi and Boufal, the return to training at Angers is set for next January. Hakimi is also expected back at PSG in early 2023, but on a date still to be determined.
Dari (Brest) and Aboukhal (Toulouse), meanwhile, are due back before the end of the year. L’Équipe reports that the former returns to competition on 28 December, while the latter should be ready the following day, against Marseille (Ligue 1 matchday 16).
The Editorial Team – Sport News Africa