Jamie Carragher admits he was wrong to dismiss AFCON
Former Liverpool and England player now turned pundit Jamie Carragher has admitted he was wrong to dismiss the Africa Cup of Nations as not a 'major tournament' - but stands by his reasoning behind a 'clumsy' comment.
The Liverpool legend believes there may be a 'bias' against AFCON in Ballon d'Or voting which holds back stars such as Mohamed Salah.
Carragher faced widespread criticism, as well as support, when he made the claim on AFCON's status, and insists he meant no offence to anybody.
'I have got very strong opinions on the game, I love debate, and that will never change,' he told CBS Sports' Golazo Show - his first appearance on television since he claimed on Sky Sports more than a week ago.
'But what I would never want to be described as, as a pundit, is ignorant or disrespectful so that was never my aim. And whether that's to a player, a club, a country, a continent, a continental tournament, whatever that may be.
'What I would say is, where I got it wrong was, I was clumsy describing AFCON as not a major tournament. I was trying to explain the merits of Mo Salah winning the Ballon d'Or, and I feel that not just AFCON, I would say the Asia Games, the Gold Cup, not so much the Copa America, but there are five major tournaments out there besides the World Cup that are for their continent and are a major tournament.
'But some of them don't resonate with the people who vote for the Ballon d'Or. And that for me was not an opinion, that was a fact in terms of looking who had won the Ballon d'Or in the last 40 or 50 years.
'Yes, I've been banging the drum for Mo Salah to become the first African player to win the Ballon d'Or since George Weah in the mid '90s. As I said, I should have been a lot tidier with my language around that, so yes, that's something I'll look at.
'But as I said, you do look at the Euros, where it's at right now, and other competitions, and some of them resonate with the Ballon d'Or voters, who sometimes are journalists, national coaches, national captains.
'And one of the reasons might be, sometimes we forget, the Ballon d'Or was the European Footballer of the Year. So maybe there is a bias towards the Euros or European football in the past.
'It was not my aim to offend anybody - I know I've done that a lot in the past in different guises about different players and teams. But that was certainly not the case. yes, hopefully that's now addressed it.'
Carragher was originally called out by Daniel Sturridge and Micah Richards during Sky Sports' post-match analysis of Liverpool's 2-0 win over Manchester City on February 23.
Since then, he has been criticised by the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Ahmed Elmohamady, Jay-Jay Okocha, and John Obi Mikel, who told him in no uncertain terms to 'f*** off'.
However, there was also a lot of sympathy for Carragher from people who felt he had simply been misunderstood in explaining why Salah is at a disadvantage when it comes to AFCON voting.
Ballon d'Or winners have often tasted glory in either the Champions League or an international tournament - typically the European Championship or Copa America. No African star has won the gong since George Weah in 1995, while Sadio Mane finished second in the 2022 edition.
