Leagues & Clubs Impact Rankings – Africa Cup of Nations 2021 (2022)

Check what leagues and clubs had have the biggest impact for the results of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2021 (AFCON Jan 9, 2022 – Feb 6, 2022). About procedure one can read on the page bottom.

Rankings of leagues and clubs related to the CAF Nations Cup 2021 – general overview

The largest number of players – 106 – came to the tournament from the French league, from both Ligue1 and the lower divisions: Ligue2, Championnat National, Championnat National 2, including Championnat National 3.   Players from the French league joined 17 national teams. Besides the French league, the English, Spanish, Italian and Belgian leagues had the greatest influence. English league footballers took participation in 17 national teams (the same number as the “French”), but there were half as many “English” players as the “French”. Looking at the ranking of individual divisions (not countries), the French Ligue2 is in the top five next to Ligue1, Premier League, La Liga and Serie A. The Belgian first league is in 6th spot in this ranking.

The most influential and most represented African division turned out to be the Egyptian Premier League with 32 players. The second league in terms of the number of players was the Sudanese league, but its impact on the results was negligible (apart from one player, the others were players for the Sudanese national team, which recorded one draw and two defeats and did not come out of the group stage). The South African Premier Division had a greater impact, despite the smaller number of players, and what’s more important, South Africa as a national team did not participate in the tournament. National teams of Cameroon, Comoros, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau and Mali did not have any representatives from their national leagues.

The KA algorithm awarded the title of the most influential club to the Egyptian Zamalek.  Zamalek was represented by 9 players (the most at the tournament) from the teams of Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia (two quarter-finalists and one finalist). Zamalek players scored two goals and all, except the Moroccan representative, appeared on the pitch. The biggest impact on the results of the tournament among non-African teams had the Belgian R. Standard de Liège, and French clubs PSG and Metz. Metz had 7 players representing Algeria, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Mali, Senegal and Tunisia, and was most represented non-African club at AFCON 2021. Standard had only 5 players (Cameroon, Morocco, Mali, Burkina Faso and Tunisia), but their time on the field was more significant. PSG gave an example where quality exceeded quantity. Three riders: Abdou Diallo, Achraf Hakimi, Idrissa Gueye gave more input than the 7 players of Metz.

Looking at the tournament from a continental perspective, the dominance of European leagues and clubs has been confirmed once again (76.1% impact rating, 61.89% players, 66.09% clubs, 51.35% leagues and 72.16% goals). On the other hand, the significantly reduced influence of the Asian federation (AFC) on AFCON 2021 compared to AFCON 2019 is noticeable.

Below are 3 tables:

1) Leagues Ranking (countries)

2) Leagues Ranking (divisions)

3) Club Ranking

You can also check all players data table here, and the description of the procedure, i.e. how we calculate the impact value – here.

AFCON 2021 LEAGUES RANKING (COUNTRIES)

the best and most impactful leagues

• country: name of the country of league(s) and flag image (there is other small flag in the corner of the flag image, if clubs in the AFCON 2021 of the one league are from more then one country)
• domestic: number of players representing the league on the AFCON 2021 from the same country as the national team for it they play
• foreigners: number of players representing the league on the AFCON 2021, if those players represent the country (national team) which is not the same as country of the league
• players: number of players from the league called up to squads on the AFCON 2021 (sum of domestic & foreigners players)
• pts: points assigned to the country according to the KA Algorithm (see on the page bottom); converted to RPS – the KA system algorithm, used to compare results from different rankings and tables (value used for the purposes of the KA Football Leagues Global Rating.)
• 2019: relation to the spot hold by the league in the Leagues Ranking AFCON 2019

• country: a short name of the country with flag emoji; there are two emoji flags, if clubs in the AFCON 2021 of the one league are from more then one country
• domestic: number of players representing the league on the AFCON 2021 from the same country as the national team for it they play
• foreigners: number of players representing the league on the AFCON 2021, if those players represent the country (national team) which is not the same as country of the league
• players: number of players from the league called up to squads on the AFCON 2021 (sum of domestic & foreigners players)
• pts: points assigned to the country according to the KA Algorithm (see on the page bottom); converted to RPS – the KA system algorithm, used to compare results from different rankings and tables (value used for the purposes of the KA Football Leagues Global Rating.)
• 2019: relation to the spot took by the league in the Leagues Ranking AFCON 2019

AFCON 2021 LEAGUES RANKING (TOP 50 DIVISIONS)

the best and most impactful football divisions

• league: a name of the football league where the club plays the games or (for less recognizable league competitions) a short name of the country and (for lower divisions) the number presenting the league level in the country league system
• country: flag of a country of the football league (there is the other small flag in the corner of the flag image, if clubs in the AFCON 2021 of the one league are from more then one country);
• division: a short name of the country of the league, where the club plays the games and a number presenting the league level in the country league system
• players: number of players from the league called up to squads on the AFCON 2021
• active: percentage of players from the league who have participated in matches of the AFCON 2021 (regardless of the number of minutes)
• all divisions: number of players from all leagues (divisions) from the same country called up to squads on the AFCON 2021
• pts: points assigned according to the KA Algorithm (see on the bottom page)
• goals: goals scored by players from the certain league

• league: a short name of the country, the number presenting the league level in the country league system and emoji flag where the clubs play the games (there are two flags if clubs in the AFCON 2021 of the one league are from more then one country)
• division: a short name of the country of the league, where the club plays the games and a number presenting the league level in the country league system
• players: number of players from the league called up to squads on the AFCON 2021
• active: percentage of players from the league who have participated in matches of the AFCON 2021 (regardless of the number of minutes)
• all divisions: number of players from all leagues (divisions) from the same country called up to squads on the AFCON 2021
• pts: points assigned according to the KA Algorithm (see on the bottom page)
• goals: goals scored by players from the certain league

AFCON 2021 CLUB RANKING

the best and most impactful clubs