Which Championship players will be playing at AFCON or the Asia Cup?

Which Championship players will be playing at the AFCON or Asia Cup in the opening stages of 2024? It’s a question many concerned EFL supporters – including Sam Ingram – will have asked as the competitions grow closer.

As the three tiers of the English Football League hots up, January is often a time where managers and owners can take stock, reinforce their squads, and put together a plan on how to navigate the second half of the season. For some, though, they’ll have to hash together a plan without their best African and Asian components.

Which Championship players will be playing at AFCON or the Asia Cup?

• Full list of Championship players at AFCON or the Asia Cup
• The Championship players leaving in January
• AFCON Winner Odds
• BETSiE’s Championship Prediction
• Safer Gambling

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Full list of Championship players at AFCON or the Asia Cup

The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and the Asia Cup are to take place at the same time in January. Cue the headaches from managers and football fans alike…

AFCON will run from January 13th to February 11th, whilst the Asia Cup commences on January 12th up until the final on February 10th.

Below is the full list of all Championship players who are playing in AFCON or the Asia Cup.

Player	Club	Nation	Competition
Junior Tchamadeu	Stoke City	Cameroon	AFCON
Grady Diangana	West Brom	DR Congo	AFCON
Edo Kayembe	Watford	DR Congo	AFCON
Charles Ondo	Huddersfield	Equatorial Guinea	AFCON
Jean Michael Seri	Hull City	Ivory Coast	AFCON
Adama Traore	Hull City	Mali	AFCON
Semi Ajayi	West Brom	Nigeria	AFCON
Kelechi Iheanacho	Leicester City	Nigeria	AFCON
Joe Aribo	Southampton	Nigeria	AFCON
Seny Dieng	Middlesbrough	Senegal	AFCON
Patson Daka	Leicester City	Zambia	AFCON
Cameron Burgess	Ipswich Town	Australia	Asia Cup
Harry Souttar	Middlesbrough	Australia	Asia Cup
Riley McGree	Middlesbrough	Australia	Asia Cup
Samuel Silvera	Middlesbrough	Australia	Asia Cup
Elkan Baggot	Ipswich Town	Indonesia	Asia Cup
Yuta Nakayama	Huddersfield	Japan	Asia Cup
Ebou Adams**	Cardiff City	Gambia	AFCON

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The Championship players leaving in January: The Not-So Super Eagles and Australia Take A Few

Australia, who will be performing in the Asia Cup, have been the busiest in terms of plucking players out of the Championship for the January tournament. Central defender Harry Souttar (one Championship start this season) pulling on an Aussie jersey this month won’t exactly send Leicester City fans into meltdown given their options at the back.

However, add Souttar to the departing Africans Patson Daka and Kelechi Iheanacho, and it’s a trio of players which may leave Enzo Maresca feeling a little light. Wilfried Ndidi has withdrawn from the Super Eagles squad through injury, remaining closer – geographically – to Championship action than the rest.

In the 2022 AFCON instalment, Iheanacho registered a goal in a 1-0 win over Egypt. Joe Aribo was the man to lay on the assist for his compatriot that day. Aribo, who now plays for Southampton, will join Iheanacho once again in an attempt to rubbish the 11.00 seventh-placed favourites tag the bookmakers have placed around the not-so Super Eagles’ neck.

Elsewhere, Christian Burgess and Elkan Baggot leave an Ipswich side which is currently lacking boots on the ground as they join up with Australia and Indonesia, respectively.

Like Leicester, Middlesbrough, who have been quick to reinforce their squad with the purchase of Finn Azaz, also lose three players to international competition this month. Seny Dieng between the sticks swans away from his parent club alongside Riley McGree and Samuel Silvera.

There are 14 Championship clubs in total that will not have to worry about losing players to AFCON or the Asia Cup. Three of the relegation threatened teams in Rotherham, Sheffield Wednesday, and QPR manage to line up an unaffected four week period. It’s Huddersfield who are the one team right down there which will view the Asia Cup as an inconvenience with Yuta Nakayama leaving a void at LB as he jets off to Japan.

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AFCON Winner Odds: Seny Dieng the likeliest for Silverware according to the bookmakers

Middlesbrough’s man in net, Seny Dieng, is the one Championship player which bookmakers believe has the best chance of bringing an AFCON winner’s medal back onto English shores. Senegal falls just short of Morocco in terms of expectations, though Dieng and former Championship players, Ismaila Sarr and Iliman Diaye, will be hopeful of sharing the spoils.

Jean Michael Seri’s Ivory Coast enters the tournament as fourth favourites, whilst Egypt, who Ipswich’s Sam Morsy refused consideration for alongside Mohamed Salah come in as the fifth most-fancied side.

The three Nigerians in the Championship are an 11.00 punt for glory. For the Championship’s sake, let’s hope they give it a good go.

Afcon Nation	Winner Odds	Implied Probability
Morocco	6.00	16.7%
Senegal	7.00	14.3%
Algeria	8.00	12.5%
Ivory Coast	10.00	10.0%
Egypt	10.00	10.0%
Cameroon	11.00	9.1%
Nigeria	11.00	9.1%
Tunisia	13.00	7.7%
Ghana	15.00	6.7%
Mali	21.00	4.8%
DR Congo	34.00	2.9%
South Africa	41.00	2.4%

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BETSiE‘s Championship Season Probabilities

Over on our dedicated BETSiE-dedicated Championship page, there is a plethora of data, predictions and projections for one to get their teeth stuck into. If you’re a fan of the second tier, which would make sense with you being here, then we’d recommend a visit.

Here is BETSiE’s (our in-house predictive model) take on the probabilities behind how the Championship will pan out. AFCON and the Asia Cup is predicted to have little impact on Leicester and Ipswich, though Leeds United (27.8%) will hope it shakes the foundations enough for safe passage to a top two finish.

Meanwhile, the 45.2% chance of relegation in Huddersfield is a figure which may have been impacted by the loss of a key figure.

Club	Win League	Top 2 Finish	Playoffs	Top 6 Finish	Top Half Finish	Bottom Half Finish	Relegation
Leicester	69.2%	93.3%	6.6%	100.0%	100.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Ipswich	25.1%	72.9%	26.9%	99.8%	100.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Leeds	5.2%	27.8%	70.2%	98.0%	100.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Southampton	0.2%	2.3%	69.1%	71.4%	99.3%	0.7%	0.0%
Sunderland	0.2%	2.3%	71.2%	73.5%	99.6%	0.4%	0.0%
West Brom	0.0%	0.8%	55.1%	55.9%	98.4%	1.6%	0.0%
Hull	0.0%	0.4%	38.6%	39.0%	95.8%	4.2%	0.0%
Middlesbrough	0.0%	0.2%	31.3%	31.5%	94.1%	5.9%	0.0%
Blackburn	0.0%	0.0%	14.2%	14.2%	84.0%	16.0%	0.0%
Coventry	0.0%	0.0%	9.4%	9.4%	77.2%	22.8%	0.1%
Watford	0.0%	0.0%	2.3%	2.3%	50.4%	49.6%	0.4%
Norwich	0.0%	0.0%	1.7%	1.7%	43.3%	56.7%	0.7%
Bristol City	0.0%	0.0%	1.2%	1.2%	39.1%	60.9%	1.0%
Birmingham	0.0%	0.0%	0.8%	0.8%	32.3%	67.7%	1.5%
Cardiff	0.0%	0.0%	0.8%	0.8%	31.4%	68.6%	1.6%
Preston	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%	0.3%	21.2%	78.8%	2.3%
Swansea	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	9.8%	90.2%	8.2%
Stoke	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	8.6%	91.4%	9.6%
Plymouth	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	8.7%	91.3%	10.2%
Millwall	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	4.0%	96.0%	19.1%
QPR	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	1.9%	98.1%	27.1%
Huddersfield	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.8%	99.2%	45.2%
Sheffield Wednesday	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%	99.8%	73.2%
Rotherham	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	100.0%	99.7%

 

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SAFER GAMBLING

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