  Due to the unfavourable climatic conditions in Qatar during summertime, the
FIFA World Cup 2022 will be played during on-going seasons of the major
European leagues. This study investigates how national teams' tournaments
scheduled at such a time window impact the playing time of released players,
using data from the Africa Cups of Nations (AFCON). For 262 internationals
playing at the 2013, 2015 and 2021 AFCON, we compared the share of possible
games and minutes played before and after the tournament using Mann-Whitney-U
tests. We found a significant decrease of 3.3% for games (p=.029,
CL_Effect_Size=44.5%) and 3.1% for minutes played respectively (p=.018,
CL_Effect_Size=44.9%). For a subsample of 163 players, which played for the
same club the preceding seasons, we found that these players tend to have
played more in the second half of the previous season, resulting in a net
decrease of 6.8% for games (p=.011, CL_Effect_Size=42.3%) and 7.1% for minutes
played (p=.007, CL_Effect_Size=41.9%). Conclusions for the FIFA World Cup 2022
should only be drawn carefully as the number of released players was
comparatively low. However, the findings give some indication that releasing
clubs might suffer the rest of the season after this tournament.
