Imagine most of baseball's Latin American sluggers returning home en masse to miss a full month of games midway through a regular season, and you'll get some idea of what European pro soccer is currently experiencing. Depleted squads; the general level of play noticeably weakened; and standings shaken up as teams surge or falter as a result of the exodus of so many star performers. The cause of the exodus? The African Cup of Nations, a biennial tournament that pitches the continent's 16 top national teams against one another in a mini-World Cup whose quality now rivals the regional competitions of South America and Europe.

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