The Nation Newspaper

Tag: CAF

  • CAF move 2016 CHAN draw in Kigali

    CAF move 2016 CHAN draw in Kigali

    CAF have brought forward the draw for next year’s CHAN in Rwanda to November 15.

    CAF announced the draw in Kigali will now be staged three days earlier than the originally slated. All 16 finalists are now known after Cameroon outscored Congo on aggregate on Saturday.

    The other qualifiers for the 2016 CHAN are hosts Rwanda, Angola, DR Congo, Gabon, Ethiopia, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

    Both defending champions Libya and last year’s runners-up Ghana failed to qualify for the 2016 CHAN.

    The tournament reserved for players featuring in their home leagues will be played from January 16 to February 7 in three Rwandan cities of Kigali, Gisenyi and Butare.

  • Nigeria/Chad AFCON Qualifier: CAF slams N996,250 on Nigeria

    Nigeria/Chad AFCON Qualifier: CAF slams N996,250 on Nigeria

    The African football governing body, CAF, has slammed a $5,000 fine on Nigeria for pitch invasion during their 2017 Africa Cup of Nations(Afcon) qualifier against Chad.

    The match took place at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium  in Kaduna on June 13.

    Nigeria’s Super Eagles won the  game 2-0 with goals from Gbolahan Salami and Odion Ighalo.

    The CAF disciplinary board in its decision taken on September 20 and announced this week revealed that the offence committed during the AFCON qualifier is “pitch invasion when Nigeria scores.”

    The former African champions are  second in Group G of the AFCON qualification with two points less behind leaders Egypt who have maximum points from games against Tanzania and Chad.

    The two nations meet on March 23, 2016 for the first time in the group with the Nigerians playing the hosts. Four days later, Nigeria will travel to Egypt in the return clash that could determine who will be  top of the group.

    The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is yet to pick a venue for the game against the Pharaohs of Egypt as the Eagles have shuttled their home games among the UJ Esuene Stadium, the Akwa Ibom Stadium, Ahmadu Bello Stadium and the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in recent months.

    The last time CAF fined Nigeria in an AFCON game was in February 2010 when they played co-hosts with Ghana for that year’s edition of the African tournament.

    CAF did fine Nigeria $10,000 in 2010 for pitch invasion by fans who thought the Super Eagles had won by the golden goal rule against Senegal after Julius Aghahowa scored in extra time in a quarterfinal match.

    The African football body later reduced the fine  by half.

  • AFCON qualifier: Nigeria fined $5,000 for fans’ misconduct

    AFCON qualifier: Nigeria fined $5,000 for fans’ misconduct

    The Confederation of African Football has fined the Nigeria Football Federation $5,000 for fans’ misconduct during the 2017 African Cup of Nations qualifier against Chad in Kaduna.

    Nigeria defeated the Chadians 2-0 and fans later invaded the pitch at full time to celebrate Nigeria’s victory in the match played in June, Goal reports.

    According to a statement released on CAF website on Tuesday, the decision was one of the many actions taken during the body’s disciplinary committee meeting held on September 20.

     

     

  • Busy CAF, FIFA week for Nigerian refs

    Busy CAF, FIFA week for Nigerian refs

    Nigerian women referees are in for a busy week, dictated by CAF and FIFA

    On September 30 in Yaounde, Cameroun, referees Uloma Nneka and Bosede Momoh, who officiated in the All Africa Games Soccer event, will attend the Women Elite Referees course that will further sharpen their skills in readiness for top grade matches in Africa and the world.

    Uloma and Bose will be joined by Stella Iloje, who will be in Cameroun for the Physical Fitness Instructors Course.

    Before the CAF course, Uloma will lead Hilda Nkwocha, Mimisen Agatha, and Ajayi Foluso to Burkina Faso for a Women World Cup, U-20 qualifier 2nd round match pitching the host against Ethiopia on September 26.

    The Nigerian women U-20 team, the Falconets will also see action same week end against Congo DR in a match that will be handled by referee Therese Sylvie Abou’ou of Cameroun and her compatriots.

  • CAF Licensing Seminar opens in Abuja

    CAF Licensing Seminar opens in Abuja

    The first –ever CAF Club Licensing Seminar in Nigeria was opened in Abuja on Thursday at a colourful ceremony witnessed by leading lights of Nigerian football and big-wigs of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

    NFF President Amaju Pinnick, who opened the two –day event, praised CAF for the initiative and stressed that the program was another step by the NFF to build capacity of workers in the game and entrench global best practices in the administration of the Nigerian game.

    “As we keep saying at every turn, our administration is committed to repositioning the Nigeria game. There has been tremendous impact in several aspects, most notably the League, and we are determined to intensify the capacity building programs for referees, coaches and administrators.

    “We appreciate this move by CAF, recognizing the high importance of our country in the global football community, and we have high regard for the instructors they have sent to ‘load’ our people with the best practices in club licensing.”

    CAF has sent four of its best instructors, namely CAF Club Licensing Manager Ahmed Harraz, Dominique Niyonzima from Burundi, George Kasengele from Zambia and respected FIFA Match Commissioner Anthony Baffoe from Ghana. NFF Club Licensing Manager, Nasiru Jibril is coordinating.

    The African body has also invited its Nigerian Club Licensing Instructors, including Dr. Bolaji Ojo-Oba (FIFA Match Commissioner, CAF Instructor and one –time NFF General Secretary) and Mazi Amanze Uchegbulam (former NFF 1st Vice President and deputy president of the CAF Appeal Board).

    Present at the occasion were NFF 1st Vice President, Barr. Seyi Akinwunmi, NFF 2nd Vice President/LMC chairman, Mr. Shehu Dikko, NFF Executive Committee members Ibrahim Musa Gusau, Felix Anyansi-Agwu, Ahmed Yusuf Fresh and Ahmad Kawu, NFF General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi and chief operating officer of LMC, Salihu Abubakar.

    The four instructors sent by CAF

    Chairman of the Directors of Sports in the country, Mr. Tunde Kazeem, Directors of Sports of Kebbi and Osun States (Usman Ladan and Akin Adio respectively) and Players’ Union chieftains Dahiru Sadi and Austin Popo were also in attendance, alongside representatives of all Premier League clubs in the country.

    Meanwhile, Nigeria’s FIFA Match Commissioner, CAF Instructor and NFF Technical Committee member, Mr. Paul Bassey is in Accra, Ghana as an instructor at a similar seminar holding in that country.

  • CAF opposes postponement of FIFA elections

    CAF opposes postponement of FIFA elections

    The Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) on Thursday said it is opposed to a postponement of the 65th FIFA Election/Congress into the presidency of the world soccer body, scheduled to hold on May 29 in Zurich.

    CAF in its website said the confederation at its meeting held on May 27 in Zurich reiterated its support for the candidacy of incumbent Sepp Blatter during the election.

    “CAF is following with particular attention the events happening in the football family at this time.

    “the commitment of CAF to work and to cooperate in safeguarding the ethical and moral values that underlie the practice of the sport, its organisation and administration,” the Africa soccer governing body said.

    Furthermore, it noted that the body offers full support to measures initiated by FIFA in recent years at improving good governance.

    CAF however, re-affirmed its readiness to cooperate in this direction with all the institutions that engage and subscribe to zero tolerance, vis-a-vis offenders, regardless of their profile or origin.

     

  • CAF confirms Adamu’s relevance to African football

    CAF confirms Adamu’s relevance to African football

    The Confederation of African Football (CAF) yesterday in Cairo, Egypt made it clear that  former FIFA Executive Committee member, Nigeria’s Dr. Amos Adamu, is still very much relevant to the development of African football and to the sport at the global level.

    Adamu’s relevance was concretized by his invitation as Special Guest to the 37th CAF Ordinary General Assembly which is ongoing at the Aida Ballroom of the Marriott Hotel, Zamalek in Cairo.

    The invitation letter of the former Director-General of the National Sports Commission (NSC) to the 37th CAF General Assembly was signed by the CAF General Secretary, Hicham El Amrani, who said that the invitation of  Adamu was in line with the belief that his wealth of experience which he garnered over the years as FIFA and CAF Executive Committee member cannot be ignored.

    Adamu fully attended all the proceedings of the CAF Ordinary General Assembly on Tuesday which included the elections of the continent’s two representatives on the FIFA Executive Committee and the six members on the CAF Executive Committee.

    The former WAFU president, is the third Nigerian in attendance at the CAF General Assembly as he was in company of NFF president Amaju Pinnick and Secretary General, Dr. Sanusi Mohammed.

    Adamu would still be on ground for today’s meeting of the CAF Executive Committee, to be followed by the naming of the host country for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations finals, as well as the Draw for the qualification series for the competition.

    After yesterday’s proceedings, Adamu entered into private discussions with the CAF president, Issa Hayatou and FIFA President, Sepp Blatter.

    Blatter is at the Congress in company of the Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

  • Enyimba to report Tunisian match officials to CAF

    Enyimba to report Tunisian match officials to CAF

    •Alleges poor officiating 

    Enyimba FC has said it would officially complain to CAF about the level of officiating in their CAF Champions League First Round, second leg tie against Smouha SC of Egypt.

    The Egyptian side scored two late goals to eliminate the People’s Elephant 2-1 on aggregate but Enyimba are still pained at the handling

    of the match by the Tunisian match officials who gave the visitors a late penalty kick and sent Sokari Kingsley off through a straight red card and also allowed the second goal scored through ball handing.

    The Chairman of Enyimba FC, Felix Anyansi Agwu who spoke to Nationsport from Egypt said the club would officially report the

    match officials’ handling of the second leg match to stop its further recurrence.

    Enyimba’s players will return to Nigeria today to prepare for the remainder of the league season.

  • Kanu: Nigerian clubs don’t prepare for CAF Cup games

    Kanu: Nigerian clubs don’t prepare for CAF Cup games

    Former African Footballer of the Year, Kanu Nwankwo has tasked the organisers of the Nigeria Premier League, League Management Company(LMC) to create more enabling environment that will ensure that right clubs get to represent the country on the continent.

    Kano Pillars FC and Enyimba FC the two CAF Champions League representatives were bundled out of the competition in the first round after they lost out to North African clubs, Moghreb Tetouan of Morocco and Smouha SC of Egypt last weekend.

    Kanu who was the African best in 1996 and 1999 told Nationsport in Owerri that Nigerian clubs must do more if they want to go far on the

    He also stressed that clubs that are carrying Nigeria’s banner on the continent should be more prepared whenever they qualify for the

    continent and should not only rely on the Super 4 from the LMC if they do not want the country’s clubs to continue to struggle on the continent.

    Kanu said: “The league is growing and it is coming up. It is better than it used to be in the last two years. We have to give credit to LMC and also the clubs. But all the same we need more investors to pump money into the league. Without fund in it, nothing can happen we will only be complaining. Like what you said, I think whenever Nigerian clubs qualify for the continent they don’t tend to prepare very well. Their concentration level is not as when they are preparing for the league. They need to stop that attitude. They should know that they are not representing their states but the country.

    “LMC must also give more enabling environment to all clubs so that the right clubs get to qualify.”

  • CAF tells Dolphins to remain in Tunis

    CAF tells Dolphins to remain in Tunis

    CAF has directed  Nigeria Professional Football League [NPFL] club, Dolphins, to remain in Tunis “until a decision is reached and communicated to you.”

    The apex football body in Africa, in a letter on Monday, from its deputy director in the competitions department, Khaled Naddar, gave the former Nigerians hope of being restored into the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Confederation Cup after they were walked over by Club Africain on Saturday in a first leg, round of 32 match.

    “Reference to the above mentioned match which was initially scheduled on 14th March 2015; we would like to request your team Dolphins to stay in Tunis until a decision is reached and communicated to you,” CAF responded to an earlier petition Dolphins sent through the Nigeria Football Federation [NFF] to it.

    The Nigerian club now believe that following the communication from CAF, “there is a ray of hope” for them after they protested their being walked over by 12-time Tunisian champions, Club Africain.

    “There is a ray of hope for Dolphins Football Club as regards their protest to the Confederation of Africa Football, CAF, because of the purported walk over by Club Africain in their game over the weekend.

    “After a long drawn out protest saga by Dolphins, through the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) international department, it seems CAF will make a decision that favours Dolphins.

    “There have been series of emails, and telephone conversations between officials of the team, the NFF and CAF as regards this issue and this letter from CAF gives a ray of hope,” Dolphins said in a statement on Tuesday.

    Dolphins, earlier scheduled to return to Nigeria today before CAF’s directive, had protested that they arrived in Tunis in time for the game but had to undergo a two-hour routine over visa issuance.

    Last Thursday, the Port Harcourt club said they had also requested for a shift in date for the match after encountering a hitch in their travel plans owing to protest by their players over wages.

    CAF is now expected to take a decision concerning the matter involving Dolphins and Club Africain barring any hitch.