The Nation Newspaper

Tag: CAF

  • NFF petitions CAF on Dolphins, Africain tie

    NFF petitions CAF on Dolphins, Africain tie

    The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has lodged a formal complaint to CAF concerning the manner of treatment meted out to Dolphins by their Confederation Cup opponents, Club Africain.

    Supersport.com has been informed by administrative sources in the football federation that the Nigerian body’s petition toes exact line of Dolphins’ statement on how the Tunisians refused to assist them even when they made it clear that they would honour the match.

    “An official complaint has been made by the NFF to CAF concerning the way and manner that the Tunisian club [Club Africain] and its federation went about to ensure that Dolphins were not offered any hand of help despite showing that they wanted to honour the game,” supersport.com was informed on Monday.

    The former Nigerian champions, on Sunday, released a statement blaming the Tunisian club and their football federation for scuttling their resolve to honour the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup round of 32 match.

    In a 17-paragraph statement, Dolphins claimed that they arrived Tunisia around 1pm on match day [Saturday] but had to endure a two-hour routine “before our visas were processed and passports issued to the delegation (note that Tunisian visa to Nigerians from Nigeria are issued at point of entry).”

    The Port Harcourt club also say they had communicated with the NFF and even “wanted the game moved by one day from Saturday to Sunday.”

    “Dolphins FC arrived in Tunisia at 1pm on Saturday, March 14, 2015 and were scheduled to play a CAF Confederation Cup game against Club Africain at 3pm, same day.

    “Before we departed from Lagos on Thursday, we had informed the Nigeria Football Federation through Bola Oyeyode, the head of international department and Musa Amadu, the General Secretary, in writing of our challenges and wanted the game moved by one day from Saturday to Sunday.

    “We arrived in Tunis, via Emirates Airline on Saturday, 14 March 2015 at exactly 1pm. And even though our request to have the game postponed was not granted, we were ready to play as we arrived in good time, though fatigued and travel weary,” Dolphins said in a section of their statement.

    The 2014 Federation Cup finalists, Dolphins, were walked over by Club Africain, and they are now expected back in Nigeria despite making the trip to Tunis.

  • CAF moves Kano Pillars’ tie by one week

    CAF moves Kano Pillars’ tie by one week

     

    The Confederation of Africa Football(CAF) has obliged the request of Kano Pillars that their CAF Champions League first round, first leg tie against Moghreb Tétouan of Morocco be shifted and has now be slated for the weekend of March 20 to 22.

    Sai Masugida’s request came in the wake of the armed robbery attack on their players and officials last Thursday on the Abaji-Lokoja road on their way to honour a league match at Owerri.

    Pillars’ Media Officer, Idris Malikawa told SportingLife:” We are happy to inform you that CAF has graciously accepted our request for a shift to our game and it has been moved by a week. We will now play against Moghreb Tétouan in Morocco in the weekend of March 20 to 22. We are happy with this development.

    “The time change will enable our players to recover from the shock of the incident. Even though we won’t have our injured players for that match, we are glad that the shift will afford us more time to prepare. We got the news from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)’s Director of Competitions, Dr Mohammed Sanusi on Monday night after he alerted us of the news from CAF,” Malikawa told SportingLife.

    Pillars beat Al Malakia of South Sudan 5-0 on aggregate in the preliminary round before setting a date with the North Africans.

  • CAF suspends Morocco from two AFCONs

    CAF suspends Morocco from two AFCONs

    The Confederation of African Football Executive Committee on Friday suspended the Moroccan national team from the 2017 and 2009 Africa Cup of Nations Cup tournaments, following  its meeting in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

    The decision comes after Morocco refused to host the current edition as scheduled over fears of the Ebola virus and  Equatorial Guinea took over the hosting rights, africanFootball.com reports.

    Furthermore, the Executive Committee imposed on the Moroccan Royal Federation a fine of 8,050,000 Euros as compensation for all material damages suffered by CAF and other parties due to the late withdrawal.

    “The CAF Executive Committee, meeting in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea on the side lines of the 30th edition of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations took action on the refusal of Morocco to host this competition as scheduled and agreed i.e. from 17 January to 8 February 2015,”africanFootball.com quoted CAF as saying on the matter.

    Morocco had based its request to postpone the tournament by a year on October 10, 2014, on allegations “of the highest health risk.”

    The North African nation cited the outbreak of the Ebola virus as a case of force majeure in justifying its request for postponement, citing in particular the risk of contamination of its population because of anticipated fans’ flows.

    CAF raised objections and inadmissibility of Morocco’s request who were obliged to state their position of withdrawal from the organization of the tournament by November 11, 2014.
    The Executive Committee considered that, contrary to what the Royal Moroccan Football Federation cited, force majeure cannot be accepted for the benefit of the federation.

  • Caf Awards key to WC glory — Okon

    Caf Awards key to WC glory — Okon

    Super Falcons head coach Edwin Okon has said recent Caf awards won by the side and star striker Asisat Oshoala will be key at the upcoming Fifa Women’s World Cup in Canada.

    The Falcons won the women’s national team of the year while Rivers Angels markswoman Oshoala won the prestigious overall best and youth player of the year awards at the 2014 Glo/Caf awards in Lagos.

    Okon said the African performance award is a huge challenge for the side to further prove their worth at the world stage when football hostilities start in Canada in June.

    “The Caf awards to Asisat Oshoala and Super Falcons are good omens for better things to come, especially at the upcoming Fifa Women’s World Cup in Canada.

    “Winning the best national team in Africa is no mean feat and same goes for Oshoala’s emergence as the best player as well as youth player for 2014.

    “The awards are wake-up calls for us to work harder as Nigeria will be the target at the World Cup among their opponents.

    “We would like to excel at the world stage to prove to doubters that the recognition of our performance in Africa are well deserved and not a fluke, ” said the Rivers Angels head coach to supersport.com.

    The reigning African champions will campaign for honours in Group D at the World Cup together with Australia, Sweden and former world champions USA.

  • GLO-CAF Awards: Okocha, Kanu lead ex-internationals to Gala Night

    GLO-CAF Awards: Okocha, Kanu lead ex-internationals to Gala Night

    Ex-internationals and former Super Eagles Captains, Austin ‘Jay-Jay’ Okocha and Kanu Nwankwo will be among the generation of old Super Eagles’ players who will attend the 2014 Glo-CAF Awards gala night coming up on 8th January in Lagos, Nigeria.

    In a statement from the organisers of the awards, Globacom, Okocha and two former African Footballers of the Year, Nwankwo Kanu and Victor Nosa Ikpeba, are expected to grace the awards aptly labelled the ‘Oscars’ of African football.

    It is believed that their presence at the event would spur younger football players to greater heights.

    Okocha distinguished himself playing with Einthract Frankfurt FC of Germany, Fernabache of Turkey, Paris St Germain of France and Bolton Wanderers of England.  He is noted for his flamboyant skills and dribbles on the pitch. A two-time winner of the BBC African Player of the Year, he was honoured with the Legends Award along with Ex-Moroccan International Mustapha Hadji at the 2011 Glo-CAF Awards.  He wore many caps for the Nigerian national team, Super Eagles before he retired about eight years ago.

    Similarly, Ikpeba, a former player of Monaco FC, popularly known as ‘Prince of Monaco’ played for the France-based team for many years before moving to Borussia Dortmund FC in Germany. He was also in Blgium where he played for Standard Liege.  He won the African Footballer of the Year Award in 1997.

    Ex-international, Kanu Nwankwo began his football exploits as a  striker in Ajax of Amsterdam and later moved to Inter Milan, Arsenal and Portsmouth amonst others. Nwankwo is rated as Nigeria’s most successful player and he earned global acclaim for his infinite capacity to score memorable goals. He won the African Footballer of the Year Award twice in 1996 and 1999.

    He captained the Nigerian senior national team, Super Eagles for many years before retiring from active football. He was the captain of the Atlanta Olympics-winning U-23 team in 1996.  He established the Kanu Nwankwo Heart Foundation which has assisted a number of young children across Africa with heart challenges.

    The three ex-Nigerian internationals will lead other Super Eagles players to the event where they will have the opportunity to reminisce on their Super Eagles days, as well as meet current and ex-internationals from different parts of Africa.

    The 2014 Glo-CAF Awards will hold at the Convention Centre, Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos on 8th January, 2015. CAF released the final list of three shortlisted players last week for the African Player of the Year awards.

    They are Nigerian Vincent Enyeama who currently plays for Lille in France, three-time African Player of the Year and Manchester City Midfielder, Yaya Toure, and Gabonese Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang currently playing for Borussia Dortmund in Germany.

  • Ikhana: CAF Champions League will be tougher next season

    Ikhana: CAF Champions League will be tougher next season

    • Wants good preparations from Nigerian teams

    Enyimba FC coach, Kadiri Ikhana has predicted a tougher CAF Champions League next season, but insisted that good and early preparations will play a major role for Nigerian clubs in getting the desired results at the tournament.

    The ex-international and first Nigerian to win the African Champions League as a coach has advised Nigerian clubs represented at the tournament to start preparations early because, according to him, African football has improved and no team is to be under-rated.

    “ If we don’t prepare well, we might see worse situations than previous seasons. So we should watch out,” Ikhana began.

    “If we don’t have good preparations, how do we go far in the tournament? If we decide to overlook it, we might perform worse than last year, all the clubs! Not Enyimba alone, but the four clubs that are going to play in the continent, we must watch it very carefully.”

    The 2014 FA Cup champion also    hinted that Enyimba FC will outclass their poor performance at the last edition of the championship by embarking on good preparation for the tournament.

    “Enyimba has done (won) it twice, it is not something new to Enyimba FC. I think we will go back to the drawing board and see those things that made us to win the Champions League for the first time and back-to-back, and try to see if we can put in more effort because African football has grown, there is no small team now, everybody is equal to the task; that is the way I look at it,” Ikhana said.

  • New AFCON hosts to be named this week – CAF

    New AFCON hosts to be named this week – CAF

    New hosts for the 2015 African Nations Cup will be named within three days after Morocco was ruled out amid fears of the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, the Confederation of African Football said on Wednesday.

    CAF president Issa Hayatou said the regional governing body would talk to countries who were interested in taking over the January 17 to February 8 finals and expected a quick resolution amid suggestions Qatar had been sounded out about hosting the event.

    Speaking to France 24, Hayatou also reiterated CAF’s stance that by giving in to Morocco’s request to have the date of the tournament moved it would set an unwanted precedent.

    “Once you postpone this event, it will open the door for everybody to ask for a delay of any competition and we will no longer be credible,” Reuters quoted Hayatou as saying on France 24.

    “We will hurt our sponsors and partners. Everyone will say we are not ready and finally it is CAF that will pay the price. That is what I told the Moroccans.

    “We cannot sign our death warrant because if we postpone this event it will be very deadly for African football. For 57 years, we have patiently built this house, which today is the pride of all Africans.

    “They have this festival every two years and we are not about to leave the opportunity to anyone to destroy the work we have patiently developed over the years.

    “I cannot tell you where it will be played. All I can tell you is that it will take place.”

    Angola, Egypt, Gabon and Nigeria were the countries being touted as possible replacement hosts by African media.

  • CAF decides on 2015 AFCON Monday

    CAF decides on 2015 AFCON Monday

    A decision on whether the African Nations Cup finals will go ahead in January or be postponed because of fears over the Ebola virus is expected on Monday after the Moroccan government meets with Confederation of African Football leaders.

    The meeting in Rabat was fixed last month when Morocco wrote to CAF asking it to postpone the tournament after being advised by its own health ministry that hosting the 16-team tournament posed a risk of the spread of the deadly virus.

    CAF immediately rejected the notion, insisting the three-week tournament go ahead as scheduled from January 17 to February 8, Reuters reports.

    Anticipating the possibility Morocco’s government would stand firm, CAF has since asked seven countries if they might be able to step in as emergency hosts at short notice but not received a positive response, adding to the importance of Monday’s discourse.

    But the meeting has been pre-empted in part by discussions last week when a Moroccan delegation flew to Cameroon to meet CAF president Issa Hayatou to “explain” its position, Morocco’s state news agency said.

    Other Moroccan press reports said a decision had been made to move the finals to June, but CAF moved quickly to deny them.

    A meeting of the executive committee of African football’s governing body in Algiers on Sunday was to decide CAF’s position for Monday’s talks and officials said a possible statement on the outcome could come as early as Monday.

  • CAF inspector rates Akwa Ibom Stadium high

    CAF inspector rates Akwa Ibom Stadium high

    It is now official. The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying cracker between the Super Eagles and the Bafana Bafana of South Africa will take place at the Akwa Ibom International Stadium, Uyo.

    Vice President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Mr. Fred Crentsil, who was mandated by the Confederation of African Football to inspect the facility, has given the infrastructure very high marks.

    “You guys have a wonderful facility here. It is one of the best I have seen anywhere around Africa and elsewhere. It is of the same standard and mould as Soccercity (the main stadium in Johannesburg that hosted the final match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals) with a lower capacity.

    “I am particularly amazed that there are provisions for the physically –challenged persons. Everything is taken care of here. I am hugely impressed,” Crentsil said in Uyo on Thursday.

    The CAF official inspected the stadium as well as hotel facilities in the Akwa Ibom State capital, in company with the NFF’s Assistant Director of Competitions, Mr. Bola Oyeyode.

    NFF President, Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick had, after inspecting the magnificent facility three weeks ago, announced that the venue would host the Super Eagles, Bafana Bafana clash.

  • Ebola, CAF and Nigeria

    Ebola, CAF and Nigeria

    SIR: The continent of Africa presently faces a huge burden in her battle to contain the deadly Ebola Virus Disease. According to a recent WHO data, the number of people with Ebola is set to hit 10,000 in West Africa. The WHO data further reveals that 9,936 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the three major countries mostly hit in what is, undoubtedly, the world’s worst Ebola epidemic, have contracted the disease. In total, 4,877 people have so far died as a result of the epidemic.

    Experts have raised alarm that the rate of infections could reach 10,000 a week by early December, if something urgent is not done to quickly take control of the disease. In Liberia, in order to stop the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, schools across the country remain closed while economic activities have come to a standstill.  Similarly, the army has been deployed to enforce all measures put in place to avert the further spread of the disease. The situation in Guinea and Serria-Leone is only marginally better. This, without a doubt, is a trying time for mother Africa.

    Part of the current Ebola burdens in Africa, is the issue of the venue for the continent’s prime soccer competition, the African Cup of Nations, AFCON, slated for January 2015. The competition, which was initially billed to be hosted by Morocco, is facing a race against time with indications that Morocco is considering pulling out as a result of the Ebola virus epidemic.

    CAF has started shopping for a country that could host the competition.   South Africa was approached by CAF as a possible replacement for Morocco, but the request was reportedly turned down on the account that it has twice played host to the championship in similar situations and that it doesn’t have the financial muscle to host it within such a short notification.

    Ghana, which was contacted after South Africa declined the offer, is demanding for more time to carefully study the Ebola situation before making its position known to CAF.

    Now, there are widespread speculations that Nigeria is considering hosting.

    It would be careless and inconsiderate for the authorities to jump at the chance of hosting the AFCON without properly putting into context the pains and anguish that the nation went through in the course of its 93 three days’ battle to contain Ebola. Considering the porous nature of our borders and other such limitations, hosting the competition, at this point in time, could make nonsense of all the gains we have made in respect of our recent travails with Ebola.

    Could we have suddenly forgotten the several complications that the Ebola invasion brought to our land while it lasted?

    If Morocco, a country that is yet to record any cases of the Ebola virus could turn down the opportunity to host the AFCON based on the fear of Ebola, it would be a suicide mission for our dear nation to do same. It would amount o spitting on the graves of our unfortunate compatriots who paid the supreme price, while battling the deadly virus in the country.

    At the moment, rather than investing on hosting the AFCON, we should pull our resources into spearheading scientific researches that could bring about the much needed cure for the Ebola virus. This is what we owe Africa. As for CAF, it should respect the position of Morocco on postponing the competition till the continent’s Ebola situation improves. This is the time to put life above every other consideration.

     

    • Tayo Ogunbiyi

    Ministry of Information & Strategy,

    Alausa, Ikeja.