The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Tunisia

  • FIFA rankings: Nigeria moves 5 places up

    Nigeria has moved five places up, now 47th in the world and sixth in Africa with 635 points in the April FIFA/Coca Cola rankings released on Thursday.

    In the previous rankings, Nigeria was on 52nd position with 609 points.

    Meanwhile, Tunisia is the highest ranked African team on 14th place with Senegal and DR Congo on 28 and 38 positions respectively.

    Germany still retains first place with Brazil following closely while Belgium who was fifth in the March rankings is now third.

    The next rankings will be published on May 17, 2018.

    NAN

  • Italy arrests Five Tunisians in anti-terrorism swoop

    Italian police on Thursday arrested five Tunisians as part of what they said was a major operation against suspected supporters of Islamist terrorism in central and southern Italy.

    The swoop is the latest in a series of similar raids this month, coming as Italy steps up the number of foreigners it expels.

    On Wednesday, anti-terrorism police arrested an Italian citizen of Moroccan origin, who they said was an Islamic State sympathiser planning a truck attack.

    “A vast anti-terrorism operation’’ was being carried out by special investigation forces based in Rome and the nearby town of Latina, police said in a statement on Thursday.

    The five Tunisians detained are suspected of being part of a network connected to Anis Amri, the Tunisian, who killed 12 people when he drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin in December 2016, judicial sources said.

    Amri was shot dead by Italian police near Milan four days after the Berlin attack.

    Prosecutors suspect the arrested Tunisians of crimes including planning international terrorism, falsifying documents and helping illegal immigration of radicalised Tunisians, the sources said.

    However, the sources said there was no evidence the suspects participated directly in the Berlin truck attack or that they were preparing any imminent attack in Italy.

    As part of their operation, police were carrying out searches in Rome, the southern port city of Naples and the central and southern towns of Latina, Viterbo, Caserta and Matera, the sources said.

    Interior Minister, Marco Minniti, said on Wednesday the security threat to Italy from Islamic State supporters was higher than ever because more foreign fighters were attempting to return to Europe via Italy after the jihadist group suffered defeats in Syria and Iraq.

    So, far this year, 29 foreigners have been expelled from Italy as suspected threats to national security.

    NAN

  • Tunisia plans to sell over 50% stake in cement firm

    Tunisia plans to sell over 50% stake in cement firm

    Tunisia has called for Expression of Interest for the acquisition of majority stake of 50.52 per cent in Carthage Cement S.A. Carthage Cement is a public company which is specialised in the production of cement, aggregates and concrete.

    The 2.2 million ton capacity plant, which was equipped by a market-leading supplier of cement industry equipment, is located in the southeast of Tunis. The company operates two side-by-side quarries, the first has an area of 218 hectares and is on the property, unlike the second that measures 140 hectares.

    In a statement the Tunisian government   and  Bina Corp,  who are the controlling shareholders of the cement company,  said they have decided  through a tender to proceed through a public tender to sell the company to a strategic and/or a financial investor, who is capable of insuring its management and development.

    Tunisian government said the call for Expression of Interest is to guide interested investors on the pre-qualification document’s withdrawal.

    The pre-qualified candidates will be informed of their qualification next month and will be invited to withdraw the tender documents including the tender terms and conditions, information memorandum and the drafts of the share purchase agreements (SPA).

    This is besides having the opportunity to conduct due diligence, visit the plant, meet the management and propose amendments to the SPA.

  • Nigeria moves up in latest FIFA Ranking

    Nigeria moves up in latest FIFA Ranking

    Nigeria moved up to the 41st position in the World and retained the fifth in Africa in the latest FIFA Coca-Cola world rankings.

    The rankings released by the World Football governing body showed that Nigeria moved up three places from the 44th position in  September, but maintained the fifth spot in Africa.

    It said that Nigeria had 721 points compared to the 696 in September.

    The report said that Tunisia became the new number in Africa and 28th in the world with 834 points while the former number on the continent, Egypt came second and 30th in the world with 818 points.

    Senegal is number three in Africa and 32 in the world with 815 points while DR Congo is fourth on the continent and 35th in the world with 751 points.

    African champions, Cameroon is sixth in the continent and 42nd in the world with 718 points.

    In the top 10 ranked countries, Germany retained the number one position in the world with 1631 points while Brazil is second with 1619 points.

    Portugal is third, Argentina fourth, Belgium fifth, Poland sixth and France seventh.

    Osita Okeke, chairman Nigeria football supporters club, South Africa chapter, attributed Nigeria`s improvement to Super Eagles qualification for the Russia 2018 World Cup.

    “From the matches against Cameroon and then Zambia, the Eagles played well and deserve improvement in the latest rankings.

    “I believe that the team will continue to do well, especially in the World Cup,” he said.

    NAN

  • CAF Confederation Cup: Rivers United defeated by Club Africain

    CAF Confederation Cup: Rivers United defeated by Club Africain

    Rivers United Football Club’s hopes of advancing in the CAF Confederation Cup competition were dashed on Sunday after a 0-2 loss to visiting Club Africain of Tunisia in Port Harcourt.

    Nigerian side’s travails began when Manoubi Hadeed scored for the Tunisian side in the 63rd minute from a free kick.

    Further damage to the home side’s chances was inflicted when team captain Festus Austin scored an own goal in the 89th minute of the Group A Match Day 5 fixture.

    Club Africain’s coach Chibeb Ellili later told sportswriters after the game at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium that the result was more than satisfactory for him.

    “I am more satisfied with my team’s result here than the result of the match involving KCCA at Kampala in Uganda, because we needed an away win to qualify for the next stage.

    “We came here in a very exceptional situation because I have four players injured and two players who cannot play. So, we came with only 16 players.

    “We won because we played with our hearts and brain, and in terms of tactics and placement we were superior today,’’ he said.

    Ellili said his team’s coaching crew and players were prepared for the fact that the game would be tough because Rivers United were a good team.

    “United are good opponents. We played against them in Tunisia and won 3-1, but we suffered in the second half.

    “That is why I am very happy today, because we won the maximum points when we are in a special condition and on this very difficult pitch,” he said.

    Also, Slimen Kcouk, the captain of Club Africain, said he and his teammates saw the game as a big challenge. “But our team came for business. So, we played to win.’’

    Willie Odube, the Chief Coach of Rivers United, said it was unfortunate that they lost because they never planned for failure.

    He however reasoned that all hopes were not lost for them to qualify for the next stage of the competition.

    “We have had the experience of people writing us off to even qualify for the group stage, but we finally qualified.

    “We are going to Morocco (against FUS Rabat) and we are not going to relent. If a team can beat us at home, we can also win away.

    “It depends on the heart and zeal of the players, by having it in mind that we lost at home and we need to win away,” the coach said.

    Odube said the Rivers United players did not perform to instructions and were so much in a hurry.

    He urged the Rivers people and other Nigerians not to lose hope in the team.

    NAN reports that Rivers United will face FUS Rabat on July 7 in their last match of the group phase, needing to win to have a chance of advancing to the quarter-finals.

    Club Africain, who have nine points from five matches and host KCCA in the Match Day 6 fixture same day, look to have already qualified for the knockout stage.

  • Rivers United lose in CAF Confederation Cup

    Two second half goals confine Rivers United FC to a 0-2 loss at home in Port Harcourt to Club Africain of Tunisia in a Group A Match Day 5 fixture to drop out of contention for the semi-finals in the CAF Confederation Cup competition.

  • Tunisia, Senegal to co-host 2017 AfroBasket for Men

    Tunisia, Senegal to co-host 2017 AfroBasket for Men

    FIBA Africa, basketball’s governing board on the continent, has confirmed that Tunisia and Senegal will jointly host this year’s FIBA AfroBasket from Sept. 8 to Sept. 16.

    According to a statement by the sports body, the 16 participating teams will be divided into four groups of four teams in the Group Phase of the competition.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Group Phase will hold from Sept. 8 to Sept. 10.

    Senegal’s capital city of Dakar will host two groups, while Tunisia’s capital city of Tunis will host the other two.

    The top two teams from each group will advance to Tunis, which will also host the Final Phase which consists of the Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Finals.

    NAN reports that the Final Phase is billed for Sept. 14 to Sept. 16.

    The bottom two teams from each group in the Group Phase will be knocked out of the competition.

    The participating teams include Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt and Guinea.

    The rest are Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, defending champions Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia and Uganda.

    Angola was earlier proposed by FIBA Africa to host the tournament, but it later turned out that the country would hold its general elections around the same period.

  • Nigerian emerges 2nd vice-president United World Wrestling

    Nigeria’s Austin Edeze on Tuesday emerged the 2nd Vice- President of the United World Wrestling (UWW) in El-Jadida, Morocco.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the election took place during the African Congress.

    Daniel Igali, the President, Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF) told NAN on telephone from Morocco that he was excited by the development.

    “I am elated that Edeze the immediate past president of the NWF was re-elected to the executive committee of UWW Africa.

    “Not only that, he was elevated to the position of 2nd Vice-President.

    “It’s important to have different people at strategic positions of leadership at the continental and world levels of every sport.

    “This allows for untapped opportunities to be harnessed,’’said Igali.

    The 2000 Sydney Olympic gold medalist added that the NWF also submitted the bid document to host the 2018 Senior Africa Wrestling Championships.

    “We submitted the bid to UWW Africa president Gouad Meskout.

    “Hopefully before the end of the Africa Wrestling Championships here in Morocco, a decision will be made.

    “Algeria, Tunisia and Nigeria are bidding for the hosting rights for the 2018 Africa Wrestling Championships,’’ the Olympian added.

  • Tunisia sack coach Kasperczak

    Tunisia sack coach Kasperczak

     

    Tunisia, aiming to qualify for their first World Cup finals since 2006, have sacked their coach Henryk Kasperczak, the country’s football federation announced on Saturday.

    The 70­-year­-old Pole, who guided Tunisia to the final of the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations, returned for a second spell in charge in 2015.

    Tunisia were beaten quarter­finalists at the 2017 edition in Gabon, and friendly defeats since to Cameroon and Morocco spelt the end of the road for the well-travelled manager.

    “The decision was made yesterday (Friday),” federation spokesman Kais Reuez told AFP. A successor will be named “by the end of the month,” he added.

    Tunisia face home and away 2018 World Cup qualifiers against the Democratic Republic of Congo in August­-September.

    Meanwhile, Cameroon international and Henan Jianye attacker Christian Bassogog has explained why he chose to ignore interest from Europe and move to China following his star showing in Gabon to join the improving and affluent Chinese Super League.

    The Africa Cup of Nations MVP recently joined the ever-growing list of world superstars who are lured by clubs who spend huge amounts of money to bring them to the Asian country. His performances at the Afcon in January saw Jianye break the bank for his signature.

    In moving to the CSL, he joins the likes of Oscar, Ramires, John Obi Mikel and Carlos Tevez, all of whom have opted for a switch to the Far East in recent times.

    Africa is also growing their own strong contingent in the league, with the likes of Bassogog, Mikel, Gervinho, Odion Ighalo, Stephane Mbia and Papiss Cisse among some of the players already plying their trade in the country.

    The 21-year-old winger says he’s had to answer a lot of questions from his Indomitable Lions teammates about his decision to ignore a move to big Europeans leagues and move to China.

    “A lot of their questions were based on whether I was coerced into going,” he said, as reported by The Guardian. “One of the things I have done is make them understand that I chose to go there [China] because I believed in the challenge.

    The former AaB and Wilmington Hammerheads attacker has already started two matches for the Red Devils, who remain winless after three matches.

  • Ahead of 2017 ITTF African Junior Championship: Nigeria can’t dominate us at home, says Tunisia

    Ahead of 2017 ITTF African Junior Championship: Nigeria can’t dominate us at home, says Tunisia

    Few days to the kick-off of the 2017 ITTF African Junior Championship, President of Tunisia Table Tennis Federation, Lotfi Guerfel believes it would be difficult for Nigeria and others to dominate them in front of their fans in Tunis.
    Already, Tunisian players are warming up with the ITTF Junior Open and Lotfi Guerfel is confident that his lads are capable of halting the dominance of the West African players. “I think Tunisia can dwarf Nigeria, Egypt and Algeria for the title in all the events. I believe we can and we will continue dreaming about competing worldwide not only in Africa.But anyhow, we’ll do our best during the championship,” he said.
    The trained accountant is a man of details, who wants things to be done well and as an optimist, he has put together a formidable team to stage the continental showpiece. “We are ready to take off with these two tournaments particularly fully ready to make this African Junior championship and Youth Olympic qualifiers a real success. Tunisians love sports and of course table tennis as a popular spread sport from immemorial time. We are all proud and honoured to host this big event, from political leaders to regional officials, media and athletes. All logistics have been put in place and a marketing campaign for this event is ongoing now in Tunisia,” he enthused.
    He, however, blamed the slow pace of table tennis in Africa to some factors. “Mainly table tennis seems not to grow as expected in Africa due to lack of resources in terms of poor dedicated budgets, qualified coaches and logistics. But in some countries, table tennis is competing very well with football while I believe more efforts are required to make our sport well known and more popular.”
    He believes the performance of African players has improved a lot of the sport in the continent. “Yes, table tennis is improving lately, however, we can do better. Africa is changing rapidly in a very positive way. More efforts are required to promote table tennis in schools, universities, and everywhere within the continent,” Guerfel added.