International Football
Amaju Explains Burkina Faso Match Cancelation
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
The NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, has confirmed to Sports Village Square that Monday’s friendly match with Burkina Faso has been cancelled. Arraignments are however on to pitch the Super eagles against a Premiership side in place of the botched Burkina Faso match.
In a telephone call from London, Pinnick explained all efforts made by the NFF to get the initial match on. He said that the inability of seven of Burkina Faso players to get the British visa necessitated the cancellation of the match.
According to the NFF president, nine of the Burkina Faso players have EU passports hence don’t require British visas. Of the seven others, two are playing for Ghanaian clubs; three are Cote d’Ivoire based while one each ply trade in Cameroon and Burkina Faso.
He absolved the NFF from any blame as due diligence was done on its part. “I spoke with the fédération burkinabé de football (fbf) president, Sangare Sita while at the CAF General Assembly and he assured all was well.
“We in the NFF did not know that some of their players would have visa issue. I even told my friend, Kwesi Nyantakyi, the Ghana FA president to assist the two Ghana-based Burkina Faso players to get visa and also the sole home based player since there is no British embassy in Burkina Faso.
“But when last night (Friday), Sangara Sita (Burkina Faso FA president) called me from Morocco to explain the visa hitches his team was having, I called the Moroccan FA president, Fouzi Lekjaa, who is my friend to see if he could get in touch with the British consulate in Rabat to help since the Burkinabe players were in Morocco.
“The Morocco FA even opted to host the match in Rabat by asking the Nigerian team to fly down from London. But we could not accept the proposal on account that we are dealing with professional players who took permission from their various clubs to travel to London.
“They can’t change their travel plans without recourse to the clubs. Moreover, the match plans had been submitted to both CAF and FIFA and we will need to revalidate any change.”
The NFF president was asked by Sports Village Square if playing the match on Monday would not contravene FIFA rules that forbid national team playing two consecutive matches within two days since Burkina Faso played on Friday and requires two days for travelling and another two to rest.
He explained to Sports Village Square that the rule would not have affected the friendly with Burkina Faso if visas have been obtained. “FIFA had approved our two friendly matches and also those of Burkina Faso which played Morocco last Friday.
The rules call for rest if the trip is more than six hours journey. Flying from Morocco to UK is barely three hours.”
The cancellation of the match, it is observed was not the fault of the NFF. The president pointed out that the positive aspect of it is that the players still continue with their training and coming together of the players enabled bonding ahead of their next competitive match against South Africa in June. In the interim, plans are on to pitch the Super Eagles with a premiership side. The outcome of the encounter will however not affect the monthly FIFA rating which will be out on April 6.
Representatives from four national players’ unions on Thursday launched a new global organisation in Madrid, which they say will strengthen footballers’ rights and improve dialogue with governing bodies.
Opening a new front in the battle over who speaks for players, the International Footballers’ Association (AIF) was unveiled, with David Aganzo, president of Spain’s Association of Footballers (AFE) and a former head of the global union FIFPRO, appointed to lead the organisation.
Players’ unions from Brazil, Mexico and Switzerland were also represented.
The initiative drew a swift rebuke from FIFPRO, which said in a statement that Aganzo was acting out of self-interest and aligning himself with organisations linked to football governing bodies, as well as groups expelled from FIFPRO over alleged mismanagement.
Aganzo rejected the criticism, saying he “will not seek confrontation with FIFPRO”.
The launch comes amid strained relations between players’ unions and football authorities, particularly over the expanding international match calendar.
Relations between FIFA and FIFPRO deteriorated in 2024 after the union lodged a complaint with the European Commission, arguing that the global governing body was abusing its dominant position by adding competitions without sufficient consultation.
Aganzo denied suggestions that the new initiative was backed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, but said “direct dialogue with FIFA” was essential.
AFE’s Extraordinary General Assembly approved the initiative in February with 99.8% of votes cast in favour of spearheading the creation of the AIF.
The same assembly also backed AFE’s withdrawal from FIFPRO, citing what it described as a “complete lack of transparency, as well as its total lack of dialogue with international bodies.”
“We represent over 30,000 footballers, and we come here with a new model aimed at safeguarding players’ rights and facilitating direct communication with all international bodies,” Aganzo told reporters.
“We are in contact with 15 to 20 unions already who were very aware of this moment and waiting for this announcement to make their move and join our initiative.”
He declined to identify any unions beyond those present.
Asked about a report that a senior envoy to U.S. President Donald Trump had urged FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at the upcoming World Cup, Aganzo urged caution.
“These are more political issues; on April 30th, I’ll be speaking to Gianni (Infantino) at the FIFA Congress, and we will discuss those things,” Aganzo said.
“People who want to go to the World Cup have to earn their place on sporting merit.”
-Reuters
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A new trial over the death of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona will begin on Tuesday, with seven members of his medical team charged with negligent homicide nearly a year after a previous case collapsed in a mistrial.
An enduring presence in Argentina – from towering murals to tattoos, opens new tab – Maradona died on November 25, 2020, at 60, after a heart attack while he was recuperating from brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
A court in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires, will hear testimony from just under 100 witnesses as it tries Maradona’s medical team over alleged negligence in the death of the 1986 World Cup champion.
His medical team has denied wrongdoing. The defendants are psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychologist Carlos Angel Diaz, physician Nancy Edith Forlini, nurse Ricardo Almiron, head nurse Mariano Ariel Perroni, and physician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna. An eighth defendant, nurse Dahiana Madrid, will be tried in a separate jury trial, with no date yet set.
Two months into the first trial, which started last March, a mistrial was declared when one of three judges, Julieta Makintach, resigned after video surfaced showing her being interviewed by a camera crew in the corridors of the courthouse and in her office as part of a documentary, in breach of judicial rules.
The retrial will require both prosecutors and defense lawyers to reassess their strategies after the first trial aired photographs, videos, audio recordings and forensic evidence. Many witnesses, including Maradona’s children and his former wife, Claudia Villafane, have already testified.
Prosecutors argued in the initial trial that medical professionals broke treatment protocols and that the home where Maradona was recovering from surgery amounted to a “theatre of horror,” where necessary care was not provided.
The defense countered that his death was inevitable given his longstanding health problems. Maradona struggled for decades with cocaine and alcohol addiction.
The negligence charges emerged in 2021 after prosecutors appointed a medical board to investigate Maradona’s death. The panel concluded his medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless” manner.
-Reuters
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Aliou Cisse has been named coach of the Angola national team, the country’s football federation (FAF) announced on Thursday, 24 hours after the Senegalese left his post in Libya.
The 50-year-old coach, who led Senegal to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022, ended his short stint with the Libyan national team on Wednesday, after taking charge in March 2025.
“Welcome, Aliou Cisse, head coach of the Angola national team,” the FAF said on Facebook. Angola, which failed to reach this year’s World Cup, will start their 2027 AFCON qualifying campaign in September.
-Reuters
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