International Football
TAKE AWAYS IN THE NIGERIA-ZAMBIA WORLD CUP QUALIFIER
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Both Nigeria and Zambia meet on Saturday in Uyo in what is easily the most important match for the two teams in the race to the Russia 2018 World Cup. Both need a win to remain in contention. A win for Nigeria guarantees outright qualification. A win by Zambia stretches the struggle to the last match day in November. The two teams are therefore under pressure more than they have been in the previous four match days.
Sports Village Square takes an insightful look at the make or mar encounter and comes out with the following points of interest.
- Saturday’s match will be Nigeria’s 103rd World Cup qualifying match.
- The game will be Zambia’s 97th World Cup qualifying match.
- Nigeria has had an unbeaten run of 33 matches in the World Cup qualifying series. This is the longest in Africa. Nigeria last lost a World Cup qualifying match in Luanda on June 20, 2004 when Angola had a 1-0 win in the race to Germany 2006.
- Both Nigeria and Zambia are English speaking and are former Africa Cup of Nations holders. Nigeria won thrice in 1980, 1994 and 2013. Zambia won once, in 2012.
Both teams played the final match of 1994 Africa Cup of Nations which Nigeria won by 2-1. When Elijah Litana scored for Zambia in the third minute, it was the first time Nigeria trailed in the entire tournament. Emmanuel Amuneke equalized for Nigeria two minutes later before scoring the winner two minutes into the second half in what was his only match of the tournament.
Nigeria and Zambia contested the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations final match. Emmanuel Amuneke waltz past Zambia’s Harrison Chongo. Amuneke’s two goals earned Nigeria a 2-1 victory.
- Zambia became the first team to inflict a humiliating defeat on Nigeria after the 7-0 loss to the then Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1955. On July 15, 1973, barely six months after Nigeria won the gold medal of the football event of the All Africa Games, Zambia came from a goal down to beat Nigeria 5-1 in Lusaka in a 1974 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. It was the first ever encounter of both teams.
- Yakubu Mambo was not just the first scorer at the National Stadium, Lagos he was the first Nigerian player to score against Zambia. A feat he performed barely five minutes into the 1973 encounter which Nigeria eventually lost 1-5.
Record man, Yakubu Mambo became the first scorer against Zambia on July 15, 1973 in Lusaka
- Nigeria’s late midfield maestro, Muda Lawal was for a long time Nigeria’s most capped player. He had 86 caps. His last international outing was against Zambia in Lusaka on August 18, 1985.
Muda Lawal played his last international match against Zambia on August 18, 1985.
- Joseph Yobo equalled Muda Lawal’s 86 international appearances playing against Zambia on November 14, 2011 in a friendly match in Kaduna. Nigeria won the match 2-0.
- The late Stephen Keshi led Nigeria to 52 matches as a coach to both the frontline Super Eagles and the CHAN squad. In those matches he won 25 matches. Sports Village Square recalls that his first victory as a coach for Nigeria was the 2-0 defeat of Africa Cup of Nations-bound Zambia in Kaduna on November 14, 2011.
- Former Nigeria’s skipper. Joseph Yobo became the first Nigerian player to clock 100 international appearances. Sports Village Square recalls that his first international cap was against Zambia in Ndola on March 24, 2001. Nigeria drew the game 1-1.
- Joseph Yobo debuted for Nigeria in a match against Zambia in 2001. He also equalled Muda Lawal’s appearance record in another match with Zambia.
- When Nigeria met Zambia last year in Ndola, it was the first ever World Cup qualifying match pitching both teams.
- It was against Zambia that the Super Eagles played their last competitive match at the National Stadium, Lagos. That was the January 13, 2001 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in which Austin Okocha lost a penalty kick in the eventual 1-0 win.
- Alex Iwobi was a scoring debutant for Nigeria in the last match with Zambia in Ndola.
- Zambia eliminated Nigeria from the 1982 Africa Cup of Nations in Libya after a 3-0 defeat in which Nigeria needed a draw to advance,
- Nigeria eliminated Zambia in the semi finals of the 1990 Africa Cup of Nations in Algeria and also at the quarter final stage of the 2010 edition in Angola.
- Zambia eliminated Nigeria from qualifying for the 1974 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, Nigeria retaliated by preventing Zambia from getting to the 2002 edition in Mali.
- When Nigeria beat Zambia last year in Ndola, it was the first time Nigeria beat Zambia at home.
- Zambia have never beaten Nigeria at home.
- Nigeria used Zambia as stepping stones to win Africa Cup of Nations twice in 1994 and 2013.
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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