International Football
HOW VICTOR MOSES LOST OUT
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Nigeria’s wingback, Victor Moses lost out in the race for the African Footballer of the Year as well as being named in the Fans Finest XI. He was one of the front runners until the last ‘legs’ of both races.
According to data collected by www.sportsvillagesquare.com from the Confederation of African Football, CAF, Moses possibly lost out from being in the final shortlist as two Nigerians in the voting panel did not vote in the Phase 1 of the poll.
Moses ended up in that phase with 60 points to a joint third with Gabon’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Voting by them, especially if Moses was indicated as their prime candidate, could have given the Nigerian right wingback an additional 10 votes. But all the same, Moses still made the top 11 as at that stage.
Among the 18-man CAF Technical & Development Committee that voted, Zambia’s Kalusha Bwalya voted Victor Moses as his second preferred candidate behind Egypt’s Mohammed Salah. Kalusha’s vote fetched Moses, four points.
Korici Toufique of Algeria is the only one who voted Moses as number one, thus giving him a maximum five points.
Overall, the Technical & Development Committee ranked Moses as number four with 22 points behind Mohammed Salah (63), Sadio Mane (34) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (28).
The other Nigerian in the initial 30-man list, William Troost-Ekong did not get any vote from the members of the CAF Technical & Development Committee. He was not alone in that poor outing. Christian Bassogog of Cameroon, Fabrice Ondoa, Fackson Kapumbu, Junior Kabananga, Mbwana Samata, Michael Olunga, Moussa Marega, Percy Tau and Thomas Partey are the others with zero votes.
Eventually, the Nigerian central defender, Troost-Ekong got three votes from the second panel of voters – the CAF Panel of Media Experts. Nigeria’s Ayotunde Adelakun gave him his least vote of one point while Marceline-Maze Muakumanya of DR Congo gave him two points.
The CAF Panel of Media Experts cumulatively gave Moses 23 votes to rank him third behind Sadio Mane (52 votes) and Mohamed Salah (51 votes).
The third group of voters are the Independent Media and TV Consultants where all the 10 but one did not vote. The missing vote, if given to Moses could have seen him come second here. But he finished fourth with 15 votes behind Mohammed Salah (44), Sadio Mane (25) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (16).
The last set of voters was the national associations where the coaches and captains formed the Electoral College.
Victor Moses’ votes were from diverse national associations except the following that had neither their captain nor coach voting for him: Rwanda, Central African Republic, Morocco, Mozambique, Guinea, Liberia, Niger Republic, Djibouti, Sudan, DR Congo, and Burkina Faso.
Significantly, Zambia, eliminated by Nigeria from the World Cup, offered Moses six of maximum 10 points.
The Coach of Cameroon voted Moses second, offering him four of possible five points while the Cameroon skipper gave him the maximum five points. Thus, Moses got nine of maximum 10 points from Nigeria’s eastern neighbours, Cameroon.
When all the points were summed up, Moses had 155 points as against 452 by Mohammed Salah, 391 by Sadio Mane, and 241 by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. That way, Moses placed fourth and could not make the final three shortlist.
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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