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AFCON

SAFA OFFERS COMPLEMENTARY TICKETS TO FANS AS LESS THAN 10,000 TICKETS SOLD FOR BAFANA V NIGERIA

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Despite all the hypes in Johannesburg, including ticket lottery and other inducements that will see a popular hip hop artist entertaining the crowd, the South Africans appear not too keen about the Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifying duel with Nigeria.

According to SowetnLive in South Africa, tickets for the match at the 94,736 capacity FNB Stadium continued to move at a snail’s pace with only 9‚450 sold by Friday afternoon.

Such is the desperation to put bums on the seats and avoid the embarrassment of being outnumbered on the stands by the Nigerians in South Africa’s own stadium‚ organisers are going to give away 10‚000 complimentary tickets.

Stadium Management South Africa (SMSA) chief executive Jacques Grobbelaar said 8‚302 general admission and 1‚157 hospitality tickets had been sold by Friday afternoon‚ and he was disappointed at the lack of interest in the game of this magnitude.

“It is very disappointing when the national team is not supported for a big match like this‚” Grobbelaar said.

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“I am still working on about 2‚000 more suit tickets that will boost the sales and I am also expecting that there will be more sales overnight. My forecast is that we may end up selling between 12‚000 and 15‚000 between this afternoon and Saturday morning.”

While Grobbelaar did not sound too optimistic‚ Safa spokesperson Dominic Chimhavi looked on the brighter side by saying he expects a spike in sales over the next 12 hours.

“We have ‘pre-sold’ 10‚000 complimentary tickets and at the moment more than 22‚000 are gone [complimentary and tickets sold] and those people will be at the stadium tomorrow [Saturday].

“I am confident that we will reach 50 000 on Saturday because people will be rushing to buy at the last minute‚” Chimhavi said.

Nigerians immigrants have a high presence in Johannesburg and surrounding areas and Bafana will need South Africans to show the same urgency they usually display ahead of matches between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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AFCON

Ghana risks missing at 2025 Afcon after loss to Sudan

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Nigeria’s World Cup Qualifying Nemesis, Ghana's Partey And Lamptey Miss Out On Cup Of Nations Finals -

Ghana Black Stars lost 2-0 to Sudan Tuesday afternoon in matchday 4 of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series putting their prospects in great doubt.

The former three-time African champions are now third in Group F having accrued just two points from four matches. Sudan, with seven points, are second.

Angola, who still have a match to play later in the day with bottom-placed Niger, are on top with nine points.

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AFCON

Behold, the decision-makers in the botched Libya-Nigeria duel

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Ousmane Kane, the Senegalese Chairman of the Disciplinary Board

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

With CAF referring the case of the botched Libya-Nigeria match to its

Disciplinary Board, a nine-man panel has the task of deciding which party was at fault.

Possible decision could be forfeiture of the match by the offending party or rescheduling of the fixture. The latter seems unlikely considering the already congested international calendar. 

Even if that were to be the decision, the match would likely be taken to a neutral ground.

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On the other hand, the board may also take it that it was Nigeria that refused to play the match after having hosted the first leg.

In that case, Article 62 of the competition’s regulations will be enforced. It reads: “Any team that withdraws or refuses to play the return match after having played the first leg on its territory must refund the association of the visiting team a minimum sum of fifteen thousand (15,000) U.S. dollars in reparation for the damage suffered by the host country.”

If the NFF is adjudged as the culprit, the body will be fined $15,000.  Chapter 19 of the regulations gives a window to appeal the fine. But judging from the CAF statement of the situation,  and the condemnation of the treatment meted out to the Super Eagles, the fine is very unlikely as the weight of evidence tilts against the Libyans who in the x-handle admitted keeping the Super Eagles in captivity with an explanation that episode was largely due to an airport protocol mishap.

A decision lies firstly on the nine-man panel. With the possibility of the losing side not satisfied, another nine-man panel, the Appeals Board will take a possible final decision which can only be contested at the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS)

Here are the decision-makers:

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Disciplinary Board

  • Ousmane Kane, Senegal. – President.
  • Jane Njeri Onyango, Kenya – Vice President.
  • Norman Arendse, South Africa – member
  • Mohamed Mostafa El-Mashta, Egypt. – member
  • Djonfoune Golbassia Felix, Chad. – member
  • Patrick Shale, Lesotho – member
  • Douma Ibrahim Issaka – Niger. -member
  • Ruth Kisaakye, Uganda. -member
  • Drucil Taylor, Sierra Leone. – member

Appeal Board

Justice Roli Daibo Harriman, Nigeria

Faustino Varela Monteiro, Cape Verde

Moez Ben Tahar Nasri, Tunisia

Moses Ikanqa, Namibia

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Hamoud T’feil Bowbe, Mauritania

Mohamed Robleh Djama, Djibouti

Asogbavi Komlan, Togo

Justice Masauko Timothy Msungama, Malawi

Lubamba Ngimbi Hector, DR Congo

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AFCON

Libya Delay Super Eagles’ Possible Early Landing at Morocco 2025

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BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

The Libya-Nigeria Group D tie of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers scheduled for this Tuesday has been put off owing to the refusal of the Libyan authorities to allow the Nigerian team to enter their territory for the match.

As a result, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has referred the case to its Disciplinary Board to make an appropriate decision. The immediate consequence of this is the delay of the Nigerian team picking an early qualification as has been done by Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Algeria who have all qualified after four matches.

A  win by Nigeria on Tuesday would have taken their point haul to 10 while a draw would take their total to eight.  That way, irrespective of the result of the Rwanda-Benin Republic corresponding match would have qualified the Super Eagles for Morocco 2025 as they would not have ended below second position in Group D.

They now await the decision of the CAF body. A possible outcome could be Libya’s forfeiture of the match.  A case in point is that of USM Alger of Algeria versus Morocco’s RS Berkane in last year’s Confederation Cup semi-final duel when the Moroccans were unjustly delayed at the airport by the Algerians.

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In the case of the Super Eagles, it was worse as theirs was not just delayed, they were locked up in a desolate airport in what was a psychologically draining and energy sapping tactics.

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