International Football
SUPER FALCONS HAVE JUSTIFIED NFF’S CONFIDENCE, SAYS SEYI AKINWUNMI
First Vice President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Seyi Akinwunmi has declared Tuesday’s battling win over Cameroon and the accompanying qualification for the FIFA World Cup and the Women’s AFCON final as justification by the Super Falcons of the NFF’s confidence in the team.
A fierce contest for the ball by Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala and Cameroon’s Ngo Mbeleck in the Tuesday’s semifinal clash.
“I feel elated, and I am sure that my colleagues on the Board of the NFF will feel the same way anywhere they are presently. The NFF has always had confidence in the Super Falcons and we are happy we got this World Cup ticket.
“It was not easy and it could not have been easy, as that was a semi final match (against Cameroon).
“The Cameroonians were the hosts in 2016 when we beat them in front of a capacity crowd to retain the trophy, so they came with every ounce of strength and tactical knowledge to try and gain revenge. But champions would always be champions and we overpowered them.”
Akinwunmi gingered up the Falcons with inspiring words at lunch on Tuesday before the team departed for the Accra Sports Stadium, and the players admitted after the game that his charge to them to go and conquer, and expression of faith in them to retain the trophy for Nigeria, kept ringing in their ears even when the going got tough.
On the preparation for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in France, the Chairman of Lagos State Football Association and Member, CAF Youth Competitions Committee told thenff.com that there would be no half measures.
“The FIFA World Cup is the FIFA World Cup, and we must put in place a proper and comprehensive preparatory programme for the Super Falcons. We must utilize all the available FIFA windows for the team to play friendlies.
“After the final match on Saturday, the NFF will ask Coach Thomas Dennerby to submit his program and we will take it from there.”
Nigeria is one of only seven countries in the world that has qualified for all the editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup since the championship was launched in China in 1991. The others are the United States of America, Germany, Sweden, Brazil, Norway and Japan.
South Africa’s Banyana Banyana, who they meet in the Women AFCON Final in Accra on Saturday, as well as the winner of the losers’ final between Cameroon and Mali will join the Super Falcons in France.
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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