International Football
SUPER FALCONS TO KNOW WORLD CUP FOES ON SATURDAY
Nine –time African champions, Super Falcons of Nigeria will on Saturday know their group phase opponents at next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup finals.
The Draw Ceremony of the 8th FIFA Women’s World Cup finals will hold at the La Seine Musicale on Boulogne-Billancourt in Paris starting from 6pm France time (same time as in Nigeria).
The Nigeria delegation to the ceremony, which included Head Coach Thomas Dennerby, NFF Director of Communications Ademola Olajire and Team Administrator Mary Oboduku arrived in Paris on Friday afternoon. They will be joined on Saturday morning by the President of Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, who, aside being the 1st Vice President of CAF, is also a Member of the Organizing Committee for FIFA Competitions.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino and President of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), Noël Le Graët, who is also President of the French Football Association, headline the list of dignitaries for Saturday’s showpiece.
The event will be broadcast live on TMC in France, and be presented by Amanda Davies and Denis Brogniart. The Draw will be conducted by Alex Scott and Louis Saha, with the help of seven assistants.
The 8th FIFA Women’s World Cup finals will hold in nine cities in France: Grenoble, Le Havre, Lyon, Montpellier, Nice, Paris, Reims, Rennes and Valenciennes.
Champions Nigeria, alongside South Africa (runner –up of the 11thWomen AFCON that ended in Ghana last weekend) and Cameroon (who finished third), will fly Africa’s flag in France.
Nigeria is one of only seven countries to have qualified for and participated in all previous seven editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, and all seven have also qualified for France 2019. The others are Brazil, United States of America, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Japan. The Super Falcons reached the quarter finals of the World Cup in the USA in 1999.
The opening match of France 2019 will hold at the impressive Parc des Princes in Paris (a venue for the 1998 FIFA World Cup for men), while the semi finals and final matches will be played in Lyon.
ALL THE 24 FINALISTS
AFRICA: Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon
ASIA: Australia, China, Japan, Korea Republic, Thailand
EUROPE: England, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Sweden
NORTH & CENTRAL AMERICA: Canada, Jamaica, USA
SOUTH AMERICA: Argentina, Brazil, Chile
OCEANIA: New Zealand
PREVIOUS HOSTS OF FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
1991: China
1995: Sweden
1999: USA
2003: USA
2007: China
2011: Germany
2015: Canada
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.
The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”
When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.
Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.
He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.
-Reuters
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In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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