International Football
MO SALAH SET TO RETAIN AFRICAN FOOTBALLERS’ CROWN
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
If precedence is anything to be considered, Egyptian football star, Mohamed Salah will be named the 2018 African Footballer of Year this Tuesday. He is expected to emerge top again in the same field of trio that contested for the 2017 edition.
The two other contestants are club mate in Liverpool, Sadio Mane of Senegal who will be right at home at the event and Arsenal and Gabon’s forward, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Past winners have always been the echoes of what European media announced. In December 2018, BBC announced Mohamed Salah as the organisation’s African Footballer of the Year.
As in the past, this is expected to get the endorsement of CAF electorate composed of CAF Media Experts, Legends, Coaches of the quarter-finalists of the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup, and Coaches & Captains of the 54 Member Associations.
If he wins, he becomes the first North African to win back-to-back. West African players have achieved that feat in the past.
Samuel Eto’o did it from 2003 to 2005.
Yaya Toure of Cote d’Ivoire won in three straight years from 2011 to 2014.
PAST RESULTS
Year Position Player Team
1992 1st Abedi ‘Pele’ Ayew Ghana/Marseille
1993 1st Rashidi Yekini Nigeria/V. Setubal
1994 1st Emmanuel Amuneke Nigeria/Sporting CP
2nd George Weah Liberia/PSG
3rd Rashidi Yekini Nigeria/Setubal
1995 1st George Weah Liberia/Milan
2nd Emmanuel Amuneke Nigeria/Sporting CP
3rd Daniel Amokachi Nigeria/Everton
1996 1st Nwankwo Kanu Nigeria/Inter
2nd George Weah Liberia/Milan
3rd Daniel Amokachi Nigeria/ Beşiktaş
1997 1st Victor Ikpeba Nigeria/Monaco
2nd Japhet N’Doram Chad/Monaco
3rd Taribo West Nigeria/Inter
1998 1st Mustapha Hadji Morocco/Deportivo
2nd Austin Okocha Nigeria/PSG
3rd Sunday Oliseh Nigeria/Ajax
1999 1st Nwankwo Kanu Nigeria/Arsena
2nd Samuel Kuffour Ghana/Bayern
3rd Ibrahima Bakayoko Cote d’Ivoire/Marseille
2000 1st Patrick M’Boma Cameroon/Parma
2nd Lauren Etamé-Mayer Cameroon/Mallorca
3rd Samuel Eto’o Cameroon/Mallorca
2001 1st El Hadji Diouf Senegal/Lens
2nd Samuel Kuffour Ghana/Bayern
3rd Samuel Eto’o Cameroon/Mallorca
2002 1st El Hadji Diouf Senegal/Liverpool
2nd Papa Bouba Diop Senegal/Lens
3rd Ahmed Hossam Mido Egypt/Ajax
2003 1st Samuel Eto’o Cameroon/Mallorca
2nd Didier Drogba Cote d’Ivoire/Marseille
3rd Austin Okocha Nigeria/Bolton
2004 1st Samuel Eto’o Cameroon/Barcelona
2nd Didier Drogba Cote d’Ivoire/Chelsea
3rd Austin Okocha Nigeria/Bolton
2005 1st Samuel Eto’o Cameroon/Barcelona
2nd Didier Drogba Cote d’Ivoire/Chelsea
3rd Michael Essien Ghana/Chelsea
2006 1st Didier Drogba Cote d’Ivoire/Chelsea
2nd Samuel Eto’o Cameroon/Barcelona
3rd Michael Essien Ghana/Chelsea
2007 1st Frederic Kanoute Mali/Sevilla
2nd Michael Essien Ghana/Chelsea
3rd Didier Drogba Cote d’Ivoire/Chelsea
2008 1st Emmanuel Adebayor Togo/Arsenal
2nd Mohamed Abou Trika Egypt/Ahly
3rd Michael Essien Ghana/Chelsea
2009 1st Didier Drogba Cote d’Ivoire/Chelsea
2nd Samuel Eto’o Cameroon/Inter
3rd Michael Essien Ghana/Chelsea
2010 1st Samuel Eto’o Cameroon/Inter
2nd Asamoah Gyan Ghana/Sunderland
3rd Didier Drogba Cote d’Ivoire/Chelsea
2011 1st Yaya Toure Cote d’Ivoire/Man. City
2nd Seydou Keita Mali/Barcelona
3rd Andre Ayew Ghana/Marseille
2012 1st Yaya Toure Cote d’Ivoire/Man. City
2nd Didier Drogba Cote d’Ivoire/S.Shenhua
3rd Alex Song Cameroon/Barcelona
2013 1st Yaya Toure Cote d’Ivoire/Man. City
2nd Mikel Obi Nigeria/Chelsea
3rd Didier Drogba Cote d’Ivoire/Galatasaray
2014 1st Yaya Toure Cote d’Ivoire/Man. City
2nd Pierre-Aubameyang Gabon/Borussia
3rd Vincent Enyeama Nigeria/Lille
2015 1st Pierre-Aubameyang Gabon/Borussia
2nd Yaya Toure Cote d’Ivoire/Man. City
3rd Andre Ayew Ghana/Swansea
2016 1st Riyad Mahrez Algeria/Leicester City
2nd Pierre-Aubameyang Gabon/Borussia
3rd Sadio Mane Senegal/Liverpool
2017 1st Mohamed Salah Egypt/Liverpool
2nd Sadio Mane Senegal/Liverpool
3rd Pierre-Aubameyang Gabon/Borussia
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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