International Football
FRANCE WON’T BEAT NIGERIA TODAY, SAYS NNADOZIE
BY ANN ODONG
Nigeria face on-song hosts France, this Monday. Chiamaka Nnadozie was in goal as the Super Falcons lost 8-0 to Les Bleues in a friendly last year, but she is adamant history won’t repeat itself.
“I know they will feel relaxed, think that they will maybe score more than eight goals.
“It’s going to be a tough game. They are one of the best teams in the competition, but we are letting them know that it’s not going to be like that again.
“That was last year. I know we are not going to lose. We are going to make our country proud.”
The tournament this year has seen some superb goalkeeping performances, and among them is a record-breaking one from Nigeria’s Chiamaka Nnadozie.
As Nigeria entered their second match against Korea under the pressure of knowing that, following a 3-0 loss to Norway, only victory would preserve realistic hope of a top-two finish in Group A.
Many coaches would have played it safe, but Thomas Dennerby handed the gloves to the 18-year-old from Imo State, and she responded with a clean sheet in a 2-0 win.
“My coach called me and said, ‘This is your time’,” Nnadozie told FIFA.com. “It was a dream that came true.”
Nnazodie’s rise in Nigerian women’s football has been rapid. She started playing football as a 12-year-old and was quickly elevated into the U-17 and U-20 national teams.
Last year she pulled on the gloves at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup and displayed her potential in a Player of the Match performance against Haiti in Brittany.
It was in that tournament that Nnadozie set her sights on returning to France for the senior global finals.
“I knew it was going to come true, because when I was coming up my coach used to tell me, ‘Work hard, you will get there’,” she said. “I really worked for it. Every time at training, I gave it my best. Even if I was tired, I would keep pushing.”
Nnadozie carried only one target into France 2019.
“I told myself that before the end of the tournament, by God’s grace, I must keep goal in one match,” she said. “When I was called upon to keep goal, though I was a little bit scared, I encouraged myself, I told myself, ‘Come on, you’ve been doing it during the friendly matches, so you have to do it now’.”
Nnadozie achieved her pre-tournament goal in a performance against Korea Republic that demonstrated poise and maturity beyond her years.
She became, at 18 years and 186 days, the youngest goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet at the Women’s World Cup.
“After the match, when I saw the post, I was so happy,” said Nnadozie. “A young girl like me getting a good record, I was so proud of myself.
“I am so proud of the defence. They did great. I know I can’t do it without them – they made it possible for me.”
Nnadozie’s chemistry with the defensive unit illustrated how quickly she has made herself a part of the Nigerian squad. The remarkable calm the teenager displays on the pitch contrasts her infectious personality off it.
“I love playing, joking around with people,” she said. “Whenever I notice you are angry or sad, I will come and do some funny things. I love seeing people around me happy.
”Sometimes when I am not around, they will call me saying, ‘We miss you’. Whenever I come in, when everyone is moody, I will just do one funny thing and they will laugh.”
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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