AFCON
AMAJU PINNICK DROPPED AS CAF VICE-PRESIDENT
Nigeria’s Amaju Pinnick who served as CAF 1st Vice President of the Confederation of African Football, CAF, has lost the seat . He however remains an executive committee member.
Also, South Africa’s Danny Jordaan who last year lost a bid to be a CAF member in the FIFA Council has been voted in as 3rd Vice President of CAF.
Pinnick got elevated to the position of 1st Vice President last July as a replacement for Ghana’s Kwesi Nyantakyi who was suspended by FIFA.
At the moment, no official reason has been given for the fresh in-house election in CAF. It is coming on the eve of FIFA ‘take-over CAF for six months starting from August 1.
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FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura will act as a ‘General Delegate for Africa’, a thinly veiled description of her taken over of CAF administration.
Pinnick’s exit means a reshuffling of Ahmad’s vice-presidents, with Constant Omari of DR Congo and Moroccan Faouzi Lekjaa moving up from second and third vice-president respectively.
Jordaan, who played a key role at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa – the only time the tournament has ever been played on the continent – will now act as third vice-president.
Lekjaa, meanwhile, is facing a possible ban by CAF after the Ethiopian Football Federation accused the Moroccan federation president of assaulting the referee following the African Champions League final between Wydad Casablanca and Tunisia’s Esperance.
After CAFs Disciplinary Committee was unable to reach a verdict earlier this month, the case was sent back to African football’s ruling body.
CAF has been plagued by a series of scandals in recent times. “We all suffer when we see what is going on here,” Infantino told the presidents of Africa’s member associations as they gathered for a General Assembly in Egypt on Thursday.
The Fifa president also addressed comments made to BBC Sport by Sepp Blatter, who said the Samoura move flouted the statutes of football’s world governing body while also representing a ‘new aspect of colonialism.’
“What does it mean, colonialisation?” the 49-year-old asked. “I don’t know. It’s not part of my vocabulary. But I do know what it means to team up.”
The Egyptian capital Cairo will host the Africa Cup of Nations final on Friday when Senegal go in search of a first title against 1990 champions Algeria
The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) has sacked its Serbian coach, Milutin Sredojević who is popularly known as Micho.
This is coming ahead of Libya’s back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations clashes with Nigeria next month.
Paradoxically, Sports Village Square gathered that the coach’s contract was only recently renewed for six months before the axe fell on the Serbian.
His sack was precipitated by the results obtained in their teo matches of the AFCON qualifiers.
Libya drew 1-1 with Rwanda at home and lost 2-1 away to Benin Republic despite beig a goal up at half time.
The Libyan side, Mediterranean Knights are due to play against the Nigeria Super Eagles in Uyo on 6 October while the return leg holds on 14 October at the 11 July Stadium in Tripoli.
According to information Sports Village Square gathered from Tripoli, the Mediterranean Knights’ coach, Micho led the Libyan national team to win nine matches since taking over in October of last year, he failed to build a strong team due to his poor choices.
He also took a risk with the footballers chosen in the AFCON qualifiers, and the result was shocking to the Libyan sports audience.
According to sources close to the Libyan Football Federation, there is a strong tendency to sign a national coach to lead the Libyan team during the remaining qualifiers for the African Cup of Nations.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe has lashed out at Ghana and some other African countries whose home grounds were recently banned from hosting CAF matches owing to inadequate facilities. He made the remarks in Nairobi, Kenya during a press conference,
After the MatchDay 2 of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, CAF ruled Ghana’s Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi as being inadequate to host international matches. Being the only approved ground in the country, Ghana will now look towards either Cote d’Ivoire or Togo for their remaining home matches of the Afcon qualifiers.
Other African countries without approved home grounds are: Djibouti, Chad, Niger, Eritrea, Gabon, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, São Tomé and Burundi.
Motsepe voiced his frustration over the recurring issue of nations being unable to host home games.
“Nothing frustrates me more than a national team or club side having to play home matches outside,” he stated.
He stressed the significance of playing in front of home fans, adding, “You can’t grow football if the national teams or club sides aren’t playing in front of their home fans.”
Motsepe reiterated CAF’s commitment to working with countries to ensure they have at least one suitable stadium to host international fixtures.
“Our conversations in every country are to make sure there is at least one stadium capable of hosting a CAF category C game,” he emphasized.
The on-going CAF AFCON Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Coaches Symposium in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire has brought together, the last three coaches that handled the Nigeria national football team.
Gernot Rohr, Jose Peseiro and Austin Eguavoen are part of the the elite coaches currently gathered in Abidjan.
Gernot Rohr whose tenure of 5 years and 55 matches is the longest ever by any coach in Nigeria, is currently handling Nigeria’s Africa Cupof Nations and World Cup qualifying rivals, Benin Republic. He was succeeded in the interim by Austin Eguavoen who is currently having another interim stint.
Peseiro left his position after the Africa Cup of Nations
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