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AFCON

AMAJU PINNICK DROPPED AS CAF VICE-PRESIDENT

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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.

RELATED STORY: https://www.sportsvillagesquare.com/2019/07/16/post-afcon-implosion-looms-in-caf-as-ahmad-may-be-kicked-out/

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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.

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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

 

 

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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AFCON

Ghana risks missing at 2025 Afcon after loss to Sudan

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Nigeria’s World Cup Qualifying Nemesis, Ghana's Partey And Lamptey Miss Out On Cup Of Nations Finals -

Ghana Black Stars lost 2-0 to Sudan Tuesday afternoon in matchday 4 of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series putting their prospects in great doubt.

The former three-time African champions are now third in Group F having accrued just two points from four matches. Sudan, with seven points, are second.

Angola, who still have a match to play later in the day with bottom-placed Niger, are on top with nine points.

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AFCON

Behold, the decision-makers in the botched Libya-Nigeria duel

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Ousmane Kane, the Senegalese Chairman of the Disciplinary Board

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

With CAF referring the case of the botched Libya-Nigeria match to its

Disciplinary Board, a nine-man panel has the task of deciding which party was at fault.

Possible decision could be forfeiture of the match by the offending party or rescheduling of the fixture. The latter seems unlikely considering the already congested international calendar. 

Even if that were to be the decision, the match would likely be taken to a neutral ground.

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On the other hand, the board may also take it that it was Nigeria that refused to play the match after having hosted the first leg.

In that case, Article 62 of the competition’s regulations will be enforced. It reads: “Any team that withdraws or refuses to play the return match after having played the first leg on its territory must refund the association of the visiting team a minimum sum of fifteen thousand (15,000) U.S. dollars in reparation for the damage suffered by the host country.”

If the NFF is adjudged as the culprit, the body will be fined $15,000.  Chapter 19 of the regulations gives a window to appeal the fine. But judging from the CAF statement of the situation,  and the condemnation of the treatment meted out to the Super Eagles, the fine is very unlikely as the weight of evidence tilts against the Libyans who in the x-handle admitted keeping the Super Eagles in captivity with an explanation that episode was largely due to an airport protocol mishap.

A decision lies firstly on the nine-man panel. With the possibility of the losing side not satisfied, another nine-man panel, the Appeals Board will take a possible final decision which can only be contested at the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS)

Here are the decision-makers:

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Disciplinary Board

  • Ousmane Kane, Senegal. – President.
  • Jane Njeri Onyango, Kenya – Vice President.
  • Norman Arendse, South Africa – member
  • Mohamed Mostafa El-Mashta, Egypt. – member
  • Djonfoune Golbassia Felix, Chad. – member
  • Patrick Shale, Lesotho – member
  • Douma Ibrahim Issaka – Niger. -member
  • Ruth Kisaakye, Uganda. -member
  • Drucil Taylor, Sierra Leone. – member

Appeal Board

Justice Roli Daibo Harriman, Nigeria

Faustino Varela Monteiro, Cape Verde

Moez Ben Tahar Nasri, Tunisia

Moses Ikanqa, Namibia

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Hamoud T’feil Bowbe, Mauritania

Mohamed Robleh Djama, Djibouti

Asogbavi Komlan, Togo

Justice Masauko Timothy Msungama, Malawi

Lubamba Ngimbi Hector, DR Congo

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AFCON

Libya Delay Super Eagles’ Possible Early Landing at Morocco 2025

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BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

The Libya-Nigeria Group D tie of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers scheduled for this Tuesday has been put off owing to the refusal of the Libyan authorities to allow the Nigerian team to enter their territory for the match.

As a result, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has referred the case to its Disciplinary Board to make an appropriate decision. The immediate consequence of this is the delay of the Nigerian team picking an early qualification as has been done by Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Algeria who have all qualified after four matches.

A  win by Nigeria on Tuesday would have taken their point haul to 10 while a draw would take their total to eight.  That way, irrespective of the result of the Rwanda-Benin Republic corresponding match would have qualified the Super Eagles for Morocco 2025 as they would not have ended below second position in Group D.

They now await the decision of the CAF body. A possible outcome could be Libya’s forfeiture of the match.  A case in point is that of USM Alger of Algeria versus Morocco’s RS Berkane in last year’s Confederation Cup semi-final duel when the Moroccans were unjustly delayed at the airport by the Algerians.

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In the case of the Super Eagles, it was worse as theirs was not just delayed, they were locked up in a desolate airport in what was a psychologically draining and energy sapping tactics.

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