AFCON
FRENCH LIGUE 1 PLAYER TRAVEL BAN TO HIT CUP OF NATIONS QUALIFIERS
The squads for countries facing crucial qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations will be hit after all players in the top two divisions of French football were banned from leaving Europe.
The 40 clubs from Ligue 1 and 2 agreed unanimously to prevent their players from leaving the EU and the European Economic Area, because of the quarantine period they would have to undergo on their return to France due to fears of Covid-19 transmission overseas.
While upcoming South American qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup were last week postponed to allay such fears, the critical African Cup of Nations games were not.
“In the absence of an exemption for foreign international players made available to their national team, and in view of the response times imposed by international regulations, the clubs of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 have decided to unanimously apply the Fifa circular of February 5, 2021 taking into account the many travel restrictions in the world,” a statement from the Ligue de Football Professionel said.
“In this context, the clubs will not make available for selection the foreign players summoned for matches outside the EU / EEA zone during the next international period in March.”
The two rounds of fixtures to be played between 24 and 30 March will determine the 24 teams who will travel to Cameroon in January 2022.
The news will undoubtedly leave many coaches scrambling to fill their squads.
A large percentage of African internationals – particularly those from French-speaking countries such as Senegal, Cameroon and Ivory Coast – all African footballing powerhouses – play their club football in France.
Benin’s head coach Michel Dussuyer has already said he was struggling to pull together enough players for their matches against Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
Analysis – Victoire Eyoum, BBC Sport Africa
The decision by the French L1 and L2 clubs could massively impact the outcome of Afcon qualifiers taking place in just a week from now. More than 250 African players are involved in those two leagues.
Senegal, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Algeria, and Mali – in that order – are the top five countries with players who now will not be able to travel and play in these critical qualifiers.
But while Senegal, Algeria, and Mali are already qualified – and Cameroon are hosts – Cote d’Ivoire have not yet booked their ticket.
They will play Niger on the 26 March followed by and Ethiopia on 30 March. And although both teams have a weaker ranking than the Elephants, coach Patrice Beaumelle highlighted that both are more used to play together as a team with local players – especially a team like Ethiopia, who are just a point behind Cote d’Ivoire in their qualifying group.
-BBC
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.
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