AFCON
SUPER EAGLES ARE AFCON’S 6TH MOST EXPERIENCED SIDES
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
After 150 of 151 projected qualifying duels, 23 of the 24 slots for the 33rd Africa Cup of Nations have been decided.
The last and the only controversial duel is that of Sierra Leone and Benin Republic which has now been rescheduled to hold in June.
If a table of participation were to be constructed, the Super Eagles will be joint sixth with defending champions, Algeria as both are going into the competition for the 19th time.
Egypt top all-time appearance table as Cameroon 2021 which will be played in 2022 will be their 25th appearance in 33 editions out of which they have won a record seven times.
Cote d’Ivoire going into the championship for the 24th time are second in terms of experience. But they have won only twice in 1992 and 2015.
Ghana’s Black Stars making their 23rd appearance are third in the ranking. But they have won the trophy four times in 1963, 1965, 1978 and 1982.
Cameroon, hosts, and Tunisia making their 20th appearances are joint fourth. Cameroon have won the cup four times.
Coincidentally, their first three championships were won at the expense of Nigeria in 1984, 1988 and 2000 before beaten Senegal to win the 2002 edition.
Nigeria too would have been among those with 20 or more appearances, but for the politically motivated boycott of the 1996 edition to which they qualified as defending champions.
The attendant sanction of suspension from the 1998 edition is also a contributory factor to the reduced number of appearances by Nigeria.
At Cameroon 2021, The Gambia and Comoros will be debutants.
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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