AFCON
SUPER EAGLES WOULD HAVE BEEN LEAST AFRICAN TEAM AFFECTED IF EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE HAD LIVED
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
With a possible FIFA worldwide ban on clubs and their players involved in the now crumbling European Super League, Nigeria’s Super Eagles will be the least affected among the football powers of Africa.
FIFA had threatened the players of the proposed Super League with bans, not just from the World Cup, but also from their respective national teams. The players would have been excluded from the qualifying series of World Cup which begin in June and also the Africa Cup of Nations which holds in January 2022.
Thirteen African players would have had their international career in jeopardy.
Only one fringe player of the Super Eagles, Taiwo Awoniyi who is a Liverpool player serving long term loan spell would have been affected.
At the moment, Awoniyi is on loan at German sides, Union Berlin. The other Nigerian player who would have been affected, Victor Moses of Chelsea who is on loan at Spartak Moscow has long retired from the Super Eagles.
In contrast to the possible effect on Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire would have been the worst hit in Africa.
The West African sides have at least five regular players spread among the clubs behind the European Super League.
The players are Sergie Aurier of Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United pair of Eric Bailly and Amad Diallo, Nicolas Pepe of Arsenal and Franck Kessie of AC Milan.
Senegal, Africa’s number one in FIFA ranking would have lost three players owing to the potential ban. These include Liverpool forward Sadio Mane, first-choice goalkeeper Edouard Mendy of Chelsea, and Moussa Wague – on the books at Barcelona, though currently on loan at Greek side PAOK Salonika.
Other African players that would have been affected are Egypt’s Mohamed Salah of Liverpool, Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City as well as Gabon’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Arsenal.
Others who would have been affected include Guinea’s Naby Keita of Liverpool and clubmate, Cameroon’s Joel Matip. Real Madrid, among the initial 12 Super League clubs, is the only one without an African player.
The lineup of players on danger list are:
Liverpool:
- Mohamed Salah – Egypt
- Sadio Mane – Senegal
- Naby Keita – Guinea
- Joel Matip – Cameroon
- (Taiwo Awoniyi – Nigeria – on loan at Union Berlin)
Chelsea:
- Edouard Mendy – Senegal
- Hakim Ziyech – Morocco
- (Baba Rahman – Ghana – on loan at PAOK Salonika)
- (Victor Moses – Nigeria – on loan at Spartak Moscow)
Manchester City:
- Riyad Mahrez – Algeria
Manchester United:
- Eric Bailly – Cote d’Ivoire
- Amad Diallo – Cote d’Ivoire
Tottenham Hotspur:
- Serge Aurier – Cote d’Ivoire
Arsenal:
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – Gabon
- Thomas Partey – Ghana
- Nicolas Pepe – Cote d’Ivoire
- Mohamed El Neny – Egypt
AC Milan:
- Ismael Bennacer – Algeria
- Franck Kessie – Cote d’Ivoire
Atletico Madrid:
- Geoffrey Kondogbia – Central African Republic
Barcelona:
(Moussa Wague – Senegal – on loan at PAOK Salonika)
Inter Milan:
- Achraf Hakimi – Morocco
Juventus:
- Hamza Rafia – Tunisia (in Juve’s junior side)
Real Madrid:
- None
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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