Governing Bodies

REVENGE TIME AS UEFA APPLY THE BIG STICK ON SUPER LEAGUE REBELS…SET TO CHANGE EURO HOST CITIES

Published

3 years ago

April 23, 2021

Uefa meets on Friday (April 23) with revenge on some members’ minds following the attempted Super League breakaway, while the fate of some Euro host cities is also on the agenda.

In the space of 48 emotional hours, between Sunday evening and Tuesday evening, European football’s governing body, aided by fans and politicians, quelled a mutiny by 12 English, Spanish and Italian clubs who presumed to form their own quasi-closed which would have threatened Uefa’s own Champions League and the federation’s governance of the game.

Nine clubs, including all six in England, subsequently withdrew and even if Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid, whose president Florentino Perez led the attempted secession, are still refusing formally to capitulate, their proposal no longer looks credible.

Their setback showed money does not inevitably win in football and some want to make sure that the defeated big clubs fall as hard as possible.

Danish executive committee member Jesper Moeller on Monday suggested throwing Manchester City, Chelsea and Real Madrid out of this year’s Champions League semi-finals.

That drastic measure seems unlikely to be approved.

“There is relatively little chance that next week’s matches will not be played,” Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin told Slovenian television Pop TV.

“The key thing is that the season has already started. If we cancelled the matches, television stations would have compensation demands.”

But while Ceferin said he wanted to “rebuild the unity” he did not rule out some form of payback.

“I can’t go into details, we are discussing it with our legal department,” he said.

Power redistribution

Meanwhile, another Uefa member, Javier Tebas, the president of the Spanish Liga, urged restraint.

“Everyone wants to cut everyone’s head off,” he said on Thursday.

“We have procedures. We don’t need to rush into things.”

“The most important thing is these clubs have been sanctioned by their own fans. The sanction is the blow to their reputations.”

The fiasco has already redistributed power within Uefa.

Andrea Agnelli, Juventus boss and one of the promoters of a Super League, has relinquished both the presidency of the European Club Association (ECA) and his seat on the Uefa executive committee.

Bayern boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was rewarded for his loyalty when he filled the vacant Uefa position.

Another executive committee member whose club refused to join the rebels, Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, took over the powerful ECA reins on Thursday.

The two men are now the leading club representatives in decisions on the commercial management of the Champions League, which was radically reshaped on Monday.

Uefa’s executive committee approved a new format for the Champions League which had been proposed before news of the uprising broke.

It will be introduced from 2024, with the number of clubs in the group stage increasing from 32 to 36.

Euro host questions

In the immediate future, Uefa has to finalise the organisation of the Euros, postponed from last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic and due to start on June 11 in 12 cities, each in a different country.

So far nine cities have agreed to Uefa’s demand that fans be allowed at every match.

The three holdouts, Bilbao, Dublin and Munich, have been threatened with losing their matches.

The issue was on the agenda on Monday, but Uefa postponed a decision until Friday.

On Wednesday evening, however, the Basque organisers said that they had received a letter from Uefa saying Bilbao was being replaced.

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) said earlier in the month that Covid-19 restrictions imposed by the Basque region made it “impossible” to admit fans to the San Mames stadium.

Basque officials said they are considering legal action to recover the 1.2 million euros ($1.4 million) they had spent.

The RFEF wants to keep Bilbao’s four matches in Spain and has proposed Seville as an alternative, if the Andalusian regional authorities are more accommodating on spectators.

The Irish government, concerned by the high numbers of Covid cases in the country, is not at all optimistic about hosting fans at matches in Dublin.

“We just think June is too soon,” Irish Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told Today FM radio on Wednesday.

Budapest, St Petersburg, Baku, Amsterdam, Bucharest, Glasgow, Copenhagen, Rome and London have all promised crowds at between 25 per cent and 100 per cent of capacity.

Munich has also not yet been able to guarantee that fans would be able to attend matches.

-AFP

Governing Bodies

Sanusi set for record-extending tenure as Nigeria’s football politicians assemble in Asaba

Published

4 days ago

October 3, 2024

Kunle Solaja

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

Speculations gathered ahead of the 2024 Annual General Meeting of the Nigeria Football Federation holding in Asaba on Friday have it that tenure elongation for the General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, is a major item on the agenda.

Neither formal confirmation nor denial has been issued since one of the leading newspapers in Nigeria, ThisDay dropped the hint.

The agenda of the meeting is also not made public. Dr, Sanusi is the longest-serving General Secretary in history having been in office from 30 March 2015 making 3,476 days or nine years six months and four days.

It easily drowned that of his closest rival in tenure – Sani Toro whose tenure from 21 December 1993 to 3 May 1999 is merely 2020 days or five years, six months and 12 days.

Thus, no one had enjoyed a longer period in office than the incumbent, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi. It is speculated that the tenure will be extended as NFF has reported that all delegates have arrived in the Delta State capital by Thursday evening.

The NFF Annual General Assembly, the first of which took place 90 years ago in Lagos on 19 February 1934, is the biggest assemblage of football administrators and stakeholders in the country.

In one such meeting on 24 July 2008 in Makurdi, the football body changed its name from NFA to NFF.

This year, according to a press release by the NFF, the plenary will have in attendance, the chairmen and secretaries of football associations in the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, chairmen and secretaries of the Nigeria Premier Football League, Nigeria National League, Nigeria Women Football League and the Nationwide League One, as well as chairmen and secretaries of the referees’ association, players’ union and coaches’ association. This group of 88 makes up the Congress.

They are joined by the members of the NFF Executive Committee and the management team as well as former NFF Presidents and General Secretaries.

The Minister of Sports Development, John Owan Enoh, is announced as the special guest. Nigeria’s Member of the FIFA Council, Amaju Melvin Pinnick is also expected as well as a representative of the West African Football Union (WAFU B).

The Governor of Delta State, Sheriff Francis Oborevwori will declare the General Assembly open.

Venue is the Unity Hall of the Delta State Government House.

Governing Bodies

Like in Egypt, former Nigerian Olympian, Sadiq Abdulahi wants Tinubu to declare ‘State of Emergency’ in Sports

Published

1 week ago

September 27, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Former Nigerian tennis player and Olympian, Prof. Sadiq Abdulahi has called for drastic action to arrest the decline of Nigeria in global sporting events.

The former tennis player who is now a professor in the United States declared that the “failure to win a medal at the regular 2024 Paris Olympics, the few medals at the Paris Paralympic and the fallout at the National Youth Sports Festival has exposed the deep problems facing the sport’s sector.”

He wants Nigeria to have the same approach that the Egyptian president has taken while reacting to the country’s performance at the Paris 2024 Olypics.

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ordered a comprehensive evaluation of sports federations that participated at the Paris Olympic Games, following a mission report submitted by the country’s sports minister.

According to Prof. Abdulahi, the National Sports Federations charged with the preparation of elite athletes have failed to do their job despite the cry for funding from the government.

“Federal Government cannot adequately fund all the Olympics sports. It is impossible.

“By declaring a state of emergency, new people, new approaches and new funding models will be identified. More importantly, the Federal Government will redefine grassroots sports development.

“We will lay sustainable foundation for sports development.”

Continuing, he called for the return of the National Sports Commission (NSC) which enabling decree was abolished through Decree No. 7 of 1991, but came back through presidential proclamation under Sani Abacha before it was abolished again.

The original NSC was established in 1964 as National Sports Council before the promulgation of Decree 34 of 1971 which legalised it as the apex Federal Government agency to control, regulate and organize sports.

“The FG may now bring back the National Sports Commission or the National Sports Authority. Our emerging national economy with the full participation of the private sector can support this new beginning. I hope this helps.”

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Governing Bodies

CAF gives Yoruba and Arabic interpretations of ‘OLA’ the Super Cup 2024 Official Match Ball

Published

2 weeks ago

September 25, 2024

Kunle Solaja

The Confédération African of Football, CAF, has given the linguistics interpretation of OLA, the confederation’s official match balls produced by Puma which has also unveiled a special edition for the Super Cup duel holding on Friday in Saudi Arabia.

According to CAF, OLA, symbolizing the dynamic and energetic nature of African football, means “wealth,” “honour,” and “respect” in Yoruba and “rise” and “success” in Arabic.

The OLA ball stands out with its vibrant design and cultural significance. “OLA”

The ball is a mix of black and gold, representing power and sophistication. The ball will be the centrepiece of the eagerly-awaited match between the two giants of African football.