Governing Bodies
CAF PRESIDENT’S FOUNDATION DONATES USD 10M TO FIFA-CAF PAN-AFRICAN SCHOOL FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
The President of CAF, Dr Patrice Motsepe announced during his visit to Cote d’Ivoire, the donation of USD 10m by the Motsepe Foundation to the FIFA-CAF Pan-African School Football Championship.
The USD 10m donation will be used to initiate and support the development and growth of schools’ football in the six CAF Zones as part of the FIFA-CAF Pan-African School Football Championship which was launched by FIFA and CAF in Kinshasa, DRC a few weeks ago.
The co-founder of the Motsepe Foundation, Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe said “The Motsepe Foundation is passionate and committed to academic excellence and football excellence and has been sponsoring schools football in South Africa for many years. We are now extending this commitment and passion to the rest of the African Continent.”
“Schools are an extremely important social vehicle for the promotion of key life values” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
“Football values, which include respect, discipline, teamwork and fair-play, are perfect complements for the education of future generations, and FIFA is delighted to be part of this important initiative, together with CAF, for the benefit of youths in Africa.
“Thanks to the generous donation of the Motsepe Foundation, joy and hope will be given to millions of children across the continent for the years to come.”
Boys and girls aged between 12 and 14 will play in the FIFA-CAF Pan-African School Football Championship, which will have 3 stages; starting at national level (via national football associations) and thereafter proceeding to the six Zonal level tournaments which provides the qualification path to the FIFA-CAF Pan-African School Football Championship Finals.
The winning schools will use the prize money, to, inter alia, purchase and provide schools football development and education or academic infrastructure, facilities and equipment.
Additional information concerning the utilisation of the USD 10M donation by the Motsepe Foundation and the FIFA-CAF Pan-African School Football Championship will be provided in due course.
Pilot national tournaments will take place in several countries throughout Africa; including Benin, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia, with other participating countries to be announced in due course. Qualification tournaments will be played between May and December 2021, with the finals scheduled for February 2022.
The first full edition of the FIFA-CAF Pan-African School Football Championship, including all countries from the African Continent, will take place between 2022 and 2023.
Governing Bodies
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.
The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.
Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.
He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.
An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.
He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.
“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”
Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.
“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.
He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.
“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.
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A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.
Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.
He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.
He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.
Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.
While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.
-Reuters
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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.
Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.
The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.
Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.
“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.
“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”
Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.
“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”
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