International Football
Super Falcons Storm Austria to Prepare for Aisha Buhari Tourney
A contingent of nine –time African champions Nigeria has arrived in the Austrian capital, Vienna for an 8-day training camp as part of intense preparations for some upcoming challenges, most notably the Aisha Buhari Invitational Women’s Football Tournament.
The City of Lagos will host the six-nation invitational that will see the Super Falcons, Ghana’s Black Queens, Cameroon’s Indomitable Lionesses, Banyana Banyana of South Africa, Morocco and Mali tango in a celebratory atmosphere in the month of September for a glittering trophy named in honour of Nigeria’s First Lady, Dr (Mrs) Aisha Buhari.
A total of 26 players, alongside technical and administrative staff, are ensconced at the Event Hotel Pyramide Vienna for the purpose of total concentration as Coach Randy Waldrum seeks to harness the different qualities and abilities of individual players to conflate a better and stronger team.
New faces have continued to emerge in the camp of the Super Falcons as Coach Waldrum’s roving lenses have been picking up Nigeria-eligible dames from across the globe to strengthen the squad.
Before the Summer Series tour of the United States of America in June, where the Falcons drew with Portugal and lost narrowly to Jamaica and hosts USWNT, few Nigerian ball fans had heard of Yewande Balogun, Onyinyechi Zogg, Nicole Payne and Michelle Alozie. But they formed
part of a group that bonded fabulously with foreign-based and home-based professionals and presaged an interesting future for the Falcons.
Nigeria is in the Club of only seven countries that have qualified for and participated at every edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup finals since the competition was launched in 1991, and has also featured in three Olympic Games.
Waldrum has unearthed even more prospects as the Ijeh sisters (Josephine and Evelyn), Megan Ashleigh and Ninuola Dada are part of the training camp in Austria, even as England –based forward Ini-Abasi Umotong makes a return to the fold of the perennial African champions.
The camp in Austria is the third gathering that the Nigeria Football Federation has arranged for the Super Falcons this year, following an interesting three-wins-out-three account at the Turkish Women’s Cup in Antalya in February and the Summer Series in the USA last month.
First –choice goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie, defender Osinachi Ohale, midfield impresario Ngozi Okobi-Okeoghene and forward Uchenna Kanu, who all missed the tour of USA for one reason or the other, are in Austria. There is also a return for former captain Desire Oparanozie as well as fellow forward Ebere Orji.
The countdown to the Aisha Buhari Invitational Women’s Tournament has already started with the Super Falcons insisting the trophy will surely remain in Nigeria after the one-week event. The Falcons have won all but two of the 11 editions of the Women AFCON held since the first edition in 1998.
South Africa’s Banyana Banyana have played in every single edition of the Women AFCON as well, and have also played in two Olympics.
The Banyana were the runners-up to the Falcons in the last edition of the Women AFCON in Ghana in 2018.
Ghana’s Black Queens have played in 10 out of the 11 editions of the Women AFCON, and have also played at three (3) editions of the FIFA World Cup.
The Queens were runners-up to the Falcons in the inaugural edition of the Women AFCON in Nigeria in 1998.
Cameroon’s Lionesses lost by a lone goal to Nigeria in the final of the 2016 Women AFCON inside the Stade Ahmadu Ahidjo in Yaounde.
They have also participated in every edition of the Women AFCON and also played at two FIFA Women’s World Cup editions, including a second-round berth.
Mali have played at seven (7) editions of the Women AFCON and are considered a very strong team in the WAFU A region.
Morocco is one of the strongest teams in the North African region and the girls have featured at two editions of the Women AFCON.
SUPER FALCONS IN AUSTRIA
Goalkeepers: Tochukwu Oluehi (CD Pozoalbense, Spain); Chiamaka
Nnadozie (Paris FC, France); Patience Okeke (Bayelsa Queens); Yewande
Balogun (California Storm, USA)
Defenders: Glory Ogbonna (Edo Queens); Osinachi Ohale (Madrid CFF, Spain); Esther Ogbonna (Edo Queens); Chidinma Okeke (Madrid CFF, Spain); Onyinyechi Zogg (FC Zurich, Switzerland); Nicole Payne (West Virginia University, USA); Michelle Alozie (Houston Dash Reserves,USA); Megan Ashleigh (Leicester City, England); Josephine Ijeh (BK Hacken, Sweden)
Midfielders: Rita Chikwelu (Madrid CFF, Spain); Ngozi Okobi-Okeoghene (Eskilstuna United, Sweden); Toni Payne (Sevilla FC, Spain); Mowaninuola Dada (Watford FC, England)
Forwards: Rasheedat Ajibade (Atletico Madrid, Spain); Francisca Ordega (Levante UD, Spain); Gift Monday (FC Robo Queens); Joy Bokiri (Bayelsa Queens); Uchenna Kanu (Linkopings FC, Sweden); Ebere Orji (Sundsvall DFF, Sweden); Ini-Abasi Umotong (Lewes FC, England); Evelyn Ijeh (BK Hacken, Sweden); Desire Oparanozie (FC Dijon, France)
Representatives from four national players’ unions on Thursday launched a new global organisation in Madrid, which they say will strengthen footballers’ rights and improve dialogue with governing bodies.
Opening a new front in the battle over who speaks for players, the International Footballers’ Association (AIF) was unveiled, with David Aganzo, president of Spain’s Association of Footballers (AFE) and a former head of the global union FIFPRO, appointed to lead the organisation.
Players’ unions from Brazil, Mexico and Switzerland were also represented.
The initiative drew a swift rebuke from FIFPRO, which said in a statement that Aganzo was acting out of self-interest and aligning himself with organisations linked to football governing bodies, as well as groups expelled from FIFPRO over alleged mismanagement.
Aganzo rejected the criticism, saying he “will not seek confrontation with FIFPRO”.
The launch comes amid strained relations between players’ unions and football authorities, particularly over the expanding international match calendar.
Relations between FIFA and FIFPRO deteriorated in 2024 after the union lodged a complaint with the European Commission, arguing that the global governing body was abusing its dominant position by adding competitions without sufficient consultation.
Aganzo denied suggestions that the new initiative was backed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, but said “direct dialogue with FIFA” was essential.
AFE’s Extraordinary General Assembly approved the initiative in February with 99.8% of votes cast in favour of spearheading the creation of the AIF.
The same assembly also backed AFE’s withdrawal from FIFPRO, citing what it described as a “complete lack of transparency, as well as its total lack of dialogue with international bodies.”
“We represent over 30,000 footballers, and we come here with a new model aimed at safeguarding players’ rights and facilitating direct communication with all international bodies,” Aganzo told reporters.
“We are in contact with 15 to 20 unions already who were very aware of this moment and waiting for this announcement to make their move and join our initiative.”
He declined to identify any unions beyond those present.
Asked about a report that a senior envoy to U.S. President Donald Trump had urged FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at the upcoming World Cup, Aganzo urged caution.
“These are more political issues; on April 30th, I’ll be speaking to Gianni (Infantino) at the FIFA Congress, and we will discuss those things,” Aganzo said.
“People who want to go to the World Cup have to earn their place on sporting merit.”
-Reuters
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A new trial over the death of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona will begin on Tuesday, with seven members of his medical team charged with negligent homicide nearly a year after a previous case collapsed in a mistrial.
An enduring presence in Argentina – from towering murals to tattoos, opens new tab – Maradona died on November 25, 2020, at 60, after a heart attack while he was recuperating from brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
A court in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires, will hear testimony from just under 100 witnesses as it tries Maradona’s medical team over alleged negligence in the death of the 1986 World Cup champion.
His medical team has denied wrongdoing. The defendants are psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychologist Carlos Angel Diaz, physician Nancy Edith Forlini, nurse Ricardo Almiron, head nurse Mariano Ariel Perroni, and physician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna. An eighth defendant, nurse Dahiana Madrid, will be tried in a separate jury trial, with no date yet set.
Two months into the first trial, which started last March, a mistrial was declared when one of three judges, Julieta Makintach, resigned after video surfaced showing her being interviewed by a camera crew in the corridors of the courthouse and in her office as part of a documentary, in breach of judicial rules.
The retrial will require both prosecutors and defense lawyers to reassess their strategies after the first trial aired photographs, videos, audio recordings and forensic evidence. Many witnesses, including Maradona’s children and his former wife, Claudia Villafane, have already testified.
Prosecutors argued in the initial trial that medical professionals broke treatment protocols and that the home where Maradona was recovering from surgery amounted to a “theatre of horror,” where necessary care was not provided.
The defense countered that his death was inevitable given his longstanding health problems. Maradona struggled for decades with cocaine and alcohol addiction.
The negligence charges emerged in 2021 after prosecutors appointed a medical board to investigate Maradona’s death. The panel concluded his medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless” manner.
-Reuters
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Aliou Cisse has been named coach of the Angola national team, the country’s football federation (FAF) announced on Thursday, 24 hours after the Senegalese left his post in Libya.
The 50-year-old coach, who led Senegal to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022, ended his short stint with the Libyan national team on Wednesday, after taking charge in March 2025.
“Welcome, Aliou Cisse, head coach of the Angola national team,” the FAF said on Facebook. Angola, which failed to reach this year’s World Cup, will start their 2027 AFCON qualifying campaign in September.
-Reuters
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