International Football
Aisha Buhari Cup: Morocco happy to rub shoulders with the best teams on the continent
Like five other nations of the continent, Morocco will participate from September 15 to 21, 2021 in Lagos, Nigeria, in the first edition of the ABC tournament officially called the “Aisha Buhari Cup”.
The six-nation tournament organized during the FIFA international window will bring together the best women’s national teams from the continent, including the Super Falcons of Nigeria, nine-time African champions and hosts of the event, Cameroon’s Indomitable Lionesses, South Africa’s Banyana Banyana, Ghana’s Black Queens, Mali’s Eagles and Morocco’s Atlas Lionesses.
On the eve of the competition, CAFOnline.com spoke with Morocco head coach Reynald Pedros. The French-born technician is eager to gauge the level of his squad, less than one year ahead of the highly anticipated TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup 2022 in Morocco. And what could be better than a high level competition for that?
CAFOnline.com: What do you think of Morocco’s participation in the Aisha Buhari Cup and what opportunities does it offer you and your team?
Reynald Pedros: The opportunity to participate in this tournament is something important for us because we are starting the season with this first FIFA date in September and we will participate in a tough tournament. It will allow us to shape a group and judge it against the best African nations. It is a great opportunity for Morocco to participate in this tournament.
What is your impression about your team’s opponents and their pedigrees?
We are in the group of Mali and Nigeria. Of course Nigeria is the favorite. After all, a football match is always unpredictable. We will do our best to be the best we can, to win our games. But we will always be at work. It is important. It will also allow us to see our opponents. We have already played against Mali, we will discover Nigeria, we will see the other nations of group B. So, it is a group that is bearable for us because we will do what is necessary to try to finish in the first two.
Is this already a preparation for the TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations?
This tournament, eleven months before the Africa Cup of Nations, is important for us because the best African teams [are there]. But once again, we are still in the process. We still have time. This is the first tournament we will participate in with very tough matches.
It will be up to us, of course, to do our best to go to the end and especially to draw the necessary lessons to be able to progress and to arrive fully ready for the Women’s AFCON in July.
What do you think of this tournament considered to be a mini-Women’s AFCON?
This is indeed the first edition of the tournament and we thank the first lady for inviting us. Which means that we are one of the best African teams, so we will do everything on the ground to show that our place is here, and in our behavior too.
I think it’s going to be a tournament that will have to be renewed. When we have all the best African teams, there is quality and in any case, we will do our best to promote Morocco, to go as far as possible too, because we have ambitions.
-Cafonline
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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