International Football
Nigeria’s Jay Jay Okocha among World Cup draw assistants
Although the Super Eagles failed to make it to the 2022 World Cup, former captain, Austin Jay Jay Okocha will be one of the eight stars that will assist when the draw for the final competition is made in Doha on Friday.
He is also joined by a former Super Eagles coach to the France ‘98 World Cup, Bora Milutinović a dual citizen of Serbia and Mexico.
The full line-up of assistants will also include Adel Ahmed MalAllah (Qatar), Ali Daei (IR Iran), Rabah Madjer (Algeria) and Tim Cahill (Australia). The event will be staged at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center and will get underway at 19:00 local time 6pm in Nigeria.
FIFA World Cup champions Cafu (Brazil) and Lothar Matthäus (Germany) will team up with six more assistants for the final draw to reveal the groups for the 2022 edition of football’s global showpiece.
“I am getting used to this, but it still gives me goosebumps,” said Cafu, who will be taking part in a final draw for the third time after also playing in three successive FIFA World Cup final matches in 1994, 1998 and 2002, winning the trophy twice.
“It is a sign that the World Cup is getting nearer. It is nearly 20 years since I became the last South American player to lift the World Cup and it is a memory I will always cherish. Playing at the World Cup, when your whole country comes to a standstill to watch the game, is incomparable.”
The other assistants also need little by way of introduction. Lothar Matthäus captained West Germany to victory in 1990. Jay-Jay Okocha was a playmaking midfielder who helped Nigeria qualify for their first FIFA World Cup in 1994 and won the Olympic title two years later, while Tim Cahill scored Australia’s first-ever FIFA World Cup finals goal against Japan in 2006 and also represented the Socceroos in 2010, 2014 and 2018.
Bora Milutinović is the only coach to have managed at five consecutive editions of the FIFA World Cup with different teams: Mexico (1986), Costa Rica (1990), USA (1994), Nigeria (1998) and China PR (2002).
There will also be three famous faces from the Middle East among the draw assistants for the first FIFA World Cup in the region. The host country will be represented by Adel Ahmed MalAllah.
The former defender represented Qatar at the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1981, when they won the silver medal, and at the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament in 1984.
“I’m thrilled to be a draw assistant in my home country, and proud of Qatar. A FIFA World Cup in our region is a dream come true for every Arab footballer and football fan. This generation will make history on the pitch and we cannot wait to welcome the world here in just a few months’ time,” said MalAllah.
In 1982, Rabah Madjer set Algeria on their way to one of the biggest World Cup upsets in the tournament’s history when he scored the opening goal in his side’s 2-1 win over West Germany, whereas former IR Iran forward Ali Daei was the leading scorer in men’s international football until his remarkable tally of 109 goals was overhauled by Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo in September 2021.
The eight draw assistants will be supported by a conducting team comprised of two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup™ champion Carli Lloyd, football pundit and former England player Jermaine Jenas, and British-Jamaican sports presenter Samantha Johnson.
“It will be a great honour to experience the World Cup atmosphere again, this time as a draw conductor for the men’s tournament. As a fan, I’ve been closely following the qualifiers, and as a former player, I can’t wait to share the stage with such legends of the game,” said Lloyd.
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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