AFCON
Kenya out of Afcon 2023 qualifiers, even before kick off
Kenya will not take part in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, whose qualifying campaign starts in early June, BBC Sport Africa understands.
Kenya is unable to take part because of its ongoing ban from football by world governing body Fifa because of governmental interference in the running of the game.
The East African nation had needed their ban to have been lifted two weeks before their first Nations Cup qualifier if they were to take part in the 2023 campaign.
However, this deadline – which came on Saturday 21 May – passed without Kenya being readmitted to the international fold.
The Harambee Stars had been due to play in Cameroon on 4 June before then hosting Namibia four days later.
It means that Group C will now composed of Cameroon, Namibia and Burundi – with the top two qualifying for next year’s tournament in Ivory Coast.
The ban imposed by Fifa in February came after Kenya’s sports ministry disbanded the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) over alleged misappropriation of funds and appointed a caretaker committee in November 2021.
Despite the sanction, Kenya were included in the draw for the 2023 Nations Cup, with the Confederation of African Football (Caf) giving them a deadline for the ban to be lifted to participate.
“In case the suspension is not lifted two weeks before their first matchday of the qualifiers; both associations [along with Zimbabwe] will be considered as losers and eliminated from the competition,” a Caf statement read.
“Consequently, their groups will be composed of three teams. The first and runner-up teams of those groups will qualify to the final tournament.”
Zimbabwe look set to suffer the same fate as Kenya unless they can overturn their own ban by 26 May, with the Warriors scheduled their first game in Group K, which features Morocco, South Africa and Liberia, on 9 June.
-BBC
The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) has sacked its Serbian coach, Milutin Sredojević who is popularly known as Micho.
This is coming ahead of Libya’s back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations clashes with Nigeria next month.
Paradoxically, Sports Village Square gathered that the coach’s contract was only recently renewed for six months before the axe fell on the Serbian.
His sack was precipitated by the results obtained in their teo matches of the AFCON qualifiers.
Libya drew 1-1 with Rwanda at home and lost 2-1 away to Benin Republic despite beig a goal up at half time.
The Libyan side, Mediterranean Knights are due to play against the Nigeria Super Eagles in Uyo on 6 October while the return leg holds on 14 October at the 11 July Stadium in Tripoli.
According to information Sports Village Square gathered from Tripoli, the Mediterranean Knights’ coach, Micho led the Libyan national team to win nine matches since taking over in October of last year, he failed to build a strong team due to his poor choices.
He also took a risk with the footballers chosen in the AFCON qualifiers, and the result was shocking to the Libyan sports audience.
According to sources close to the Libyan Football Federation, there is a strong tendency to sign a national coach to lead the Libyan team during the remaining qualifiers for the African Cup of Nations.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe has lashed out at Ghana and some other African countries whose home grounds were recently banned from hosting CAF matches owing to inadequate facilities. He made the remarks in Nairobi, Kenya during a press conference,
After the MatchDay 2 of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, CAF ruled Ghana’s Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi as being inadequate to host international matches. Being the only approved ground in the country, Ghana will now look towards either Cote d’Ivoire or Togo for their remaining home matches of the Afcon qualifiers.
Other African countries without approved home grounds are: Djibouti, Chad, Niger, Eritrea, Gabon, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, São Tomé and Burundi.
Motsepe voiced his frustration over the recurring issue of nations being unable to host home games.
“Nothing frustrates me more than a national team or club side having to play home matches outside,” he stated.
He stressed the significance of playing in front of home fans, adding, “You can’t grow football if the national teams or club sides aren’t playing in front of their home fans.”
Motsepe reiterated CAF’s commitment to working with countries to ensure they have at least one suitable stadium to host international fixtures.
“Our conversations in every country are to make sure there is at least one stadium capable of hosting a CAF category C game,” he emphasized.
The on-going CAF AFCON Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Coaches Symposium in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire has brought together, the last three coaches that handled the Nigeria national football team.
Gernot Rohr, Jose Peseiro and Austin Eguavoen are part of the the elite coaches currently gathered in Abidjan.
Gernot Rohr whose tenure of 5 years and 55 matches is the longest ever by any coach in Nigeria, is currently handling Nigeria’s Africa Cupof Nations and World Cup qualifying rivals, Benin Republic. He was succeeded in the interim by Austin Eguavoen who is currently having another interim stint.
Peseiro left his position after the Africa Cup of Nations
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