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Afcon 2023 teams set up seven pre-tournament camps in the Middle East and Africa

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Super Eagles of Nigeria along with Burkina Faso, DR Congo, Cape Verde Angola and Guinea set up camp in the United Arab Emirates

With the clock ticking down to the 13 January kick-off date for the 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the 24 teams have set up seven camps in the Middle East, North Africa, South Africa and West Africa as well as some remaining at home.

The camps are in Saudi Arabia, UAE, West Africa, South Africa, Tunisia, Algeria as well as some remaining in their home countries.

In the United Arab Emirates are six teams from Nigeria, Burkina Faso, DR Congo, Cape Verde Angola and Guinea.

Fourth in the last edition, Burkina Faso chose to set up camp in Dubai on December 28, where the Stallions will play a mini-tournament with Nigeria and the DR Congo.

The Congolese and Burkinabes will face off on January 10.

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It’s worth noting that Sébastien Desabre’s men are expected in Abu Dhabi at the end of December.

These two teams will be joined by Cape Verde, fine-tunning its preparation in Abu Dhabi before flying to Rades in Tunisia where they will face the Carthage Eagles on January 10.

Abu Dhabi is a carefully considered choice for Kaba Diawara: “Initially, we will meet in Conakry on December 28 and do everything related to flag presentation, celebration, receiving the head of state, and saying goodbye to families on our soil.

“We will be in Abu Dhabi on the 31st to start training. We will leave there for Cote d’Ivoire on January 11 or 12, 2024,” explained the Guinean coach.

Nigeria chose to set up in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates during their preparation. The Super Eagles will face the DR Congo and Burkina Faso during this period.

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Nigerians will likely encounter Angola, who also chose Dubai for their training camp.

At the Saudi Arabia training camp are the quartet of Cameroon, Gambia, Zambia, and Cape Verde which also will partly be in UAE and later Tunisia.

Cameroon and Gambia, the two teams set to face each other on January 23 in Group B of the CAF  Africa Cup of Nations, will prepare in the same country of Saudi Arabia.

According to the Cameroonian press, a contingent of 23 Indomitable Lions will travel to Jeddah on December 27.

Gambia will stay in Saudi Arabia from December 27 to January 5 before heading to Morocco, where a match against the Atlas Lions is planned on January 7.

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After a brief gathering with local players, Zambia will fly to Riyadh, with a friendly match scheduled around January 7.

South Africa is another training centre where Ghana and Mozambique will be. Ghanaians will spend New Year’s Eve together in South Africa. The Black Stars will undergo a 10-day training camp where the press and the public will not be able to attend their sessions.

A test match against Botswana is scheduled for Chris Hughton’s men on January 8 before flying to Abidjan.

Mozambicans will also travel to South Africa before the  Africa Cup of Nations.

The trio of Algeria, Guinea Bossau and Namibia opted to set up camp in West Africa

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Algeria heads to Togo. From January 1 to 10, the Fennecs will conduct their preparation stage in Lomé. The 2021 African champions will play against Togo on January 5 and Burundi on January 9.

Guinea Bissau will go to Mali. The Djurtus will face the Eagles on January 3 before heading to Ivory Coast on January 7. Namibia will be in Ghana.

Both Mauritania and Zambia opted to set up training camp in Tunisia.  After Abu Dhabi, Cape Verde will go to Tunisia, where a match against the Carthage Eagles is scheduled.

Mauritania will start its preparation in Tabarka, a coastal city in northwest Tunisia. Amir Abdou and his team will be there until January 11 and will face Tunisia on January 6.

Tanzania will prepare on the side of Annaba in Algeria. Two friendly matches against nations participating in the AFCON are under discussion.

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Eight nations have decided to carry out their preparation at home, including Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Tunisia, Mali, Senegal, and Ivory Coast, the host country of the competition.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

AFCON

NFF Communication director unfolds 20 Points of a 20-hour ordeal on Libyan soil

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NFF’s Director of Communications, Dr Ademola Olajire, provides a point-by-point account of how a keenly-anticipated Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match was relegated to a fiasco by Libyan federal authorities and Football Federation

1) The chartered ValueJet aircraft departed from the Victor Attah International Airport, Uyo at 11.55hours on Sunday, 13th October 2024, and landed at the Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano at 13.10hours, for the completion of immigration formalities and for the aircraft to refuel.

2) The aircraft took off from Kano at 15.18hours, for the 3 hours and 35 minutes flight to Benghazi, Libya, expecting to arrive a few minutes before 8pm Libya time.

3) Just as he was about to commence his initial approach into Benghazi, the captain (pilot) was instructed by the control tower that he could not land in Benghazi (despite having all the required landing papers and having completed all formalities before leaving Uyo and later, Kano, but should proceed to the Al-Abraq International Airport, even though the airport lacked the control navigators for landing at such hours. He complained that he was short on fuel but his words fell on deaf ears as he was told sternly that the directive was from ‘higher authorities.’

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4) On landing at the Al-Abraq International Airport, in the small town of Labraq, at 19.50 hours, it was clear that the airport was not a well-utilized facility. There were no scanning machines or the usual equipment for this service, and officials had to make do with mobile phones to scan passport data pages.

5) The delegation, which included 22 players and team officials; NFF President Alh. Ibrahim Musa Gusau; Deputy Governor of Edo State, Comrade Philip Shaibu; a couple of NFF Board members; NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi; a couple of parliamentarians; a couple of NFF Management; a couple of media representatives and; a couple of stakeholders, was shown scant respect by the airport authorities who applied curt manners and stern tones.

6) It took over one hour for the team’s luggage to roll through the carousel, despite the fact that the bags and other items had already been hauled from the aircraft immediately on arrival.

7) No official of the Libyan Football Federation was at the airport to receive the delegation, as is the best practice globally. Airport officials could not answer the simple question on where the buses that would take the delegation members back to Benghazi (where the NFF had booked hotel rooms) were.

8) When delegation members including the NFF President, Comrade Shaibu and Dr Sanusi attempted to venture outside the airport to ascertain if there were vehicles waiting for the team, they were stopped in the most uncouth of manners by airport security personnel.

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9) Calls to the General Secretary of LFF, Mr. Abdul-Nasser by Dr Sanusi yielded no fruits as the former kept promising that the buses would arrive in ‘10 minutes’, which later became ‘two hours’, and afterwards, ‘three hours.’ Later in the evening, it was no longer possible to reach him on the phone. Frustrated by this attitude, Dr Sanusi approached the security operatives to request that the team be allowed to go out and board the buses the NFF eventually hired. This request was rejected with insults. It took the intervention of the NFF dignitaries to prevent what would have escalated into a row as the NFF President himself was not spared when he heard an exchange of voices between the security personnel and his General Secretary. This aggravated the tension and further frustrated the team.

10) Hour after hour, and with mounting frustration, delegation members, particularly the players, grew restless. There was no food or water provided by the LFF, or where to even procure these items, and there was no network or internet connection at the airport. These swiftly increased the level of frustration and anger.

11) At past midnight, it was learnt that there had been word from ‘higher authorities’ (Libya is a jurisdiction governed by two different administrations – a UN-recognized cabinet in Tripoli and a self-imposed team over Eastern Libya including places like Benghazi and Labraq) that the Nigeria delegation should be delayed for minimum of 10 hours at the airport for what they falsely claimed was done to their team in Nigeria.  (All conversations between the NFF General Secretary and the LFF General Secretary on the match in Uyo, both written text and voices notes, are still in the NFF General Secretary’s phone)

12) The NFF team was shocked because the incident referred to in Nigeria was entirely generated by the Libyans. They informed the NFF that their contingent would be landing in Port Harcourt, and not Uyo, only two hours to the team’s arrival in Nigeria. Despite this, the NFF moved swiftly to get authorities to grant their aircraft movement permit from Port Harcourt to Uyo, but this was jettisoned as the LFF apparently did not cherish the additional fee dispatched by the charter company. They opted to travel by road, refused to use the buses hired by the NFF and instead hired their own, and disrespected advice not to travel by night. When they stuck to their guns to move by night, the NFF provided security. The NFF even provided the team training facility the day after the match and secured direct flight permit from Uyo to Benghazi for the delegation.

13) Infuriated, the NFF President reacted: “We anticipated some shocks here given the false account of what happened in Nigeria as narrated by their team captain. But we did not expect these shenanigans. What I am seeing is despicable and has no place in the game of football which is meant to foster excellent relationships among nations and bring peoples from diverse cultures, religious persuasions and economic and political interests together in an ambience of peace and joy.”

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14) The NFF learnt that the Embassy of Nigeria in Tripoli had written, a fortnight earlier, to the authorities in Benghazi that they would want to welcome the Nigeria delegation on arrival. This application was said to have been rejected outright.

15) In a conscious effort to play down their frustration, anger and hunger, players and officials resorted to playing games, listening to music, chatting themselves up, scanning through the airport exit door to see if any vehicles had arrived, and generally looked forward to daybreak, which they hoped would bring much-sought-after relief.

16) Many calls were made to higher authorities in Nigeria to apprise them of the situation, and these persons all expressed fears for the safety and security of the team. These fears were real and justified given the plethora of threats thrown by the Libyans on legacy and social media in the days before and after the match in Uyo. At 2am, Captain William Ekong met the NFF President in the company of the NFF General Secretary to inform the President that the team may not be able to go ahead with the match, due to trauma, fatigue and body aches that resulted from lack of food, dehydration and very cruel and unimaginable treatment, which had led to some players falling ill.

17) The NFF repeated calls to officials of the Confederation of African Football, Nigeria’s FIFA Council Member Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick and higher authorities in Nigeria. It dispatched a letter to CAF in which it detailed the antics of the hosts and hoped that the continental governing body would go ahead to “punish this rare bestiality visited on the beautiful game.” It noted that the Super Eagles had travelled hoping to enjoy a great game of football but had been sorely disappointed and frustrated by the unprecedented level of hostility and poor attitude of the hosts.

18) At daybreak, Mr. Maurice Eromosele, president of the Nigerian community in Eastern Libya, arrived with words of empathy from the Ambassador of Nigeria to Libya, His Excellency Alhaji Muhammad Muhammad. He expressed shock at the treatment meted out to the Nigeria delegation, who were made to spend the entire night inside the departure lounge of the Al-Abraq Airport. He said His Excellency ordered him to get a few things for the team, and he later returned with plastic bags loaded with croissants and drinks. These served as breakfast for the team.

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19) More calls were made and eventually, it was agreed by all parties that the team should not go ahead with the match, but return to Nigeria to await the decision of CAF (who were briefed in detail on the situation) with regards to the un-played match.

20) After spending many more hours waiting for the Al-Abraq airport authorities to sell fuel to refill the chartered ValueJet aircraft (which was initially proving to be some sort of robotic engineering), the Nigeria delegation departed the Al-Abraq Airport (not worth the toga of ‘international’ by any scale) at exactly 15.05hours, bound for the city of Kano, and onwards to the Federal Capital, Abuja.

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AFCON

BREAKING! CAF wades into the Libya-Nigeria Airport episode

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Just as the Nigerian delegation is set to return to the country from Libya, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has waded in and referred the matter to its disciplinary board for investigation and appropriate action will be taken against those who violated the CAF Statutes and Regulations.

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CAF issued the following statement:

“The Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) has been in contact with the Libyan and Nigerian authorities after it had been informed that the Nigerian National Football Team (‘’Super Eagles’’) and their technical team were stranded in disturbing conditions for several hours at an airport that they were allegedly instructed to land by the Libyan authorities. 

“The matter has been referred to the CAF Disciplinary Board for investigation and appropriate action will be taken against those who violated the CAF Statutes and Regulations.”

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AFCON

Super Eagles are airborne to Nigeria

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William Troost-Ekong, captain of the Nigerian national team has revealed that the squad may have been cleared to return to Nigeria after being held up for nearly 24 hours at the Al Abraq airport.

Ekong wrote: “Power of social media. Our plane is being fuelled as we speak and we should be leaving to Nigeria shortly. Thanks for everyone’s support!”

Earlier, the captain wrote that they were unable to leave the airport for Nigeria as the Libyan authorities refused to allow the fuelling of the aircraft.

“Can I shock you?! The pilot has just told us there had been fuel at this airport for the plane all this time. They could have released it but haven’t permitted us since. Can you imagine?! So how long are they planning to hold us hostage here!!! Still just waiting”

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