AFCON
ALL EYES ON CAIRO AS CAF HOLDS AFCON 2019 DRAW
The Draw Ceremony for the 32nd Africa Cup of Nations finals will hold in Cairo, Egypt on Friday evening. It is scheduled to take place behind the famous Giza Pyramids as from 6pm GMT (7pm Nigeria time).
It is the biggest Africa Cup of Nations finals in the history of the competition, due to feature 24 teams, as against three teams that took part in the first edition of the competition in Sudan 62 years ago.
Hosts Egypt (who have also won the competition the highest number of times – seven), Cameroon (five –time winners and Cup holders), Nigeria (three –time winners), 2004 champions Tunisia, Senegal and 1976 champions Morocco are the seeded countries in the draw.
Egypt is also the country to have taken part the most in the championship, as she countenances a 24th appearance, while Cote d’Ivoire is heading to a 23rd show and Ghana will be making a 22ndappearance. Tunisia will make a 19th appearance while Nigeria will make her 18th appearance.
The 32nd Africa Cup of Nations will hold 21st June – 19th July 2019, in six venues: Cairo International Stadium; Borg El-Arab Stadium, Alexandria; Suez Stadium; Air Defence Stadium; Ismailia Stadium and; Al Salam Stadium.
President of the Nigeria Football Federation and 1st Vice President of CAF, Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick, who is also the President of the AFCON organizing committee, will be joined at the ceremony by the NFF Secretary General, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi who arrived in Cairo on Wednesday. Pinnick has been in Cairo since the beginning of the week, leading final inspection teams across the various stadia, and chairing the AFCON committee meeting on Wednesday.
A total of 14 countries, of the 54 member –nations of CAF, have won the AFCON trophy, namely: Egypt, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, DR Congo, Cote d’Ivoire Algeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Africa, Tunisia, Morocco, Congo-Brazzaville and Zambia.
Six other countries have reached the final without ever winning it: Mali, Burkina Faso, Uganda, Guinea, Libya and Senegal.
THE DIFFERENT POTS
Pot 1: Egypt, Cameroon, Senegal, Tunisia, Nigeria and Morocco
Pot 2: DR Congo, Ghana, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea and Algeria
Pot 3: South Africa, Uganda, Benin Republic, Mauritania, Madagascar and Kenya
Pot 4: Zimbabwe, Namibia, Guinea Bissau, Angola, Tanzania and Burundi
AFCON TOP SCORERS OF ALL TIME
Samuel Eto’o Fils (Cameroon) – 18
Laurent Pokou (Cote d’Ivoire) – 14
Rashidi Yekini (Nigeria) – 13
Hassan El-Shazly (Egypt) – 12
Patrick Mboma (Cameroon) – 11
Didier Drogba (Cote d’Ivoire) – 11
Hossam Hassan (Egypt) – 11
AFCON
Libya sacks coach ahead of AFCON qualifying back-to-back matches with Nigeria
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.
AFCON
CAF president blasts Ghana, others over stadium ban
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.
AFCON
Present and Past as CAF Coaches Symposium unites Rohr, Peseiro and Eguavoen
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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