AFCON
A NEW SHERIFF COMES TO TOWN AT CAF
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
The Confederation of African Football, CAF, enters a new and unprecedented phase in its 62 years of existence, as an external body, FIFA, will govern it.
From this Thursday and for six months, Fatma Samoura, the FIFA General Secretary will oversee the confederation as FIFA General Delegate, a thinly veiled nomenclature of General Overseer.
Sports Village Square recalls that the immediate former FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, described the take-over of CAF as colonization. Even the UEFA boss, Aleksander Čeferin, initially opposed the FIFA move, but was persuaded to endorse it.
By her designation, Samoura will run CAF almost as a sole administrator. The events leading to her being seconded to CAF were predicated by allegations of financial mismanagement in the confederation among other allegations levied against Ahmad, the president.
The joint statement by CAF and FIFA was silent on the position of the CAF president, the executive committee members as well as the General Secretary.
But informed sources disclosed to www.sportsvillagesquare.com that Ahmad is good as being referred to as ‘former president’ considering the weight of allegations against him.
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The Ethics Committee of FIFA is currently investigating him. Last June in Paris, he was briefly detained by the anti graft police before being released without charges.
It is believed that the CAF Executive Committee members decided to invite the FIFA General Secretary to take over the administration to prevent the former 1st Vice President, Amaju Pinnick from running the Confederation, even in acting capacity.
That was the underlying reason why Ahmad had to ‘reshuffle’ cabinet on the eve of the final match of 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
It was gathered that the CAF Executive Committee has broken into linguistic blocs and only grudgingly made South Africa’s Danny Jordaan the 3rd Vice President as the only English speaking person in the top four.
Virtually all the top members of CAF Executive Committee has one allegation or the other tied to them.
It is a situation that may see a clean sweep of a regime that came into power following the ‘overthrown’ of the ‘ancient regime’ of Issa Hayatou.
Fatma Samoura, the new sheriff in town is supposed to conduct a forensic analysis of CAF books.
Already, an advertisement went out on the eve of her ascendance into CAF offices, an advertisement was put up requesting for proposals on restructuring of the confederation. It was signed by the Chief Compliance Officer, Abdulah Moustapha.
What a turn-around! After four previous competitive matches without a win, the Super Eagles have regained their winning mentality after a 3-0 defeat of Benin Republic in their opening 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series.
The win also put the Super Eagles at the top of the Group D after both Libya and Rwanda played 1-1 draw last Thursday.
It is also the biggest win by the Super Eagles since their 2023 6-0 win over Sao Tome & Principe last year September.
Great man Ademola Lookman, he put in two goals straightening the possibility of his emerging as 2024 African Footballer of the Year.
The current title holder, Victor Osimhen proved his mettle coming off the bench in the second half to double Nigeria’s lead after Lookman’s late first half goal.
The Super Eagles will now honour their next fixture against Rwanda on Tuesday with the hope of consolidating their lead.
Benin Republic with no points and a deficit of three goals are rooted at the bottom of the log.
BY JOSEPH ODOEKWU
The National Chairman of the Nigerian Football Supporters Club (NFSC), Rev. Samuel Ikpea has called on all Nigerians to rally round and pray for the Super Eagles ahead of Saturday’s Morocco 2025 AFCON qualifier against Benin Republic in Uyo.
Ikpea who is mobilizing support for the Super Eagles ahead of the clash in Uyo said that whatever Benin Republic come with both spiritually and physically in the game, we will surely overcome them.
“In the NFSC we have Christians, Muslims as well as those who believe in traditional worship and we respect the rights of freedom of worship of every member and all Nigerians.
“When we are faced with this kind of crucial game, we call on everyone to pray through their various believes because we foresee that Benin Republic are most likely coming to fall back on ‘black magic’ to enable them perfect a back-to-back victory over our Super Eagles after beating us 2-1 in our last meeting in a World Cup qualifier”
“We cannot underestimate the efficacy of the black magic” Ikpea further stressed, “but we believe that when we come together we can neutralize it’s efficacy.
“This is no time to sleep, we all have to rally round and do our best to support our Super Eagles because they cannot do it alone without the prayers and support of all Nigerians.
“While charging Nigerians to be positive with the team, we at the NFSC have done everything positive to overturn whatever plans they are coming with and we enjoin everyone to toe that path through prayers”.
Meanwhile, the Super Eagles camp is bubbling with training in Uyo, as team Coach Austin Eguavoen, has been working hard to perfect tactics with the boys and ensure the Super Eagles soar on Saturday.
The Super Eagles have not won a qualifying match for any competition since their 6-0 defeat of Principe & Sao Tome on 10th September 2023 in Uyo. That was their last qualifying match for Cote d’Ivoire 2023 played in 2024.
Since then, they have played four World Cup qualifying matches without a win despite being the overwhelming favourites at those matches.
A forensic analysis of their World Cup qualifying since that of Qatar 2022 will reveal they had played seven consecutive matches without a win starting from their 1-1 home draw with Cape Verde in Lagos which qualified them for the play off. In the play off with Ghana, the Super Eagles drew the two matches.
In the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, they have gone four matches, getting three draws and a loss. The prospect of their getting a straight qualification from the group is doubtful as they have a mountain to climb by winning the remaining six matches, three of which are away duels of which are most likely to be played in South Africa, the home ground of their main rivals.
Zimbabwe and Lesotho play their home matches in South Africa and Nigeria also still have an away duel with Bafana Bafana.
The qualification series of AFCON 2025 presents the Super Eagles a new beginning. Starting from the semi-finals of the AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire, the team has won none of their four competitive matches in regulation time. The players have a date with destiny in Uyo this Saturday to wipe off the sagging image they have had in recent time.
A win will give the team the confidence expected in anticipation for future fixtures.
What a goal-laden day for Nigeria; Falconets also win with wide margin!
Hurray, Super Eagles back to winning ways!
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