International Football
AMUNEKE AIMS AT BUILDING CONFIDENCE IN EGYPTIAN CLUB, MAQASSA
Maqassa of Egypt’s new Nigerian coach, Emmanuel Amunike says he has big ambitions to achieve with the Egyptian Premier League club, insisting that his players only need some confidence to return back to winning ways.
According to Egyptian publication, Ahram, Amuneke said:
“I agreed a one-and-a-half-year contract with Maqassa to build a strong team with young players in the coming period,” Amuneke said in an interview with Al-Ahram Al-Riyadi magazine published on Wednesday.
Earlier in February, struggling side Maqassa named Zamalek’s great and former African player of the year Amunike as their new coach, replacing ex-Egypt striker Mido who was shown the door after a string of poor results saw the team drop to fourth from bottom in the league table.
“The team includes good players who only lack confidence in their abilities. I told them they need to be determined to win again to restore their confidence in themselves,” Amuneke said.
In the first match under the 49-year-old’s guidance, Maqassa played out a 1-1 draw with El-Entag El-Harby on Saturday.
Maqassa currently lie third from bottom with 14 points from 17 matches, one behind the safety zone, but Amuneke is optimistic about his team chances of staying in the top flight.
“The team is in a very difficult situation, but our players can pass it. I know the teams’ circumstances well and my mission is to find solutions to quickly restore the balance,” he added.
“I told the players that changing their positions on the field in every game has been the main reason for the poor results.”
Happy with Egypt return
Returning to the country where he made his name as a deadly forward in the early 1990s, Amuneke expressed his great delight, welcoming the idea of taking charge of Cairo giants Zamalek one day.
He joined Zamalek from Nigeria’s Julius Berger in 1991 and went on to win two domestic league titles and one African Champions League crown in a glorious three-year spell with the club.
Amuneke also played for Portugal’s Sporting, Spanish giants Barcelona and Albacete before ending his career at Jordanian club Al-Wehdat in 2004.
“Egypt is my second country, where I had beautiful memories for three years and I am happy with the warm welcome everywhere,” he said.
“Working at Zamalek is a hope for any coach as it isa big club, but I am happy at Maqassa and I am working hard to achieve my ambitions there.
“Returning back to winning ways and also to become among the top four is my priority and then I can think of any other steps.”
On the international level, Amuneke was part of Nigeria’s golden generation that won the Nations Cup in 1994 and reached the last 16 of the World Cup several months later. He was named Africa’s best player in the same year before leading the U-23 side to the Olympic gold medal in 1996.
Amuneke had mixed fortunes in his brief managerial tenure, however. He guided Nigeria’s U-17 side to World Cup glory in 2015 but had unsuccessful spells with Julius Berger and Ocean Boys in his home country as well as Sudan’s Al Khartoum SC.
He then took charge of the Tanzanian national team but they bowed out of last year’s Nations Cup at the group stage after losing all their three game
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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