Governing Bodies
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE MAY BE DISRUPTED SOON
Concerns are growing over whether English football’s top flight can complete the season on schedule after Aston Villa became the fourth Premier League club to suffer a coronavirus outbreak on Thursday (Jan 7).
The Birmingham-based club were forced to cancel training and close their training ground after two rounds of testing returned multiple positive cases of Covid-19 among players and staff.
On Tuesday, a record of 40 positive tests were detected aong Premier League players and staff in the week between Dec 28 and Jan 3. Three Premier League matches were postponed last week due to outbreaks at Fulham and Manchester City.
Britain is battling a highly infectious strain of the virus which has forced a new nationwide lockdown after cases soared to record numbers in recent days.
Despite the latest lockdown that came into force in England on Wednesday and calls from some within the game for a circuit breaker to buy time and bring infection rates down, the British government has insisted that elite sport can continue and the Premier League has so far been adamant that the season will proceed.
“With low numbers of positive tests across the overwhelming majority of clubs, the league continues to have confidence in its Covid-19 protocols, fully backed by the government, to enable fixtures to be played as scheduled,” the league said on Tuesday.
Fixture pile-up
Fulham midfielder Kevin McDonald became one of the first dissenting voices among players for the season continuing.
“How many more outbreaks and training ground closures before football needs to stop!!!! Shambolic!! Literally treated like guinea pigs!!!” he posted on Instagram.
Due to the late end to last season, the league is less than halfway through the 2020-21 campaign. The packed fixture schedule, with domestic leagues, Cup and European competitions having to be finished before the delayed Euro 2020 starts on June 11, leaves little room for manoeuvre.
Another shutdown would likely result in a severe financial hit for the world’s richest league due to rebates in TV rights deals. The late end to last season resulted in a reported £330 million (S$593 million) of rebates to broadcasters.
On Thursday, Arsenal borrowed a short-term £120 million loan from the Bank of England to cope with the impact of the pandemic. The move comes after north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur borrowed £175 million under the same scheme in June.
Players flouting rules
However, a number of embarrassing incidents have come to light in which prominent players have flouted coronavirus restrictions, doing little to aid English football’s case to keep going while movements in the rest of the country are highly restricted.
Tottenham trio Erik Lamela, Sergio Reguilon and Giovani Lo Celso, West Ham’s Manuel Lanzini, Manchester City left-back Benjamin Mendy, Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic and Crystal Palace captain Luka Milivojevic were all pictured breaching coronavirus rules over the festive period.
Villa chief executive Christian Purslow has been among those calling for tougher sanctions for players who break the regulations and put the season at risk.
Villa captain Jack Grealish was fined two weeks’ wages by the club for a breach of the rules last year.
“There are moments when young people will stray from the rules and, whether you’re a parent or the chief executive of a football club, that’s a time when you have to be very strict and remind people of their responsibilities,” Purslow said earlier this week.
-Reuters/AFP
The president of the Confédération of African Football, Dr. Patrice Motsepe, has announced five new CAF Vice Presidents. They are:
- CAF First Vice President: Mr Fouzi Lekjaa (Morocco)
- CAF Second Vice President: Mr Kurt Okraku (Ghana)
- CAF Third Vice President: Mr Pierre-Alain Mounguengui (Gabon)
- CAF Fourth Vice President: Ms Bestine Kazadi Ditabala (Democratic Republic of Congo)
- CAF Fifth Vice President: Mr Feizal Sidat (Mozambique)
In addition, the CAF President has co-opted Yacine Idriss Diallo, President of Fédération Ivoirienne de football, into the CAF Executive Committee.
The CAF Executive Committee also approved the names to fill vacant positions on several CAF Committees.
Organising Committee for the African Nations Championship (CHAN)
- President: Pierre-Alain Mounguengui (Gabon)
CAF Technical and Development Committee
- President: Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)
- Vice President: Malouche Belhassen (Tunisia)
CAF Medical Committee:
- President: Dr. Mohammed Bouya (Mauritania)
- Vice President: Dr. Thulani Ngwenya (South Africa)
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Governing Bodies
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.
The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.
Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.
He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.
An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.
He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.
“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”
Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.
“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.
He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.
“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.
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A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.
Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.
He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.
He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.
Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.
While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.
-Reuters
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