AFCON
KENYA SANCTIONED FOR FIELDING PLAYERS WITH COVID-19
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has banned two Football Kenya Federation (FKF) officials and have fined the national team after it refused to take COVID-19 tests before a match against Comoros.
FKF chief executive Barry Otieno and national team manager Ronny Oyando have been banned for six months, while the FKF has been fined $20,000 (£14,600/€16,400).
The CAF found Kenya had fielded four players who had tested positive for COVID-19 – including captain Victor Wanyama -during an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Comoros in November 2020.
Kenya drew 1-1 at home before losing 2-1 away, bringing the side to the brink of elimination in qualification.
CAF said con the day of the match in Moroni in Comoros, the general secretary of the Comoros Football Federation came in to conduct the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, but these were reportedly refused by the Kenyan national team management.
The process was then delayed for three hours before being conducted.
“The test results arrived just a few minutes before kick-off, during warm-up, due to the said delay,” said CAF.
Otieno and Oyando reportedly disputed the results of the tests and tore them apart before the match commissioner could check the results himself.
“According to the PCR tests copies that were acquired after the match, four players have all tested positive before the match yet took part in the game and risked the contamination of the opposing team as well as their fellow team-mates and all officials that were involved in match 94 of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers,” said CAF.
Otieno said he was examining his options following his ban as he denied the accusations.
“I have just learnt about the allegations and will be consulting internally on the next steps,” said Otieno.
“Nonetheless, I wish to state that everyone who was present during the incident, including the match commissioner, knows that what has been alleged is not true.
“That notwithstanding, CAF has made a decision and as a member we will comply with it.”
FKF recently caused controversy by placing a blanket ban on the local media, following criticism of Otieno and other officials in how they dealt with the press.
The ban lasted 32 days and was lifted on January 16, following a meeting between President Nick Mwendwa and Otieno and the Sports Journalists Association of Kenya.
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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.
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.
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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