AFCON
Golden boy, Amuneke delighted as Class of 1994 Super Eagles gets rewards
Former African Footballer of the year and member of the victorious Super Eagles of 1994, Emmanuel Amuneke, is delighted with the news that President Mohammadu Buhari has approved the allocation of apartments to the team for winning the Africa Cup of Nations that year.
Late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, promised rewards of three-bed room apartment for each member of the squad – a promise never kept.
But members of the team did not lose hope as they kept pressing for the reward which the President Buhari put to rest last night following the directive that those who are yet to collect their own should be rewarded as a matter of urgency.
“It’s a dream come through to all members of the team and I want to than the President for making the wish of members of the team come through.
“I also want to that the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, whom we learnt took it upon himself to make it come true.
Its most unfortunate that some of the members are no longer alive but the joy of it is that the families they left behind have something to fall back on-going by this latest development.
The former FC Barcelona star also debunked the news making around that part of the reason for the delay in allocation of the apartment was because some members of the squad went behind to collect their allocation at the expense of majority.
“The insinuation was false, most of those have collected their own are mainly those who chose Abuja and it was easy for the Federal Housing Authority to allocate to them but for most of us that wanted Lagos and other State capital spread across the country was part of the reason for the delay,” he pointed out.
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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