International Football
After teams’ arrivals; all set for Aisha Buhari Cup
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Eko Hotels, the place of abode for the six teams featuring at the inaugural invitational international football fiesta, the Aisha Buhari Cup is already bubbling with activities.
By Monday, all the five invited teams that will join the hosts, Super Falcons of Nigeria, have arrived.
For the tournament, the teams are in two pools – A and B. Nigeria heads the Pool A which also have Morocco and Mali. They play their round robin series at the remodelled water front stadium, the Mobolaji Johnson Arena that was previously named Onikan Stadium.
The Pool 2, head by South Africa has Cameroon and Ghana. Their matches will be played at the renovated Agege Stadium in Lagos mainland.
www.sportsvillagesquare.com brings to you points of interests on the participating teams.
NIGERIA
- The host team and leading lights in women’s football in Africa became the first African side to play at the inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup in China in 1991 after defeating all their opponents home-and-away in the qualifying series.
- For many years, the Super Falcons remained undefeated by any African side. They had a 28 match unbeaten run from their debut match of 16 February 1991 to 10 December 2002.
- Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala and Perpetua Nwokcha are record winners of the African Woman Footballer of the Year Award having each won four times.
- Nigerian women have won the African Woman’s Footballer of the Year Award more that women from other countries. In 17 editions, Nigerian women won 11 times.
- Nigeria’s Super Falcons have won the African Women’s Championships more than any other team. In 13 editions, they won 11 times.
MOROCCO
- Morocco have featured at two editions of the Women African Women Championships .
- Moroccan women drew their first ever international match, 1-1 with South Africa on 5 July 1998.
- Morocco’s biggest defeat, 8-0, was inflicted by Nigeria’s Super Falcons on 17 October 1998 in Kaduna.
Mali
Mali’s women’s national played their first international match against Cote d’Ivoire on 9 August 2002. It ended 2-2.
Mali’s biggest win was a 8-0 defeat of Guinea in Conakry on 23 February 2008.
Mali’s biggest loss was a 8-0 defeat by Nigeria on 9 April 2015 in Abuja
SOUTH AFRICA
- South Africa’s Banyana Banyana have featured in two Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016.
- South Africa won their very first international match, 14-0 against Swaziland (now Eswatini) on 30 May 1993.
- South Africa’s biggest win, 14-0 was against Comoros on 31 July 2019.
- South Africa’s biggest loss was 13-0 to China on 7 September 2003.
- South Africa won the COSAFA Women’s Champions four times in a row; 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
- Banyana Banyana of South Africa made their AWCON debut in 1995 and are beaten finalists a number of times: 1995, 2000, 2008, 2012 and 2018. They also have five players that have played over 100 games for their country.
Desire Oparanozie from Nigeria and Thembi Kgatlana of South Africa won the Golden Boot at the 2014 and 2018 AWCON finals respectively, with five goals each.
GHANA
- Ghana’s women’s national is named Black Queens has qualified for three FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in 1999, 2003 and 2007 as well as reaching the final of the Women AFCON Cup thrice, in 1998, 2002 and 2006.
- Ghana’s Gabrielle Onguene, Galle Enganamouit and Ajara Nchout have three FIFA World Cup goals to their names.
- Ghana’s Black Queens were the ones that broke the 28-match winning streak of Nigeria’s Super Falcons in Africa when they defeated Nigeria 1-0 in Warri during the 2002 African Women’s Championship in Warri on 10 December 2002.
- Ghana’s first international match was a 5-1 loss to Nigeria on 16 February 1991 in Lagos.
- Ghana’s biggest win was a 13-0 defeat of Guinea in Conakry on 11 July 2004.
Ghana’s biggest loss was a a 11-0 loss to Germany on 22 July 2016.
- CAMEROON
- Cameroon have been runners-up at the African Women Championship four times in 1991, 2004, 2014 and 2016, losing to fierce rivals Nigeria on all occasions.
- Cameroon’s first international match was a 2-0 loss to Nigeria on 15 June 1991.
- Cameroon’s biggest win is a 8-1 defeat of Mozambique on 13 September 2018.
- Cameroon’s biggest loss was a 6-0 loss to Nigeria on 27 October 1998 in Kaduna and to France 10 October 2018 in Paris.
- Cameroon’s Indomitable Lionesses beat Ecuador 6-0 at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup to become the first African side to score so many goals in a single match in the history of the global soccer fiesta.
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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