AFCON

Facts ahead of Cameroon versus Burkina Faso Afcon opener

Published

3 years ago

January 9, 2022

The 33^rd edition of Africa’s premier sports competition kicks off this Sunday afternoon. Below are some points of interests for a global audience.

This is the second time that Cameroon will be hosting the competition as the 1972 edition was in that country.

It at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon that a Nigerian first became an executive committee member of CAF when Oyo Orok Oyo won a seat at the General Assembly.

Both Cameroon and Burkina Faso playing the opening match have also played the final match in the past. Cameroon played the final matches in 1984, 1988, 2000, 2002, 2008 and 2017. Burkina Faso were losing finalists to Nigeria in 2013.

● This will be Cameroon and Burkina Faso’s third encounter in the Africa Cup of Nations. Both previous meetings came in the group phase: Cameroon won 1-0 in the 1998 before a 1-1 draw in 2017.

● Cameroon are making their 20th appearance in the Africa Cup of Nations, a tally only bettered by Egypt (25), Cote d’Ivoire (24) and Ghana (23). Egypt (7) are the only team to have won the tournament on more occasions than The Indomitable Lions (5).

● Cameroon are hosting the Africa Cup of Nations for the second time, 50 years after it was first held in the country, in 1972 – they finished third. Egypt are the last team to win the AFCON as hosts, it was in 2006.

● This is Burkina Faso’s 12th appearance in the Africa Cup of Nations. In their previous 11 participations, they have either been eliminated in the group stages (8 times) or at least reached the semi-finals (3 times), including the final in 2013 (0-1 v Nigeria).

● Cameroon striker Vincent Aboubakar has scored only one goal in his eight AFCON appearances (18 shots), although that was the winning goal in the 2017 final against Egypt (2-1).

AFCON

Libya sacks coach ahead of AFCON qualifying back-to-back matches with Nigeria

Published

4 days ago

September 17, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Milutin Sredojević

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.

AFCON

CAF president blasts Ghana, others over stadium ban

Published

4 days ago

September 17, 2024

Kunle Solaja

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.

AFCON

Present and Past as CAF Coaches Symposium unites Rohr, Peseiro and Eguavoen

Published

1 week ago

September 12, 2024

Kunle Solaja

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