Governing Bodies
Nigeria vs Ghana World Cup play-off: It’s time for Green Revolution at Super Eagles’ matches
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
For Nigeria, the quest for qualification for the Qatar 2022 has reached a fever-pitch level. The Super Eagles have all to play for in the last leg of the the play-off. No ambiguity, a win is al it takes to fly to Qatar 2022.
But the rest of Nigerians have their roles to play too. One vivid example comes to mind. At the 2013 FIFA Confederation Cup final, a big fact played out. It is the overwhelming support for a team, irrespective of proceedings on the pitch.
When a situation gets to the point of having to decide ones fate on home soil, beautiful football is often at discount. It is the result that matters. So, when the Seleção of Brazil took on the then World Cup holders at the famous Maracana Stadium in Rio, they could not have wished for a better setting.
Considering the wave of protests that had swept across Brazil at the time, even many were against the hosting of the tournament as well as the World Cup meant for the next year, no one could had predicted a capacity crowd and an overwhelming support for the home team.
After the match, even Brazil’s Coach Felipe Scolari was pleasantly surprised at the outcome. “Nobody expected such an emphatic result, not against the world champions,” he remarked at the post match conference.
He largely attributed the performance of the extra-charged Brazilian team to the overwhelming, if not intimidating support of the densely packed crowd.
“I also want to draw attention to the support the team had off the pitch. It’s a message for the whole of Brazil. We have to get along and stick together to make sure things move forward,” the 2002 World Cup-winning coach said.
The atmosphere was so electrifying that it could have taken only a prophet to predict a total humiliation of Spain, then the best team in the world. This is what the Super Eagles deserve on Tuesday evening in Abuja as they host their most ferocious rivals, the Black Stars.
The 2013 Confederations Cup final is where I will expect the Nigerian football fan to draw a big lesson. When the Brazilian fan decides to back a team, he does so, regardless of the standard being exhibited on the pitch.
If you think I was the only one overwhelmed by the atmosphere at Maracana, perhaps you also needed to be at the massive arena. Hear Blatter, the then FIFA president, “I’ve never seen anything like that. The fans were extraordinary in the stadium. I can still feel [the atmosphere] in the stadium today. When they started to sing the national anthem, even when the official part of it was over, they continued to sing. Ok, perhaps it delayed the match for two minutes, but it was not too important.”
When Nigeria took on Tahiti, the half-filled Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte, the support for the Tahitians was overwhelming and unwavering despite the Tahitians getting ‘goal drunk’.
A typical Nigerian fan would have made a volte face when his team plays disappointingly. When the fans shifted allegiance to the Super Eagles in their subsequent two matches which they lost against Uruguay and Spain, the fans backed the Super Eagles all the way despite the results.
The Nigerian fan should no longer be a fair weather friend of his team. He should not wait for goals to be scored before he let loose his emotions.
Let the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) begin the “Green Revolution” by making available to ech ticket holder, a green T-shirt. Let’s create “Green Belts” at the stadium on Tuesday. Back to the electrifying atmosphere at the Maracana Stadium in 2013, it was a sea of yellow shirts that adorned the bowel of the massive arena.
There was just no way the Seleção would not have felt at home. Perhaps the only other place I ever witness such overwhelming support was at the 2002 World Cup as the South Koreans mobilised behind their not-too strong national team.
In all-red attires, the Koreans packed in the stadiums and fan parks. Such backing saw South Korea topping a group that had teams like Portugal and Poland and even overcame Italy to reach the quarter-finals.
The fans with their red attires created “Red Seas” at every venue Korea played. This is a lesson to the Nigerian fan.
It is should be a task to mobilise fans from neighbouring towns and cities to ensure that the Moshood Abiola National Stadium is filled to capacity when the Super Eagles take on Black Stars.
Put on the colours of your team! When the Super Eagles play at home, let us match the colour of the pitch with those of the stands.
Let there be the green belts. Let us paint the arena green. Let the “green revolution” begin this Tuesday as we make the final fight to qualify for the World Cup.
Let the various supporters clubs come together as an entity, at least for now, to ensure we pick the valuable World Cup ticket.
Let the various supporters clubs adopt the concept of total support, yet non-violent approach in backing our team. Let them create chants that the rest of the crowd can echo. We do not necessarily need long songs that only few can sing.
Let’s electrify the venue! Onward to Qatar 2022.
Governing Bodies
Zimbabwe sports minister among candidates for International Olympic Committee presidency
A total of seven candidates are running for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee with the winner replacing outgoing president Thomas Bach at elections in March 2025 in ancient Olympia, Greece.
Kirsty Coventry:
Age: 41
Country: Zimbabwe
Entry into the IOC: 2013
An Olympic swimming champion and Zimbabwe’s most successful Olympian, Coventry is Zimbabwe’s Sports Minister. She is the only woman among the candidates and the only one from Africa.
Prince Feisal Al Hussein:
Age: 60
Country: Jordan
Entry into the IOC: 2010
Prince Feisal heads the Jordan Olympic Committee and has been an IOC executive board member since 2019. An Executive Board member of the Olympic Council of Asia, Prince Feisal has also held several posts at the Royal Jordanian Air Force.
Sebastian Coe:
Age: 67
Country: Britain
Entry into the IOC: 2020
An Olympic track and field champion and head of World Athletics, Coe also led the organisation for the 2012 London Olympics. A former Conservative Member of Parliament, Coe is also involved in sports consultancy and is a former head of the British Olympic Association.
Johan Eliasch:
Age: 62
Country: Britain
Entry into the IOC: 2024
The wealthy Swedish-born entrepreneur with a variety of business interests has headed the international skiing federation since 2021. He only joined the IOC in July at its session in the Paris Olympics.
David Lappartient:
Age: 51
Country: France
Entry into the IOC: 2022
A rising figure in world sports administration. He heads the international cycling body, UCI, and is in charge of esports within the IOC, having helped seal a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia earlier this year for the Olympic esports Games.
Juan Antonio Samaranch:
Age: 64
Country: Spain
Entry into the IOC: 2001
The son of the late former IOC president, Samaranch has considerable IOC experience and influence in his six years as vice president and 23 as a member. He headed the coordination commission for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
Morinari Watanabe:
Age: 65
Country: Japan
Entry into the IOC: 2018
Watanabe has headed the gymnastics federation (FIG) since 2016, having been re-elected twice since. He is the first Japanese candidate to run for the IOC presidency.
Governing Bodies
World Athletics boss, Coe and multi-millionaire Eliasch among seven candidates for IOC presidency
World athletics chief Sebastian Coe, multi-millionaire and Olympic newcomer Johan Eliasch and Zimbabwe’s Sports Minister Kirsty Coventry are among seven candidates for next year’s International Olympic Committee presidency election, the IOC said on Monday.
IOC Vice President Juan Antonio Samaranch, son of the late former IOC president, international cycling chief David Lappartient, Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan and international gymnastics federation head Morinari Watanabe are also in the running to succeed current president Thomas Bach.
The 70-year-old German is stepping down next year after 12 years at the helm. The election will be held at the IOC session in ancient Olympia, Greece in March 2025.
The candidates will all present their programmes, behind closed doors, to the full IOC membership in January 2025.
The IOC, with 111 members currently, is in charge of the Olympic Games and the multi-billion dollar industry linked to the world’s biggest multi-sports event.
Bach’s departure comes with the organisation in a financially robust position, having secured $7.3 billion for the years 2025-28 and $6.2 billion already in deals for 2029-2032.
The president is elected to an eight-year first term with the possibility of a second term of four years, if re-elected.
Coe, 67, only joined the IOC in 2020 after a rocky relationship between World Athletics and the IOC over Coe’s ban of Russian track and field athletes almost a decade ago following the country’s doping scandal.
A former Olympic champion with a wealth of experience in the sports world, Coe was previously head of the London 2012 Games and the British Olympic Association. He is also a former Conservative Member of Parliament.
Coventry, 41, is the only woman running for president and the former Olympic swimming champion, who is Zimbabwe’s most decorated Olympian, could become not only the first female president but also the first from Africa.
MALE PRESIDENTS
All IOC presidents have been men, with eight of the nine from Europe and one from the United States.
The 62-year-old Eliasch, head of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), only joined the IOC in July, with the Swedish-born British businessman’s candidacy a surprise for some.
Prince Feisal, 60, is a member of the IOC executive board, having joined the organisation in 2010, while Spaniard Samaranch, with considerable IOC experience in his six years as vice president, headed the coordination commission for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
“The IOC and Olympic movement have made enormous strides over the past decade under the leadership of Mr Bach,” said Samaranch in a statement.
“The IOC now needs a new leader with deep experience of the Olympic movement who can help steer it through this period of upheaval.”
UCI chief Lappartient has been a rapidly rising figure within the sports world after joining the IOC in 2022.
The Frenchman also is in charge of esports within the IOC, having helped seal a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia earlier this year for the Olympic esports Games.
Japan’s Watanabe, 65, has headed the gymnastics federation (FIG) since 2016, having been re-elected twice since, and is his country’s first ever candidate for the IOC presidency.
Under current rules members have to step down when they reach 70, the IOC’s age limit, unless they are given a four-year extension.
-Reuters
There is currently insinuations that proposed certain elements may have smuggled modifications to amend the Statutes of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) when the body holds its General Assembly next month in Kinshasa, Congo next month.
The confederation will be having its 46th General Assembly on 10th October. It is at such gatherings that amendments are made to existing rules.
According to an article authored by Mansour Loum, the editor of Sports News Africa, some national football federations have denied being party to proposed amendments which were linked to them.
One of such is coming from the Equatorial Guinea Football Federation which has denied signing proposals being circulated relating to amendments to CAF Statutes.
It is claimed that a circular dated 8 September has been sent to CAF member associations. Signed by CAF General Secretary, Véron Mosengo-Omba, it is titled: “Proposals for amendments to the CAF statutes and regulations for the application of the statutes, as well as the rules of procedure of the CAF General Assembly, presented by the national associations.”
Seven member associations were quoted as sponsoring the amendments. They are: Botswana, Comoros, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania and Niger.
But Equatorial Guinea has denied being party to the proposed amendment which seek to remove age barrier for candidates seeking to be CAF Presidents and also removing zonal considerations in election into FIFA Council.
The current Statute stipulates that a presidential candidate must not be older than 70 as at the date of election.
Most of the national federation members are already approaching that age. In the estimation of the author of the article, Mansour Loum, the current CAF president, Patrice Motsepe, is 62 years old. With the age limit, he could, for example, only run for two more terms.
Continuing, Loum wrote that regarding the elections to the FIFA Council, each zone has a representative on the FIFA Council and candidates for these positions can only be elected by the presidents of the member associations of their group zone.
Thus, the presidents of French-speaking federations can only vote for a French-speaking representative, the English-speakers for the English-speaking group, and so on.
The distribution of seats on the FIFA Council is currently as follows:
Francophone Group – Two members
Anglophone Group – Two members
Arabophone/Lusophone/Hispanophone Group – Two members
One female member elected from among the female candidates, regardless of language groups
The modification of the grouping by zonal unions would mean that all presidents could vote for candidates outside their group, or that the candidates would also no longer be limited to a group.
Several candidates from the same group could be elected to the FIFA Council, while at the same time some groups could no longer be represented.
Equatorial Guinea disputes any request for modification. The football federation president, Venancio Tomas Ndong Micha has reportedly denied being party to the proposed amendments.
“I am writing to you to present the disagreement of the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation with part of the content of the document sent to the CAF Executive Council on September 8, 2024 signed by you (…)
“In this document, there are amendments presented by the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation (…) By this letter, we confirm that the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation has not submitted any amendments to the CAF administration for the 46th CAF Ordinary General Assembly to be held on Thursday, October 10, 2024 in Kinshasa,” he denounces.
Enough to cast doubt on this document sent by the CAF secretary general and the objective targeted. Contacted, a federation president, whose body is not mentioned in the letter, is surprised by these two requests for amendments and wonders about their intentions.
The press release from the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation has sown doubt and now he is questioning the originality of the attachments included in this document which is likely to be talked about between now and the CAF General Assembly.
– Mansour Loum
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