AFCON
Cote d’Ivoire goalkeeper, Sylvain Gbohouo handed 18-month doping ban
The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations hosts, Cote d’Ivoire may not be with their goalkeeper, Sylvain Gbohouo who has been handed an 18-month ban by FIFA. He has been found guity for a doping violation.
The 33-year-old tested positive last year for the banned substance trimetazidine, a heart medication which the World Anti-Doping Agency categorises as a stimulant.
With his ban backdated to 23 December and he will be free to play again on 24 June 2023, just a day after the Afcon finals are expected to kick off.
Gbohouo was provisionally suspended in December and missed this year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
His positive test came after a 2022 World Cup qualifier against Cameroon on 16 November.
“As a result of the presence of the prohibited substance in his sample, the player was found to be in violation of article six of the Fifa Anti-Doping regulations,” said a statement on the Fifa website.
In his defence, Gbohouo said that he was prescribed medicine containing trimetazidine after being taken to a meeting in March 2021 with an opthalmologist by the Ivorian football federation (FIF) itself.
Following an eye examination, he was told to take a medication to improve his retinal blood flow – with Gbohouo telling officials he stopped the treatment halfway through a three-month course given he noticed no improvement.
The FIF, meanwhile, noted as part of its defence for the goalkeeper that “good eyesight” is “essential” for such a player.
Presented with documentation supporting his claims, Fifa adjudged that Gbohouo had unintentionally doped – thus reducing his ban from the standard four years for such an offence to two.
The ban was further reduced by six months after Gbohouo fully corroborated with the Fifa investigators, to whom he outlined the facts of his case.
Gbohouo, who is on the books of Ethiopian club Wolkite City, has 65 international caps and was part of the Ivory Coast squad that won the Nations Cup title in 2015.
-BBC
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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