International Football
Cameroon, Africans Get Anti Racism Protection
Cameroon, and indeed Africans can heave a sigh of relief as FIFA appears set to combat racism which is believed to be prevalent in Russia as regards to players of African origin. Monkey chants are common when Africans are on the field.
It is feared that such chants may come up when Cameroon take on Germany in Sochi next Sunday. Cameroon will open their 2017 Confederations Cup account this Sunday with a match with Chile in Moscow, but the greatest concern is the match next week in Sochi.
Just last month, in a Russian government sponsored public parade to herald the 2017 Confederations Cup, Russians in Sochi wore black painted faces and afro wigs to depict Cameroonians and were seen holding bananas as if they were monkeys.
The incident in Sochi, Russia has already triggered off what Cameroon should expect in Russia this year and the expectations of the five African teams that will feature at Russia 2018 World Cup.
But the world football governing body, FIFA, is taking steps to douse what could lead to potentially explosive situation.
The Olympic Games in the past had witnessed boycotts, even after teams’ arrivals as it happened in 1976 in Montreal, Canada and also in Moscow, Russia in1980.
FIFA events are yet to experience such. So, for the first time, Sports Village Square has gathered, in an official tournament, FIFA will use a three-step procedure in case of discriminatory incidents and also deploy anti-discrimination observers at all matches of the ongoing FIFA Confederations Cup 2017.
First, referees have been empowered to first stop a match and request a public announcement to insist that the discriminatory behaviour must stop.
The referee will suspend the match until the behaviour stops following another warning announcement, and finally, if the behaviour still persists, the referee will call off the match.
According to a media statement from FIFA, “anti-discrimination observers, meanwhile, are a natural continuation of the monitoring system that FIFA has put in place to monitor FIFA World Cup qualifiers and selected friendlies.
“The match observers are coordinated and trained by the Fare network, an organisation with a long track record of monitoring and fighting discrimination in football. Based on Fare’s ‘Global guide to discriminatory practices in football’, the match observers will monitor the behaviour of fans from both teams, as well as any spectators who are not affiliated to a particular team playing in the match.
“Should any discriminatory incidents occur during a match, the evidence collected by the match observers will be forwarded to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee for review and potential action.
Egypt international Ramadan Sobhi, who helped Pyramids win their first CAF Champions League title last season and previously played in the English Premier League, has been sentenced to one year in prison in connection with an academic fraud case, local media reported on Tuesday.
Sobhi was arrested in July upon returning from Turkey, where Pyramids had completed a pre-season camp, following allegations of falsifying official documents and having another individual sit for exams on his behalf at a private tourism and hospitality institute in Giza Governorate, Central Egypt.
The Giza Criminal Court sentenced 28-year-old Sobhi on Tuesday and a second defendant to one year with labor, acquitted a third, and handed a 10-year sentence in absentia to a fourth, who is a fugitive.
Sobhi’s lawyer could not be reached immediately for comment.
In addition to the prison sentence, Sobhi faces a four-year suspension after the Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed violations of anti-doping regulations in November.
Sobhi, who has played 37 times for Egypt, began his career at Al-Ahly before moving to England in 2016, where he played for Stoke City and Huddersfield Town.
Sobhi joined Pyramids in 2020 from Huddersfield Town, following a loan spell at Al-Ahly, and played a key role in helping Pyramids secure their first CAF Champions League title after defeating Mamelodi Sundowns in the final.
Reuters
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The Asian Football Confederation has announced plans to introduce an AFC Nations League, just a day after the Confederation of African Football unveiled a similar competition for its member associations.
In a statement released on Sunday, the Kuala Lumpur-based governing body said the new tournament is aimed at improving competition standards and commercial opportunities for national teams across Asia.
While no start date was announced, the AFC confirmed that the competition will be staged during existing FIFA international windows, avoiding congestion in the global football calendar.
AFC General Secretary Windsor John described the initiative as a strategic development tool for the continent’s national teams.
“The AFC Nations League represents an important step forward in our ongoing commitment to support the development of our 47 member associations,” John said.
“By introducing a structured competition platform, we aim to ensure consistent access to high-quality matches while addressing logistical and cost-related challenges faced by national teams.”
The AFC currently organises the Asian Cup every four years, with the next edition of the 24-team finals scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia in January 2027.
The proposed Nations League would complement the flagship tournament by providing regular, competitive fixtures between Asian national teams.
Asia and Africa now follow a path already taken by Europe, where UEFA launched its own Nations League in 2018. The UEFA competition was designed to replace low-profile friendlies with more meaningful matches, a model that has since been adopted or adapted by other confederations.
With CAF and AFC both moving towards Nations League formats, global football appears to be entering a new era in which structured inter-national competitions increasingly replace traditional friendly matches, offering greater sporting value and commercial appeal.
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The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced the creation of a new continental competition, the African Nations League, marking another major reform in African football.
The announcement was made on Saturday, December 20, in Rabat by CAF President Patrice Motsepe, shortly before he unveiled the historic decision to stage the Africa Cup of Nations every four years from 2028.
Modelled along the lines of Europe’s Nations League system, the African Nations League is designed to provide competitive fixtures for national teams outside the AFCON cycle, while also boosting the commercial and sporting value of international football on the continent.
According to Motsepe, the new competition will be held annually between September and December, beginning in 2029. Matches will be played strictly within the international windows approved by FIFA, ensuring that the tournament does not disrupt domestic leagues or club competitions.
CAF confirmed that Africa will be divided into four zones for the purposes of the competition, a structure aimed at reducing travel demands while maintaining high-level competition across the continent. Further details on the format, promotion and relegation system, and prize money are expected to be released at a later date.
The launch of the African Nations League, coming alongside the shift of AFCON to a four-year cycle, signals CAF’s intention to modernise its calendar, improve player welfare, and create more meaningful international matches for African national teams throughout the season.
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