International Football
Super Stores, Ghana’s Ashanti Kotoko Renew Rivalry
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Nigeria’s oldest existing football club, Stationery Stores will set the Teslim Balogun Stadium agog as it plans an international friendly tie with its age-long rivals, Kumasi Ashanti Kotoko of Ghana.
The management of the Nigerian club informed Sports Village Square that the match is planned as part of efforts to bring the once fanatically supported Nigerian club back into national prominence and also, a contribution to Lagos State at 50 celebrations.
Both Stores and Ashanti Kotoko set the continent agog in the late 1960s as their rivalry also bordered on bitterness.
Sports Village Square recalls a major instance when Stores made a debut in 1970 at the then Africa Cup of Champions Clubs which has now changed to CAF Champions League.
Both clubs were drawn together in the second round. Asante had the famous Ghanaian goalkeeper, Robert Mensah in goal at the time.
Stores won the ill-tempered first leg match, 3-2 at the then Liberty Stadium, Ibadan. The second leg match was similarly characterised.
With score line still goalless, trouble started in the second half when Ghana’s skipper Osei Kofi took a header which Stores’ Goalkeeper Peter Fregene snatched before it could prove dangerous.
But the Ugandan referee, Mukasa Misaevi who was sandwiched between the Kotoko captain and Fregene ordered a penalty kick which Stores initially disputed before being allowed to be taken.
The conversion of the kick put scores at 3-3 but Stores staged a walk out and the match was awarded to Asante Kotoko which went on to win the trophy that year.
The match soiled the Nigeria-Ghana sporting relationship to the point that the annual Nigeria-Ghana annual Academicals football tournament was cancelled that year.
Stores, this year proposed a friendly match which Asante Kotoko in a March 22 dated later to the Executive Chairman of the club, accepted.
In the letter addressed to Mr. Adetilewa Adebajo, Asante Kotoko conveyed the complements from His Royal Majesty, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II who is the life patron of the popular Ghanaian club.
No date has yet been fixed for the match. But according to Adebajo, the match venue will be the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.
Rose Padmore Yeboah, the Asante Kotoko administrative manager who signed the club’s acceptance letter remarked the club was studying the Ghanaian domestic league calendar which is on-going and will suggest the most suitable time.
Adebajo added that Insight Communications has been appointed to put the event together and has been mandated to secure sponsorship, branding, broadcast and media coverage.
The organisers are also seeking the assistance of Lagos State Sports Commission in securing Teslim Balogun Stadium as the venue and also the necessary support and security for the event. They also plan to invite Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for the event.
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.
The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”
When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.
Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.
He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.
-Reuters
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In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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