International Football

Super Stores, Ghana’s Ashanti Kotoko Renew Rivalry

Published

8 years ago

June 21, 2017

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.

International Football

Ancelotti to leave Real Madrid and take over Brazil national team

Published

13 hours ago

May 12, 2025

Kunle Solaja

Carlo Ancelotti will become Brazil’s manager after leaving Real Madrid at the end of the season, the Brazilian FA (CBF) said on Monday.

The 65-year-old Ancelotti has enjoyed four hugely successful years in his second tenure at the Spanish giants, but they are set to finish this season without a trophy.

“The president of CBF Ednaldo Rodrigues has announced on Monday the signing of Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti,” it said in a statement.

“Bringing Carlo Ancelotti to coach Brazil is more than a strategic move. It is a statement to the world that we are determined to regain football’s top spot,” Rodrigues said in the statement.

“He is the greatest coach in history and now he is at the helm of the greatest national team on the planet. Together, we will write new chapters in the glorious history of Brazilian football.”

Brazilian soccer sources said Ancelotti will sign a one-year deal to become the world’s highest-paid national team coach ahead of the 2026 World Cup, with the option to extend his contract. Real have yet to announce Ancelotti’s departure.

He is set to be replaced by former Real midfielder Xabi Alonso, with sources close to the 41-year-old former Spain international saying he has agreed a three-year deal.

Alonso, 43, who announced earlier this month that he was leaving Bayer Leverkusen after guiding them to a domestic double last term, will join Real before the inaugural Club World Cup in the United States from June 14 to July 14, club sources said.

Ancelotti had a year remaining on his contract but Real’s underwhelming season and his desire to coach Brazil have led to a mutual agreement to part ways, the sources added.

Second-placed Real are seven points adrift of Barcelona, who could secure the league title on Wednesday without kicking a ball if Real fail to win at home to Mallorca.

Regardless of Real’s result, a Barca victory in the city derby away to Espanyol on Thursday would clinch the title.

-Reuters

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International Football

Former Nigeria coach, Peseiro, leaves Egypt’s Zamalek after three months

Published

5 days ago

May 7, 2025

Kunle Solaja

Africa Cup of Nations - Nigeria Press Conference - Abidjan, Ivory Coast - February 10, 2024 Nigeria coach Jose Peseiro during the press conference REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo

Zamalek ended Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro’s contract by mutual consent, the Egyptian soccer club said on Wednesday, after less than three months in charge due to poor results.

“An agreement has been reached between Zamalek and coach Jose Peseiro to mutually terminate the contract,” the club said on Facebook. “We wish you the best in your future endeavours.”

Former Porto and Sporting Lisbon coach Peseiro, 65, joined Zamalek on February 14 to become only the fifth coach to lead both Egyptian rivals, Zamalek and Al-Ahly.

However, Zamalek, the defending champions, were eliminated from the CAF Confederation Cup and the Egyptian League Cup under Peseiro, and a poor run in the league saw them slip to third place, seven points adrift of leaders Pyramids.

Peseiro has previously coached the national teams of Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, as well as the Saudi club Al-Hilal and United Arab Emirates’ teams Al Wahda and Sharjah.

-Reuters

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International Football

Former Brazil coach Tite taking break to take care of mental, physical health

Published

3 weeks ago

April 23, 2025

Kunle Solaja

Brasileiro Championship - Gremio v Flamengo - Arena do Gremio, Porto Alegre, Brazil - September 22, 2024 Flamengo coach Tite REUTERS/Diego Vara/File Photo

Former Brazil coach Tite said he is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health.

The 63-year-old, who led Brazil to the 2019 Copa America title, was hospitalised due to a heart issue last August. He was sacked by Flamengo the following month and had most recently been linked with the Corinthians job.

“I realised that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger,” Tite said in a statement posted on his son Matheus Bachi’s Instagram on Tuesday.

“I’m passionate about what I do and I’ll continue to be so, but after talking to my family and observing the signals my body was giving off, I decided that the best thing to do now is to take a break from my career to look after myself for as long as it takes.

“As has become public, there was a conversation in progress with Corinthians, but it will have to be paralysed by a difficult but necessary decision.”

Tite, who stepped down as Brazil coach after their quarter-final exit from the 2022 World Cup, has previously coached a string of Brazilian sides including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras.

-Reuters

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