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HOW DID THE SUPER EAGLES SINK TO THIS LEVEL?

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BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

The Guardian on Tuesday (April 28) published a story in which one of the backroom staff of Super Eagles’ coach, Gernot Rohr, Tunde Adelakun reportedly explained the exclusion of players of the domestic league from the national team.

From the report, one can easily deduce that the man solely determines who gets called up into the Nigerian Super Eagles. Yet, there are no evidences to show that he had any coaching background or had played football at any level to the point that he could be assigned the role of determining what the composition of an aspiring global brand should be.

According to the report, the domestic league players are excluded from the Super Eagles because the UK-based Adelakun has no means of assessing the players online.

The report further quoted Adelakun as saying that it was difficult for him to monitor players in Nigerian league from his base in the United Kingdom because the games do not have visuals online that could enable him to critically study them before recommending players to Rohr.

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“Scouting for players overseas is easy for me because there is a special software device I use to track Nigerian foreign-based players’ performance online.

“Any Nigerian player that is doing fine in Europe, if I get his contact and data, I use the device to watch his clips and study his performance.

“After this process, if I am satisfied, I will recommend to Rohr and he will also assess the player before taking the step to approach the player in his base.”

Could this be true? If yes, invitation to the Super Eagles has now been reduced to the convenience of Adelakun, whom Gernot Rohr himself has admitted was influential to his getting the Super Eagles’ job in 2016.

Except the statements attributed to him are either recanted or rebutted, the inference is that the Super Eagles have become the personal estate of Adelakun.

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How did we sink to this level? What then is the role of the technical committee of the NFF or its Technical Department that is headed by Bitrus Bewarang who since the days of Clemence Westerhof has been linked with the Super Eagles?

By Adelakun’s reckoning, Nigerians have to be born abroad or venture abroad to get his attention and thus have realistic chances of playing for the Super Eagles.

He ascribes himself as the alpha and omega of our collective brand. Should this be so? Little wonder, the Technical Committee of the NFF has long been made redundant while the Technical Department only exists in the minds of few people.

The creed then in the national team will be: ‘Seek ye the attention of the sole administrator on technical matters, invitation to the Super Eagles shall then follow’.

From his personal blog, football was the last on the seven attributes he ascribed to his profile. He admitted never to have played football or getting any coaching training, yet he is Nigerian football lead brand’s scout!

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In his personal blog visited as at 9.30pm on Wednesday 28 April 2020, he mentioned his involvement in the football industry as ranging from “football journalism to football marketing; football politics and lobbying to players’ welfare management, mentoring and coaching (at the highest levels of World Cup football).”

Very soon, lobbying to be included into the Super Eagles will soon be a lucrative business.

What exactly is the role of Tunde Adelakun in the NFF? He has been a recurring decimal since 2008 and was the one that suspected to have organized the aborted flight that was to ferry the Super Eagles from London to Johannesburg for the 2010 World Cup before the Federal Government saved the embarrassing situation and chattered another plane to convey the team.

Let someone save our Super Eagles!

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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Governing Bodies

IOC is in ‘best of hands’, says Bach as he hands over to Coventry

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International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry receives the ceremonial key from outgoing IOC President Thomas Bach during the handover ceremony. AFP

Kirsty Coventry became the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the most powerful person in sport, on Monday in a handover ceremony with her predecessor Thomas Bach.

The Zimbabwean is the first woman and African to head the body, and at 41, the youngest since Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who is credited with founding the modern-day Olympics.

Coventry accepted the Olympic key from Bach, who, like her, is an Olympic champion — he won a team fencing gold in 1976 and she earned two swimming golds in 2004 and 2008.

Stepping down after a turbulent 12-year tenure, Bach expressed his confidence that the Olympic movement was “in the best of hands” and Coventry would bring “conviction, integrity and a dynamic perspective” to the role.

Coventry, who swept to a crushing first-round victory in the election in Greece in March, leans heavily on her family.

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Aside from her parents, who were present at the ceremony in Lausanne, there is her husband Tyrone Seward, who was effectively her campaign manager, and two daughters, six-year-old Ella, who Bach addresses as “princess”, and Lily, just seven months old.

“Ella saw this spider web in the garden and I pointed out how it is made, and how strong and resilient it is to bad weather and little critters,” said Coventry, who takes over officially at midnight Swiss time Monday (2200 GMT).

“But if one little bit breaks it becomes weaker. That spider web is our movement, it is complex, beautiful and strong but it only works if we remain together and united.”

‘Pure passion’

Coventry said she could not believe how her life had evolved since she first dreamt of Olympic glory in 1992.

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“How lucky are we creating a platform for generations to come to reach their dreams,” she said to a packed audience in a marquee in the Olympic House garden, which comprised IOC members, including those she defeated, and dignitaries.

“It is amazing and incredible, indeed I cannot believe that from my dream in 1992 of going to an Olympic Games and winning a medal I would be standing here with you to make dreams for more young children round the world.”

Coventry, who served in the Zimbabwean government as sports and arts Minister from 2019 to this year, said the Olympic movement was much more than a “multi-sport event platform.”

“We (IOC members) are guardians of this movement, which is also about inspiring and changing lives and bringing hope,” she said.

“These things are not to be taken lightly and I will be working with each and every one of you to continue to change lives and be a beacon of hope in a divided world.

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“I am really honoured to walk this journey with you.”

Bach, who during his tenure had to grapple with Russian doping and their invasions of the Crimea and Ukraine as well as the Covid pandemic, said he was standing down filled with “gratitude, joy and confidence” in his successor.

“With her election it sends out a powerful message, that the IOC continues to evolve,” said the 71-year-old German, who was named honorary lifetime president in Greece in March.

“It has its first female and African to hold this position, and the youngest president since Pierre de Coubertin. She represents the truly global and youthful spirit of our community.”

Bach, who choked back tears at one point during his valedictory speech, was praised to the rafters by Coventry, who was widely seen as his preferred candidate of the seven vying for his post.

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After a warm embrace, she credited him with teaching her to “listen to people and to respect them,” and praised him for leading the movement with “pure passion and purpose.”

“You have kept us united through the most turbulent times.

“You left us with many legacies and hope, thank you from the bottom of my heart for leading us with passion and never wavering from our values.”

-AFP

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Governing Bodies

New IOC head Coventry already counting down to LA 2028

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Kirsty Coventry takes over as the new International Olympic Committee President - IOC headquarters, Lausanne, Switzerland - June 23, 2025 New IOC president Kirsty Coventry during the ceremony REUTERS/Pierre Albouy

Former Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry took over the leadership of the International Olympic Committee from Thomas Bach in a ceremony on Monday with the 2028 Los Angeles Games already threatening to fill her in-tray to overflowing.

Coventry, who starts her eight-year spell officially on Tuesday as the most powerful sports administrator in the world, became the first woman and first African to be elected head of the Olympic ruling body in March.

Much of the discussion during campaigning focused on the IOC’s need for change in its marketing strategies with several top Olympic sponsors having left in the past 12 months.

However, with Los Angeles hit by protests against immigration raids, and relations tense between state and city officials, and the U.S. government, the 2028 Games have become the major talking point in the movement that would ordinarily be focusing on next year’s Milano-Cortina Winter Games.

Coventry has long-standing ties with the United States, dating back to her time as a leading swimmer at Auburn University in Alabama. That will prove useful ahead of LA 2028, and she has said she will seek to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss the Games.

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Coventry will also need to find time to help secure the long-term finances of the movement. The IOC, which generates billions of dollars in revenues each year in sponsorship and broadcasting deals for the Olympics, has secured $7.3 billion for 2025-28 and $6.2 billion for 2029-2032. More contracts are expected for both periods.

COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES

Coventry is also expected to continue the IOC’s plans to expand commercial opportunities for sponsors at the Olympics with the organisation’s finances in a robust state and the privately-funded LA Olympics a good place to start.

Coventry needed only one round of voting to clinch the race to succeed Bach, beating six other candidates, making history for the African continent, with the IOC having been ruled for 131 years by European or North American men.

Her background and being the first female president will be assets in a diverse IOC membership and the international makeup of Olympic stakeholders.

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On Monday she was handed the golden key to the IOC by Bach, who was the organisation’s president for 12 years.

“I am really honoured I get to walk this journey with you. I cannot wait for anything that lies ahead,” Coventry said in her address to IOC members and other Olympic stakeholders.

“I know I have the best team to support me and our movement over the next eight years.”

Coventry will hold a two-day workshop this week to get feedback from members on key IOC issues.

“Working together and consistently finding ways to strengthen and keep united our movement that will ensure that we wake up daily… to continue to inspire,” she said.

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A seven-time Olympic medallist, Coventry won 200m backstroke gold at the 2004 Athens Games and in Beijing four years later.

“With her election, you have also sent a powerful message to the world: the IOC continues to evolve,” Bach said in his speech. “With Kirsty Coventry, the Olympic movement will be in the best of hands.”

-Reuters

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Accidental double-touch penalties must be retaken if scored, says IFAB

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Champions League - Round of 16 - Second Leg - Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid - Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain - March 12, 2025 Atletico Madrid's Julian Alvarez scores a penalty during the penalty shootout wich is later disallowed after a VAR review for a double touch. REUTERS/Susana Vera/File Photo

Penalties scored when a player accidentally touches the ball twice must be retaken, world soccer’s lawmaking body IFAB has said after Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez had his spot kick disallowed in a Champions League last-16 match.

During a tense shootout with Real Madrid in March, Argentine forward Alvarez slipped and the VAR spotted that his left foot touched the ball slightly before he kicked it with his right.

Although Alvarez converted the penalty, the goal was chalked off and Atletico went on to lose the shootout and were eliminated from the Champions League.

European soccer’s governing body UEFA said the correct decision was made under the current laws but IFAB (International Football Association Board) has said that in such cases the penalty must be retaken.

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Atletico Madrid v Real Valladolid – Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain – April 14, 2025 Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez scores their first goal from the penalty spot REUTERS/Susana Vera/File Photo

“(When) the penalty taker accidentally kicks the ball with both feet simultaneously or the ball touches their non-kicking foot or leg immediately after the kick: if the kick is successful, it is retaken,” IFAB said in a circular.

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“If the kick is unsuccessful, an indirect free kick is awarded (unless the referee plays advantage when it clearly benefits the defending team). In the case of penalties (penalty shootout), the kick is recorded as missed.”

The decision to disallow Alvarez’s penalty left Atletico boss Diego Simeone livid and the club’s fans outraged.

IFAB added that if the penalty taker deliberately kicks the ball with both feet or deliberately touches it a second time, an indirect free kick is awarded or, in the case of shootouts, it is recorded as missed.

The new procedures are effective for competitions starting on or after July 1, but IFAB said it may be used in competitions that start this month.

-Reuters

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