Governing Bodies
D-Day for Africa in World Cup play-offs
African Football is set for five explosive fixtures on Tuesday in Dakar, Rabat, Tunis, Algiers and Abuja following mouth-watering results in the first leg of the World Cup qualifiers play-offs.
Egypt beating Senegal 1-0 at home in Cairo in the replay of the Afcon finals, Algeria and Tunisia winning 1-0 each away in Cameroon and Mali respectively and Morocco drew 1-1 away to Congo.
Ghana and Nigeria played out a goalless draw in the “Jollof derby” in Kumasi Ghana and all to play for next Tuesday in what will be five Cup finals.
Africa has been represented at the World Cup by 13 African Countries out of 54 member associations and from the 10 teams remaining, nine of them have been to the World cup and only Mali will be making their debut if they do qualify.
Cameroon will make it a record eighth appearances at the World Cup if they qualify but if they don’t and Nigeria qualify, then the Super Eagles will match their seven appearances.
Cameroon’s best showing was in Italy in 1990 when Roger Milla inspired them to the quarter-finals. Nigeria on the other hand have been to the round of 16 thrice, 1994, 1998 and 2014 but it was their memorable debut at USA 94 that they built their World Cup legacy.
Morocco and Tunisia have been to the World Cup five times each and will match Nigeria on 6 appearances if they qualify and the Super Eagles don’t qualify.
Algeria will make this a fifth appearance if they do qualify and despite taking a one goal advantage from Cameroon, if they fail to qualify, then Egypt and Ghana will move to 4 appearances each if both qualify.
Mali needs to overturn their one goal deficit to Tunisia which will be their first appearance but also make them the 14th African Nation to make their World Cup debut.
Senegal have only been to the world cup twice yet possess the joint best African best performance at the World cup, quarter-finals in 2002, and a win over Egypt will earn them a third appearance.
Congo went to the World cup in 1974 as African Champions and their not too memorable debut seems like distant memory, so they crave a second appearance going to Morocco with a 1-1 draw at home.
-Ahram
Governing Bodies
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.
The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.
Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.
He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.
An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.
He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.
“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”
Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.
“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.
He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.
“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.
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A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.
Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.
He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.
He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.
Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.
While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.
-Reuters
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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.
Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.
The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.
Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.
“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.
“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”
Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.
“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”
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