Governing Bodies

Indonesia newspaper laments World Cup hosting rights withdrawal

Published

2 years ago

March 30, 2023

‘Sports and politics don’t mix’ is the headline of an editorial published by Indonesia newspaper, The Jakarta Post.

This is in the aftermath of FIFA’s revocation of an earlier hosting rights given to Indonesia for the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Following Indonesia’s refusal to allow Israel, a qualified team to feature in the competition, FIFA on Wednesday took the competition away from Indonesia.

The editorial blamed the country’s leader, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’ and his political party, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P),

for allowing politics to creep into sports in the moderate Islamic country.

“The endgame of this affair will unfold soon, but one thing for sure is that politics still prevails in almost all aspects of life in this country.

“We have seen the weaponization of laws for political interests, as happened in the enforcement of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law, the revision of the Criminal Code, and the politicization of religion, which was rampant during elections both in national and regional levels. The move by Bali Governor I Wayan Koster and Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo, who both are PDI-P members, to reject entry of the Israeli youth team is a blatant attempt to politicize sports.

“With the Feb. 14, 2024 elections in mind, the PDI-P, which failed to perform in regions known for their leaning to conservative Islam, will expect to reap votes from Muslim electorates to win both the legislative and presidential elections.

“Especially for Ganjar, who has consistently topped the opinion surveys of potential presidential candidates, his anti-Israel narrative is a display of loyalty to the party, while proving his Islamic credentials to voters. In fact, PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri has not made her mind about her choice of presidential candidate. Such resistance sounds “normal” if it comes from Muslim-based parties.

“Only this time around, the PDI-P is making a big fuss of the Israel issue while it was silent about the Knesset delegation’s presence in the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which the House of Representatives hosted in Bali in March last year.

“The PDI-P, too, was quiet when Israel assured itself of a ticket to Indonesia in July last year. It seems Indonesian soccer has been unable to break the “curse” of political intervention”, The Jakarta Post concluded.

Governing Bodies

Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council

Published

15 hours ago

April 26, 2025

Kunle Solaja

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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Governing Bodies

Ex-FIFA Council member and Mali football chief released from jail

Published

3 days ago

April 23, 2025

Kunle Solaja

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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Governing Bodies

Nigeria Football Federation denies owing late national captain and coach, Chukwu

Published

2 weeks ago

April 14, 2025

Kunle Solaja

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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