CAF Confederation Cup
NPL club owners are united behind Rivers United in Confederation Cup chase
The Vice Chairman of the Club Owners Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Suleiman Umar is soliciting support for Rivers United, the country’s only representative on the continent in the CAF Confederation Cup to return to the Adokiye Amiesimaka stadium for their home games.
This he said should be done in earnest so that they can enjoy the support of their fans in Rivers state.
Alhaji Umar who was speaking on behalf of the association was specific about the kind of support the Port Harcourt based team needs to make Nigeria proud.
“The most consistent football club from Nigeria on the continent in the last three seasons has been Rivers United and it’s not a surprise that they’re the only team still flying Nigeria’s flag on the continent.
“What they need right now is for Nigeria to play the politics at CAF’s level so that they can return to Port Harcourt to play their remaining home games at the Adokiye Amiesimaka stadium. We’ve seen some of the stadiums they’ve played their away games in Africa that are not anywhere near what you’ve in Port Harcourt”, explained the proprietor of Doma United of Gombe state.
Meanwhile, speaking in the same vein after his clubs 2-1 loss in Ghana on Sunday, the General Manager of Rivers United, Chief Okey Kpalukwu believes that Nigeria stands a chance of wining the CAF Confederation Cup if only his team is allowed to play at home in Port Harcourt.
“My pitch at the Adokiye Amiesimaka stadium in Port Harcourt is better than the several pitches that I have played in on the continent, including that of Sunday’s game in Kumasi, Ghana, yet CAF approved it for the club because they have their people upstairs protecting their interests in CAF.
“There’s no place like one’s home ground, we want Nigerians, including our fans in Port Harcourt to come out enmasse and be saved the stress of traveling outside of Rivers state to come and support us. We will once again appeal through the appropriate channel, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to interface with CAF to allow us play in Port Harcourt because our stadium meets all their requirements”, stated the NPFL Club Owners chairman.
Rivers United are in the group stage of the CAF Confederation Cup alongside Club Africain of Tunisia, Dreams Fc of Ghana and Academica do Lobito of Angola in group C.
With a win and a defeat in two games played so far, The Pride of Rivers awaits Club Africain this Sunday at the Godswill Akpabio stadium in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state.
CAF Confederation Cup
CAF adjudges Morocco’s Youssef Mehri’s goal as the fastest in football history
Moroccan club, Renaissance de Berkane, beat their Algerian counterparts, CS Constantine, 4-0 in the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup semi-finals at the weekend.
The game got off to a dream start for the Moroccan club as it took Youssef Mehri less than a minute to open the scoring in the big win against the Algerians.
Officially, the goal is recorded to have been scored after 13 seconds.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), CAF remarks: “Youssef Mehri goes straight into the history books. The RS Berkane striker scores the fastest goal ever scored in the CAF Cup.”
A deeper search by Sports Village Square indicates that a Nigerian player, Paul Onuachu, had previously scored a faster goal, but not in a CAF Cup duel.
The basketball player-like footballer scored his first international goal in a 1-0 defeat of Egypt on 26 March 2019.
The goal inflicted Nigeria’s first defeat on Egypt in 29 years. But more significant was the timing of the goal. Onuachu, within eight seconds of kick-off, undoubtedly entered the record books as the second fastest goal in international football records after that of Germany’s Lukas Podolsk, who scored after six seconds in a friendly against Ecuador in 2013.
Fans had hardly settled down at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba for the Nigeria versus Egypt match when Onuachu released a thunderous shot that turned out to be the match’s decider.
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The Renaissance Sportive de Berkane delegation will travel to Algeria this Friday to face CS Constantine in the CAF Cup. Tension may be building up for the potentially explosive confrontation that could have a build-up from last year’s fixtures of the Moroccan club and another Algerian outfit, USM Algiers, in the CAF Confederation Cup.
A Moroccan news outlet, Sport.le360, reports that a Tunisian airline will operate the direct flight between Oujda-Angad Airport, which is located about 12 kilometres north of Oujda and about 600 kilometres northeast of Casablanca, near the Algerian border and Constantine Mohamed Boudiaf International Airport.
Last year, political differences between Morocco and Algeria scuttled similar semi-final clashes between clubs of both countries.
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The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Wednesday ruled in favour of the Algerian football federation in a row over a map of Morocco on shirts worn by Renaissance Berkane in the 2024 CAF Confederation Cup.
Algerian club USM Alger were kicked out of last year’s competition after both legs of their semi-final against Berkane were cancelled because of a diplomatic dispute.
Neither match took place as USMA and the Algerian authorities objected to a map of Morocco on the Berkane shirts which included Western Sahara.
Algeria cut diplomatic ties with North African neighbours Morocco in 2021, partly over the Western Sahara issue.
The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco but claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks the territory’s independence.
The Confederation of African Football awarded Berkane a 3-0 victory for both legs of the semi-final.
CAF at the time responded to an appeal by the Algerian FA by ruling in favour of Berkane, saying the club had been wearing the same jerseys since the start of the tournament.
But the Algerian FA took the case to sport’s highest court in Switzerland, which determined that the shirts in question were “contrary to CAF regulations, as they display a territorial map that is of a political nature.”
“The image of a map of Morocco including Western Sahara on the shirts of RS Berkane depicts a message, a demonstration or propaganda of a political nature as it represents the assertion of a territorial dispute that is contested and still unresolved as of today,” CAS said in a statement.
“By the laws of the game of the International Football Association Board, it is prohibited to convey any content of a political nature on all equipment, including shirts.”
CAS added that the initial decision by CAF to “maintain the approval of the shirts is annulled”, but the court said that it would have no effect on the results of the tournament.
Egypt’s Zamalek beat Berkane on away goals in the final.
-AFP
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