AFCON
African Legends Diouf, Gyan, Hassan And Okocha First To Sign Up For The CAF Ambassadors Program –
African football legends El Hadji Diouf, Asamoah Gyan, Ahmed Hassan and Augustine ‘Jay-Jay’ Okocha are the first names to be signed up in the newly-established CAF Ambassadors program.
Football Legends, community role models and other popular personalities will form part of the CAF Ambassadors Programme. Their role will include promoting CAF and African Football, as well as playing an important role in other activities including tournaments, charity initiatives, commercial and social events amongst others.
The criteria for selecting the four legends who are well-known public figures include but not limited to sporting and career achievement, social impact and commercial value.
Diouf, a two-time CAF Player of the Year is fondly remembered for his exploits with the Teranga Lions of Senegal’s golden generation of the 2000’s which reached the final of the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations and also the quarters of the FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan.
On the other hand, Gyan had a remarkable career rising to captain of Ghana’s Black Stars, and featuring in seven Africa Cup of Nations, reaching the final in 2010 and 2015. His six goals from three FIFA World Cups makes him the African with the most goals in the history of the Mundial.
On his part, Hassan remains one of the most decorated players in the history of African football, winning four Africa Cup of Nations titles with the Pharaohs of Egypt – 1998, 2006, 2008 and 2010. He also famous for his over 170 caps with Egypt, which ranks him amongst the most capped players of all time.
Nigeria’s iconic midfielder Okocha was a delight to watch during his hey days. He won the Africa Cup of Nations with the Super Eagles in 1994 and also Olympic gold two years later in Atlanta, USA.
The Ambassadors Program is expected to open CAF and its activities to new frontiers with the inclusion of personalities from other fields, and also commercial benefits and social impact across the continent.
Through the continuous connection with legends and celebrities, the program will open up new revenue streams for CAF and also enhance engagement with fans and other stakeholders globally.
Meanwhile, CAF will announce more names that will form part of the Ambassadors Programme in due course.
-CAF
The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) has sacked its Serbian coach, Milutin Sredojević who is popularly known as Micho.
This is coming ahead of Libya’s back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations clashes with Nigeria next month.
Paradoxically, Sports Village Square gathered that the coach’s contract was only recently renewed for six months before the axe fell on the Serbian.
His sack was precipitated by the results obtained in their teo matches of the AFCON qualifiers.
Libya drew 1-1 with Rwanda at home and lost 2-1 away to Benin Republic despite beig a goal up at half time.
The Libyan side, Mediterranean Knights are due to play against the Nigeria Super Eagles in Uyo on 6 October while the return leg holds on 14 October at the 11 July Stadium in Tripoli.
According to information Sports Village Square gathered from Tripoli, the Mediterranean Knights’ coach, Micho led the Libyan national team to win nine matches since taking over in October of last year, he failed to build a strong team due to his poor choices.
He also took a risk with the footballers chosen in the AFCON qualifiers, and the result was shocking to the Libyan sports audience.
According to sources close to the Libyan Football Federation, there is a strong tendency to sign a national coach to lead the Libyan team during the remaining qualifiers for the African Cup of Nations.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe has lashed out at Ghana and some other African countries whose home grounds were recently banned from hosting CAF matches owing to inadequate facilities. He made the remarks in Nairobi, Kenya during a press conference,
After the MatchDay 2 of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, CAF ruled Ghana’s Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi as being inadequate to host international matches. Being the only approved ground in the country, Ghana will now look towards either Cote d’Ivoire or Togo for their remaining home matches of the Afcon qualifiers.
Other African countries without approved home grounds are: Djibouti, Chad, Niger, Eritrea, Gabon, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, São Tomé and Burundi.
Motsepe voiced his frustration over the recurring issue of nations being unable to host home games.
“Nothing frustrates me more than a national team or club side having to play home matches outside,” he stated.
He stressed the significance of playing in front of home fans, adding, “You can’t grow football if the national teams or club sides aren’t playing in front of their home fans.”
Motsepe reiterated CAF’s commitment to working with countries to ensure they have at least one suitable stadium to host international fixtures.
“Our conversations in every country are to make sure there is at least one stadium capable of hosting a CAF category C game,” he emphasized.
The on-going CAF AFCON Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Coaches Symposium in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire has brought together, the last three coaches that handled the Nigeria national football team.
Gernot Rohr, Jose Peseiro and Austin Eguavoen are part of the the elite coaches currently gathered in Abidjan.
Gernot Rohr whose tenure of 5 years and 55 matches is the longest ever by any coach in Nigeria, is currently handling Nigeria’s Africa Cupof Nations and World Cup qualifying rivals, Benin Republic. He was succeeded in the interim by Austin Eguavoen who is currently having another interim stint.
Peseiro left his position after the Africa Cup of Nations
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