International Football
NIGERIA FOOTBALL FEDERATION CLOCKS 60 IN FIFA FAMILY
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
It is
60 years this Wednesday since Nigeria was admitted into the fold of the world’s
football governing body, FIFA. It is a milestone that the Nigeria Football
Federation (NFF) is having along with Uganda and Saudi Arabia who were admitted
provisionally on the same day as joint-87th members.
This anniversary is just one of the two that Nigeria football family will be having this year. Sports Village Square recalls that the second is the 70th anniversary of the composition of the Nigerian national football team, now called the Super Eagles.
The Super Eagles which began as the UK Tourists was first composed on June 26, 1949 when the names of 17 of the 18 pioneer national team members were first announced.
The 18th member, Okoronkwo Kanu (anglicised as Kanoo) was included on July 1, 1949. That was when the story of the Super Eagles began as the famed UK Tourists.
As for the NFF anniversary, the FIFA Executive Committee at its meeting on April 24, 1959, examined Nigeria’s application and admitted it along with Saudi Arabia and Uganda, as provisional member.
This was contained in the May 1, 1959 letter sent to the then NFA by FIFA assistant secretary. It stated that the Executive Committee’s decision would have to be ratified by the Congress in Rome the following year.
The annual subscription fee was Swiss Francs 260, which the NFA was to pay by return of post to FIFA’s account with Union Bank of Switzerland in Zurich.
The provisional admission enabled Nigeria to enter for the football event of the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. Nigeria, however did not progress beyond the opening round of the African qualifying series, placing last in a Group 2 triangular qualifying league involving Ghana and the United Arab Republic (a short-lived political union of Egypt and Syria).
Nigeria lost 6-2 in Lagos and 3-0 in Cairo to UAR and also 4-1 to Ghana in Accra after a 3-1 win in Lagos.
When the FIFA Congress met on August 22, 1960, with 69 national associations represented by 153 delegates, Nigeria’s definite affiliation to FIFA was confirmed.
Nigeria became the joint 87th full member of FIFA with seven others. According to the minutes of the meeting, the seven other associations that were admitted along with Nigeria are: Federation Royale Marocaine de Football, Federation Tunisienne de Football, The Football Association of Kenya, Sierra Leone Football Association, Uganda Football Association, Asociacion de Fenbol Aficionado de Puerto Rico and the Malta Football Association.
Nigeria’s
full admission was conveyed through a letter dated September 6, 1960. However,
no Nigerian delegate attended the Rome Congress.
A day earlier, according to the official history of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Nigeria, along with Morocco, Ghana and Tunisia, was formally registered as a full affiliate of the confederation at the General Assembly held in Rome.
The affiliation by FIFA enabled Nigeria to enter for the football event of the 1960 Olympic Games. The circumstances of joining CAF were basically the same, except that official records are lacking.
A former CAF president, Ydnekatchew Tessema, who was a co-founder of the confederation in 1957, once lamented the absence of foundation documents as the first general secretary, Youssef Mohammed, did not pass any to his successor, Mostafa Kamel Mensour.
The latter, who was in office at the time Nigeria joined CAF, in turn, did not pass any document to the third General Secretary, Mourad Fahmy the grand father of Amr Fahmy who was recently disengaged as CAF General Secretary.
Furthermore, the secretariat of Sudan Football Association, which housed CAF at inception till 1963, was damaged by fire and some documents, possibly including Nigeria’s application, were destroyed.
The NFF which had variously held its meetings at 42, Broad Street; 4, Customs Street, Lagos; Onikan Stadium, National Stadium, Ogunlana Drive and since 1996 at Abuja has poor record-keeping facilities, a situation that possibly prompted former Secretary General, Sani Ahmed Toro, to recommend computerising the entire NFA records after he had a three-week attachment with The Football Association, England in 1991.
International Football
Former Brazil coach Tite taking break to take care of mental, physical health
Former Brazil coach Tite said he is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health.
The 63-year-old, who led Brazil to the 2019 Copa America title, was hospitalised due to a heart issue last August. He was sacked by Flamengo the following month and had most recently been linked with the Corinthians job.
“I realised that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger,” Tite said in a statement posted on his son Matheus Bachi’s Instagram on Tuesday.
“I’m passionate about what I do and I’ll continue to be so, but after talking to my family and observing the signals my body was giving off, I decided that the best thing to do now is to take a break from my career to look after myself for as long as it takes.
“As has become public, there was a conversation in progress with Corinthians, but it will have to be paralysed by a difficult but necessary decision.”
Tite, who stepped down as Brazil coach after their quarter-final exit from the 2022 World Cup, has previously coached a string of Brazilian sides including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras.
-Reuters
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Brazil have sacked head coach Dorival Jr, the country’s football confederation (CBF) said on Friday after the five-time world champions were thrashed 4-1 away to fierce rivals Argentina in a humiliating qualifying loss in Buenos Aires.
The 62-year-old was appointed in January 2024 after the team spent a year under two caretaker coaches as the Brazilian FA were unable to lure Italian Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.
“The Brazilian Football Confederation informs that coach Dorival Jr is no longer in charge of the Brazilian national team,” the confederation said in a statement.
“The management thanks (Dorival) and wishes him success in continuing his career … the CBF will work to find his replacement,” it added.
Dorival was handed the job after his success with Flamengo in 2022 where he won the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup, a trophy he lifted again the next year with Sao Paulo.
However, he never seemed to get to grips with the national team job and failed to earn the trust of Brazil’s demanding fans after winning only seven of his 16 games in charge.
Sources told Reuters the CBF was not confident in Dorival’s work, considering there had been little to no progress since a lacklustre Copa America campaign when Brazil were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Uruguay last year.
Still, the CBF was willing to wait and see until the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June to reassess the situation following the end of the European season and the Club World Cup in the U.S. in June and July.
But after Brazil slumped to their heaviest-ever loss in a qualifier when they were thrashed by Argentina this week, CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues decided to pull the trigger.
IDEAL CANDIDATE
Sources told Reuters Ancelotti was still the ideal candidate but he is under contract with Real until July 2026 and there is no indication he would leave the European and Spanish champions.
Brazilian media have reported that Al Hilal’s Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus is the favourite to replace Dorival.
Brazil have been in unfamiliar territory for over two years since crashing out of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals, a heartbreaking elimination that led to the exit of long-time manager Tite.
Their humbling defeat in Buenos Aires was the latest of a series of negative records Brazil have set under caretakers Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz and with Dorival in charge. They had never conceded four goals in a World Cup qualifier.
Brazil are in the midst of their worst-ever World Cup qualifying campaign. They are fourth in the South American standings with 21 points, a point above sixth-placed Colombia who currently occupy the final direct qualifying berth.
Never have Brazil lost so many games, conceded so many goals or set so many negative records in the qualifying competition. They have lost five of their 14 games and conceded 16 goals.
Brazil’s 1-0 defeat by Argentina in the Maracana late in 2023 was their first-ever qualifying loss on home soil.
They also lost to Colombia for the first time, saw the end of their unbeaten run against Uruguay stretching back over two decades and were defeated by Morocco and Senegal, having never previously lost to an African nation.
-Reuters
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International Football
England’s German manager Tuchel will not sing the English anthem in his first game
England manager Thomas Tuchel said he would have to “earn the right” to sing the national anthem, God Save the King, after announcing his 26-man squad on Friday ahead of the team’s World Cup qualifiers.
Tuchel, who was appointed as Gareth Southgate’s successor in October and named his first squad to face Albania and Latvia this month, said he would not sing the anthem in his first games in charge.
“It means a lot to me, I can assure you, but I can feel that because it is so meaningful and it is so emotional and it is so powerful, the national anthem, that I have to earn my right to sing it,” the 51-year-old German told a news conference.
Former caretaker manager Lee Carsley was criticised last year for not singing the anthem during his tenure.
However, Tuchel added that while he is proud to be in charge of the team and knows the words to the anthem, he plans to earn the right with results.
“Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you, from the players, from the supporters, so everyone feels like ‘he should sing it now, he’s one of our own, he’s the English manager, he should sing it’,” he said.
-Reuters
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