Governing Bodies
CAF POSTPONE AFRICA WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS TO JUNE 2021
The start of the African group stage qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup have been shifted to June next year and will be completed in a five-month dash for a place in Qatar, according to a Confederation of African Football memo seen by Reuters.
The qualifiers were due to begin in October, but the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has seen a reshuffle in the African international football calendar.
The continent continues to be hard hit by the pandemic, with only a handful of domestic competitions such as South Africa, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco currently under way.
The preliminary World Cup competition will now be played in four windows next year, with two games each.
The pool stages start from May 31-June 15, and continue in the FIFA windows on Aug. 30-Sept. 7 and Oct. 4-12.
The 10 pool stage winners will then advance to a play-off round where the victors will earn a place in Qatar. Those matches will be played between Nov. 8-16.
The October window this year will be kept free for national teams to use for friendlies if conditions allow for them, before match days three and four of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations preliminaries will be staged from Nov. 9-17.
The final two rounds of those qualifiers, where the top two teams in each of the eight pools qualify for the postponed finals in Cameroon in early 2022, are scheduled to be played in March 22-30 next year.
Lack of testing facilities and poor infrastructure make containing the virus in Africa a challenge for health authorities and at this stage November’s qualifiers could be viewed as a ambitious for a continent-wide opening of borders that allows quarantine-free travel.
As of Wednesday Africa had recorded 1.14-million cases, more than half in South Africa, but there are likely millions more across the continent that have gone un detected.
African qualification calendar:
- Oct 5-13, 2020: Open for friendly matches
- Nov 9-17, 2020: Match Day 3 & 4 (2021 Nations Cup)
- Mar 22-30, 2021: Match Day 5 & 6 (2021 Nations Cup)
- May 31-Jun 15, 2021: Match Day 1 & 2 (2022 World Cup)
The president of the Confédération of African Football, Dr. Patrice Motsepe, has announced five new CAF Vice Presidents. They are:
- CAF First Vice President: Mr Fouzi Lekjaa (Morocco)
- CAF Second Vice President: Mr Kurt Okraku (Ghana)
- CAF Third Vice President: Mr Pierre-Alain Mounguengui (Gabon)
- CAF Fourth Vice President: Ms Bestine Kazadi Ditabala (Democratic Republic of Congo)
- CAF Fifth Vice President: Mr Feizal Sidat (Mozambique)
In addition, the CAF President has co-opted Yacine Idriss Diallo, President of Fédération Ivoirienne de football, into the CAF Executive Committee.
The CAF Executive Committee also approved the names to fill vacant positions on several CAF Committees.
Organising Committee for the African Nations Championship (CHAN)
- President: Pierre-Alain Mounguengui (Gabon)
CAF Technical and Development Committee
- President: Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)
- Vice President: Malouche Belhassen (Tunisia)
CAF Medical Committee:
- President: Dr. Mohammed Bouya (Mauritania)
- Vice President: Dr. Thulani Ngwenya (South Africa)
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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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