CAF Confederation Cup
CAF Confederation Cup: Libyan embassy officials meet Sanusi in Abuja
Officials from the Embassy of Libya in Nigeria on Tuesday met with the General Secretary of Nigeria Football Federation, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi to harmonize arrangements for the CAF Confederation Cup duels involving two Libyan clubs against Nigeria’s Rivers United FC and Plateau United FC.
Plateau United will take on Al Akhdar FC at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja while Rivers United will square up to Al Nasr FC at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Port Harcourt in the final preliminary round of the CAF Confederation Cup, with the winners guaranteed spots in the money-spinning group stage of the competition.
Abdul-Moeine Gargoum, Counsellor at the embassy and Ali Shrai, third secretary were at the NFF Secretariat, Abuja on Tuesday at the behest of the Libyan Ambassador to Nigeria, Ayad Al-Tayari.
“We are at ease that Nigeria and Libya are good African brothers with excellent relations and all we have come to discuss is about seamless arrangements for our teams coming here and for the Nigerian teams going to Libya. I have the assurance of the two Libyan clubs that they will accord Rivers United and Plateau United the best reception possible, and I have no doubt that our clubs will be treated in a similar manner here in Nigeria,” Gargoum said.
Responding, Dr Sanusi reiterated that football is a game of peace and love, meant to foster brotherhood, camaraderie, understanding and good neighbourliness, and designed to bring nations, territories and jurisdictions closer to enable cordiality and warm relations.
“I am pleased to receive you on behalf of the Board and Management of the NFF. Nigeria and Libya are indeed brothers and I remember how much we fostered our brotherhood during the U23 AFCON qualifiers we played in 2019. Football is a beautiful game and is a game of love, peace and joy beyond the entertainment value.
“The NFF will work assiduously with the two clubs involved – Plateau United and Rivers United – and ensure that the delegations from Libya are made to have good memories of their stay in Nigeria.”
Both Al Akhdar and Al Nasr are ruminating over flying into Nigeria this weekend aboard the same chartered aircraft, which will drop the Al Akhdar delegation in Abuja before proceeding to Port Harcourt with the Al Nasr group.
The first leg matches hold on Wednesday, 2nd November with the second leg matches taking place on Wednesday, 9th November in Benghazi.
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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