SPORTS NEWS IN BRIEF

Amaju Pinnick (43), has been elected the new President of the Nigeria Football Federation on Tuesday. He received 32 votes out of the 44 which was available in the second phase voting. The former Nigeria international Dominic Iorfa was second with 8 votes while the former NFF Secretary-General, Taiwo Ogunjobi received 4 votes. Pinnick who is the chaiman of the Delta State Football Association will replace the incumbent, Aminu Maigari for a four year tenure. By conducting this election today, Nigeria avoided Fifa ban from international football, which could have lasted until next Fifa congress meeting in May 2015.

Isaa Hayatou of CAF

The Ajax Amsterdam midfielder, Thulani Serero has been recalled to the South African national team - Bafana Bafana for the October double African Cup of Nations qualification games of 10th and 15th. Serero was not invited in the first two matches this month against Sudan and Nigeria. The coach, Ephraim 'Shakes' Mashaba wants the very talented and energetic midfielder to help them prosecute the next two games.

The two years ban on international football placed on The Gambia has been lifted on Tuesday, by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The Executive Committee of the African football governing body had promised to lift the ban if the country could conduct a free and fair election in their football federation. The Gambia Football Federation elected the former sports minister Modou Kabba Bajo as their new President on Saturday. CAF banned the country from international football after it was discovered that the GFF intentionally falsified the ages of their under - 20 players in April. Fifa sacked the administration of the GFF in July.

Issa Hayatou, the President of CAF has been made the new senior Vice - President of Fifa. The President of Fifa, Sepp Blatter, announced Hayatou's new position in the last Fifa Executive Committee meeting. Hayatou replaced the Argentine, Julio Grondona who died in July. The Cameroonian is now the second in command to the office of the presidency and will take over the leadership of Fifa if Blatter unfortunately becomes incapacitated.

The Egyptian club Al Ahly has booked their spot in the final of the Confederation Cup, by beating the Cameroon club, Coton Sport 2 - 1 in the second leg of the semi - final encounter in Cairo. Ahly defeated Coton 1 - 0 in the first leg game. They will now meet the Ivorian club Sewe Sport in the final. Read also,Melvinsports.blogspot.com

THE LIST OF 2015 UNDER - 17 AFRICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS IS COMPLETED

The list of the Under - 17 African Championship for the 2015 CAF tournament in Niger has been completed with the remaining three matches played today, Sunday the 28th of September.

Ghana was at home against Cameroon in what turned out to be a 7 goal thriller. Ghana did not waste time to register their first goal, five minutes after kick-off time through Issa Abass. By half time the Black Starlets were leading 3 - 1.

But in the second half, the Cameroon Cubs took control of the mid-field as soon the match resumed. They were able to make good use of that opportunity just four minutes after the interval, and reduced the scoreline to 3 - 2.

In the 78th minute Ghana's Henry Medrious scored his second goal of the game to make it 4 - 2
but four minutes to stoppage time Cameroon's Forkem Kong reduced the scoreline to 4 - 3.

With this result Ghana qualifies for the mundial on a 6 - 4 aggregate.

In the other two matches played today, Tunisia lost 3 - 1 to the visiting Mali boys. Mali qualifies on a 5 - 1 aggregate, while visiting Guinea crushed Togo 3 - 0 to qualify on a 4 - 0 aggregate.

Seven teams qualified this weekend to join the host nation - Niger in February for the tournament.
The countries are Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Zambia, South Africa, Ghana, Mali and Guinea.

Read also: Melvinsports.blogspot.com

CAF AFRICAN UNDER - 17 CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS

The 2015 CAF African Under - 17 Championship qualification matches are being played this weekend in some African cities. Today, Saturday the 27th of September, four games were played.

There were no surprises as per the results of the games, beacuse the teams that were expected to win their matches won.

 

The finalist in the last tournament and the current Fifa under - 17 World Cup Champions - Nigeria Eaglets made good on their promise before the game, to revenge the humiliation they suffered in the hands of Gabon, in the first leg encounter, which they lost 2 - 1 in Libreville.

The Eaglets were very angry after losing the first game, not only because of what they termed bad officiating, but most all was the Gabonese fans chanting in Libreville during the match, ''Ebola Nigeria," ''Ebola Nigeria.''

So in today's match, Nigeria boys was ready to teach the visiting Gabon boys some manners on the pitch, by handing them a crushing 5 - 0 defeat.

The Emmanuel Amuneke led team qualifies for the tournament, which will be played in February 2015 in Niger, on a 6 - 2 aggregate.

Nigeria skipper, Kelechi Nwakali scored the first goal through a penalty. Ebere Osinachi and Kehinde Ayinde both scored two goals each.

The defending champions of the tournament, Ivory Coast hosted the Angolan team and defeated them 3 - 0. Surprisingly, South Africa which was leading their hosts Egypt 2 - 0 lost their lead and ended the game on a 2 - 2 draw.

The other match that was played today was Uganda hosted Zambia and lost 2 - 1 to the visiting team.

Tomorrow being Sunday the 28th, three matches will be played at the 17.00 hours simultaneously.

Ghana will be hosting Cameroon, while Tunisia will host Mali. And finally, Togo will be at home against Guinea. Read also: Melvinsports.blogspot.com

THE NIGERIA FOOTBALL FEDERATION ELECTION FIXED

The Nigeria Football Federation has fixed 30th September as the day, the organisation will hold its election according to the Fifa directives.

The Congress of the federation met at the weekend in the city of Warri, which was presided over by the out - going NFF President, Aminu Maigari. Executive Committee members will be elected on the 30th of this month.

Electoral Committee and Electoral Appeals Committee were inaugurated at the meeting in Warri.

The NFF Presidency is to be contested by Mike Umeh, Taiwo Ogunjobi, Amanze Uchegbulam, Dominic Iorfa, Shehu Dikko, Abba Yola and Amaju Pinnick.

On the 26th August Chris Giwa was elected by a group of members after President Maigari was arrested and election held in his absence and some members boycotted the election in protest.

Fifa did not recognise the election of Giwa and threatened to ban Nigeria from international football, if he and his group did not vacate the offices on a particular date.

According to Fifa the 26th August election did not follow Fifa's electoral directives, so they ordered the reinstatement of Aminu Maigari.

Maigari was mandated as the President of the NFF to conduct a free and fair election, following the normal Fifa electoral directives. So that is what they are trying to do at the end of the month. Cheers. Read also: Melvinsports.blogspot.com

AN INTRIME COACH FOR GHANA

A long time coach will not be engaged for the Black Stars of Ghana, according to an Executive Committee member of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Mr Fred Pappoe.

He said that an interim coach will probably be brought in to take charge of the next two games against Guinea in the 2015 African Cup of Nations (ACN) qualifiers.

Guinea which plays their home games in Morocco due to the out - break of the deadly Ebola virus in Guinea will meet Ghana on the 10th October.

Then five days later on the 15th Ghana will in turn host Guinea in Accra.

Since the former coach Kwesie Appiah left his post by mutual consent with GFA, the Association has been going through the screening process of the many applications they received for the vacant post.

Mr Pappoe said that a long time coach for the national team will not be appointed before the next two qualifier matches.

''The process is ongoing after we got 29 or so applications and after the first screening we got it down to 11.''

He added, ''We are still pushing the process to see if we can get to about six by the end of this week.''

Read also: Melvinsports.blogspot.com

SPORTS NEWS IN BRIEF

Sierra Leone has found a new venue to host their 10th October African Cup of Nations qualifier. Their opponent in the match Cameroon has agreed to allow them to host the match in Yaounde and five days later on the 15th , Cameroon will in turn host the Leone Stars in Yaounde. Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, the three countries that the Ebola virus has been ravaging since the beginning of this year, were ordered by CAF to relocate their home games outside their countries. Sierra Leone has already played their first home game in Lubumbashi in DRC against DRC, which they lost 2 - 0. Tombi Roko Sidiki, the Secretary General of the Cameroon Football Federation, said that they did that to show solidarity to their brothers.
''After consultation with the Sports Minister, the Federation has agreed to host the two leg matches in Yaounde for the sake of solidarity.''

Nigeria  vs  South Africa

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has maintained the ban they placed on the three countries devastated by the Ebola virus. The football governing body in the continent had earlier on placed a ban on Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, forbidding them hosting any international match. They were ordered to relocate their home games to outside their nations. When CAF first banned the nations, it promised to re-evaluate the situation after the first two games of the 2015 ACN qualifiers were played in first half of this month. So the Executive Committee took the decision in their recent meeting at Addis Ababa to allow the ban to remain indefinitely as a result of lack containment of the deadly virus.

The Nigeria Football Federation has fixed 30th of September as the day the organisation will hold its election according to Fifa directives. The Congress of the federation met at the weekend in the city of Warri, which was presided over by the NFF president Aminu Maigari. On the election day, the Executive Committee members will be elected. Electoral Committee and Electoral Appeals Committee were inaugurated at the meeting in Warri.

The two years ban given to The Gambia could be lifted by the (CAF), Confederation of African Football. The continents football governing body gave this indication after their Executive Committee in Ethiopia. The ExCo of CAF agreed, ''To lift the suspension of The Gambia in the event that elections at the FA were well conducted.'' Gambia Football Federation recently elected the country's former Sports Minister as their new president. CAF banned Gambia in May this year from all competitions, after they found out that the GFF delibrately falsified players ages in the under - 20 Championships.
Read also: Melvinsports.blogspot.com

THREE AFCON HOSTS ANNOUNCED

The Confederation of African Football's Executive Committee has announced the names of the three countries to hosts the next tournaments after that of 2017.

The Executive Committee voted in their recent meeting in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital that Cameroon should host the 2019 tournament, while the rights to host the 2021 and 2023 soccer mundial were awarded to Ivory Coast and Guinea respectively.

Ghana  Fans

Surprisingly, Guinea which is currently banned from hosting any international match by CAF, due to the out-break of the Ebola virus, was awarded the right to host the tournament.

Algeria and Zambia were the two countries which lost their bids.

In 2019, Cameroon which had hosted the soccer fiesta before in 1972, will stage the tournament in four cities of Douala, Bafoussam, Garoua and Yaounde.

Ivory Coast will host the event in five cities of Abidjan, Bouake, Korhogo, San Pedro and Yamoussoukro. The nation has hosted the event before in 1984.

2023 will be the first time that Guinea will host the tournament, since its inception 57 years ago in Khartoum, Sudan.

Guinea will be staging the soccer mundial in four venues, Conakry the nation's capital, Labe, Kankan and Nzerekore.

A day before the vote was taken, each candidate had a 30 minute presentation, coupled with a report the Executive Committee already had about each of the countries.

There was a team of five-men that inspected facilities in the five nations. They spent some days in each of the countries and prepared their report, which aided the ExCo members in their voting.

The team considered such facilities as stadiums, training grounds, hotels, hospitals, media centres, roads, rails and air links.

The 2017 host - Libya cannot host the tournament due to the war in the country, so CAF will decide next year which land will host it.

CAF announced that countries which are interested in replacing Libya, must submit their application by the end of September.

It has been reported that Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Kenya and Zimbabwe are all interested in hosting the tournament. Melvinsports.blogspot.com

CAF BANS ALGERIAN CLUB FOR PLAYER'S DEATH

The Confederation of African Football (CAF), the  body that governs football in Africa, has handed a two year ban to the Algerian football club - J S Kabylie over the stoning to death of their player, Albert Ebosse.

The Cameroon striker died after he was hit at the head by a stone from the fans who threw missiles at their players as they were coming out of the pitch after losing their home game 2 - 1 to Algier USM in the Algerian football league.

Isa Hayatou  (CAF President)

Ebosse,who scored the only goal of his club in the match, died of the head injury, last month.

CAF took the decision to ban the club from African competitions, in their recent meeting in Ethiopia.

The Algerian Football Federation, had already banned the club, from playing their home matches in their stadium and their fans are not allowed to attend any games (home and away), during the 2014/15 season until February next year.

In addition, CAF announced that they are setting up an annual fair-play award to be named after the unfortunate player - Ebosse.

The statement from CAF Executive Committee, read that the honour will be ''awarded every year to a member association, based on a fair-play rating adopted by ExCo, and to be applied in all CAF competitions, for clubs and national teams of each member associations.''

In my previous article after the death of the footballer, I mentioned that the Algerian Football Federation announced a $100,000 reward for Ebosse family in Cameroon.

All his team-mates of JS Kabylie will donate each, one month salary to the family.

As I mentioned previously all the money and rewards are not enough for his life, but it will go along way to help his family, and alievate their grief and suffering. May he rest in peace, in Jesus name amen. Read also:melvinsports.blogspot.com.

AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS QUALIFIERS RESULTS (10/9/14)

The African Cup of Nations group qualifiers games were played today all over the continent. Virtually all the matches played today were concluded without much of a surprise, except for one.

The biggest surprise of the day was that Cameroon humiliated Ivory Coast with a 4 - 1 defeat. It was a bit of a shock, because of the quality of the Ivorian team.

Many people including myself, believed that it was going to be a very competitive game with the out come to be either 1 - 0 or 2 - 1 either-way.

It was a surprise that Cameroon beat Ivory Coast with such a huge margin, because Cameroon football has been in decline for the past couple of years.

And to do that without their most successful and influential captain, Samuel Etoo who has retired from international football, was very amazing.

Cameroon has won their two matches since last weekend, when the ACN qualifiers began. Last weekend they won their first match away at Lubumbashi 2 - 0 against Democratic Republic of Congo. Winning two out of two is good news for their teeming fans.

Anyway, here are the rest of today's results.

Group  A                           Group  B

Congo      2  -  0  Sudan      Malawi 3 - 2  Ethiopia
S. Africa   0  -  0  Nigeria    Algeria  1 -  0  Mali

Group  C                                Group  D

Angola 0 - 3 Burkina . F   Cameroon 4-1 I.Coast 
Lesotho 1 - 1  Gabon        Sierra Leon 0 - 2  DRC

Group  E                                Group  F

Togo   2 - 3 Ghana         Mozambique 1 - 1 Niger 
Uganda 2 - 0 Guinea     Cape Verde   2 - 1 Zambia

Group  G

Botswana  0  -  2   Senegal
Egypt        0  -  1   Tunisia

Read also: Melvinsports.blogspot.com


                                           

AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS GROUP QUALIFIERS GAMES (10/09/14)

The African Cup of Nations second group qualifiers games, will be played on Wednesday, in 14 different cities of the continent. The first of the group phase qualifiers matches began last weekend, with many of the teams making a gainful start to their campaigns.

It goes without saying that the teams, which had a victorious results in their encounters last weekend, will like to maintain their success in tomorrow's games as well. While those that lost their first games last weekend, will try very hard to obtain victory in their second matches, in order to give themselve a fighting chance of qualifying from the group.

The biggest shock in the football community last weekend was Nigeria, which happened to be the defending champions of the tournament, losing at home 2 - 3 to Congo. So as they meet South Africa tomorrow, they have a lot to play for. They have to rectify their shaky start, by beating South Africa, which they have never lost a game to.

 

But it is not going to be easy for them this time, because South Africa is in a positive and up-swing mood, after beating Sudan in away game 3 - 0 in Khartum. Nigeria have to give themselves a good chance of qualifying and also to show that their losing to Congo at home was just a fluke.

The 7 time champions - Egypt which lost 2 - 0 on Saturday in the away match against Senegal, will fight very hard to win their home match against Tunisia, which won their first match against Botswana. A lose against Tunisia will seriously put Egypt's chances in difficulty. They have already missed the last two tournaments.

Cameroon will be hosting Ivory Coast in an encounter, that both teams will do everything possible, to make sure that they do not lose, after both won their various games last weekend. To lose will be giving the other a big edge to be in control of the group.

Ghana will be away in Togo and will be desprate, to improve on their Saturday home 1 - 1 draw against Uganda. Ghana will be on all gears, to make sure that they go home with victory, while Togo playing at home will be energised to succeed, especially after losing away to Guinea last weekend in Casablanca.

In Group B, Algeria will host Mali. Both teams won their games last weekend, and will be keen not to lose ground to the other. But a win to either of the two teams, will put the winner in the driver's seat of the group.

Burkina Faso which lost the final to Nigeria in 2013, will be playing away tomorrow against Angola. Burkina Faso will be trying to maintain their winning ways, after winning their first match against Lesotho 2 - 0, while Angola will try to make amends for losing their first match against Gabon.

Without much ado the following is the full tomorrow's fixtures, but take note, the time mentioned are the times listed by Confederation of African Football (CAF). So for those who want to watch or follow the matches, either on television or internet make sure that if there is any time difference, that you know the exact time the game will start where you are.

Group  A                                                  Group  B

Congo             vs   Sudan  (15.30)             Malawi     vs  Ethiopia  (14.30) 
South Africa   vs   Nigeria (20.00)            Algeria      vs  Mali       (20.30)

Group  C                                                   Group  D

Angola         vs  Burkina Faso (17.00)     Cameroon vs Ivory Coast (15.00)
Lesotho        vs   Gabon           (19.00)     Sierra Leone vs  DRC      (16.00)

Group  E                                                   Group  F

Togo          vs    Ghana    (16.00)              Mozambique  vs  Niger  (17.00)
Uganda       vs   Guinea   (19.30)              Cape Verde   vs  Zambia  (16.00)

Group   H

Botswana       vs     Senegal    (19.00)
Egypt             vs     Tunisia     (21.00)

Read also: Melvinsports.blogspot.com

THE REST OF THE AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS QUALIFIERS RESULTS

The rest of the African Cup of Nations qualifiers encounters on Saturday has been compiled for your reading pleasure.  The biggest surprise of the day was that Nigeria, which is the defending champions of the competition was defeated at home, 3 - 2 by the visiting Congelese team.

Whenever a team no matter which team it may be, loses a match that virtually everybody expected them to win, questions are asked and excuses are made. In the match which Nigeria under - estimated Congo, people have already started asking why coach Stephen Keshi, left Emmanuel Emenike on the bench.

But instead started the Holland based division 2 player, Uche Nwofor of VVV Venlo. There media reported that Nwofor has severed his contract with his club, because he don't want to play in a lower division. Some people are asking why Keshi started a player that is clubless instead of Emenike. Was it fitness or what?

Well, that was not the reason Nigeria lost their home game. The reason could be attributed to a couple of things among which are lack of proper preparations and having a good knowledge of their opponents. But what happened in Calabar on Saturday, was just a mirror of the chaos that is currently engulfing the football federation.

FIFA has issued another automatum to the Nigeria Football Federation, that if by Monday the people led by Chris Giwa, who has been presenting himself as the President of the Federation do not vacate their offices, Nigeria will be banned from all football activities.

The other surprise to some football fans was that Ghana was held at 1 - 1 draw at home to Uganda. Many expected the Black Stars to sail through with a good victory over the visiting Cranes. There was no other surprise of the day, Ivory Coast came back from being 1 - 0 down to defeat the visiting Sierra Leone 2 - 1.

One of the matches, Mali against Malawi was postponed to Sunday night. It will be played at 19.00 hours.The following is the full results of the  Saturday encounters.

Burkina Faso      2   -   0    Lesotho

Ghana                 1   -   1    Uganda

Nigeria               2   -    3    Congo

Gabon                1   -    3     Cape Verde

Ivory Coast        2   -    1     Sierra Leone

Tunisia               2   -    1     Botswana

Mali                    p   -    p     Malawi

Read also: Melvinsports.blogspot.com

SOME AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS QUALIFIERS RESULTS

The first batch of the weekend African Cup of Nations football matches results are available now while the second games are being played today all over the African continent.

The results of six games are already known, with a couple of surprises. It is a bit surprising that South Africa beat Sudan 3 - 0 in Khartum. The Sudanese football has been on the rise for quite a few years now, so it was surprising that the inconsistent South Africa beat them at home with such a big margin.

Fans

Another match result that was a bit surprising was the match between Senegal and the mighty Egypt. The Senegalese Terenge Lions beat the Pharoahs of Egypt 2 - 0 in the Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium. Both teams are still in their rebuilding phase.

Many of the Egyptian stars have retired and so were the former world stars of Senegal. The teams were full of young talented players. Without much ado, here are the full results of the games that have been completed.

Ethiopia         1   -   2     Algeria

D R Congo    0   -   2     Cameroon

Guinea          2   -    1     Togo

Senegal         2   -    0     Egypt

Sudan           0   -    3     South Africa

Zambia         0   -    0     Mozambique

The results of Saturday's matches will come later, after the whole games are finally completed. Read also: Melvinsports.blogspot.com

The 2015 African Cup Of Nations Qualifiers

The 2015 African Cup of Nations qualifiers began today, Friday the 5th of september. Some matches will be played today, while the rest will be played tomorrow, Saturday the 6th of September.

Only three matches will be played on Friday. Sudan will host South Africa, in Group A, in their first ever international encounter. The match will kickoff at 20.00 hours, according to the time listed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Read also: Melvinsports.blogspot.com

In Group E, Guinea will host Togo at the same time. Guinea is playing their home games at the Moroccan city of Casablanca, because of the out - break of the deadly virus - Ebola, which has claimed almost 2,000 lives in six affected West African nations.

The African football governing body CAF, ordered two of the three most infected countries - Guinea and Sierra Leone to play their home games in neutral nations, because of the virus.

Ghanaian Fans

The other match that will also be played today, at the same time is the game between Senegal and Egypt. Senegal is hosting their first full international match, after serving a one year ban for their fans violence, during the 2012 World Cup qualification match against Ivory Coast.

Senegalese fans disrupted the match, which was played at the national stadium, (Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium), when their team was on the verge of losing the match 2 - 0.

On Saturday the 6th, in Group A, Nigeria which is the defending champions will host Congo Brazzaville in Calabar at 17.00 hours, while Mali will host Malawi in Group B at 19.00 hours.

In Group D, Ivory Coast will host Sierra Leone, at 17.00 hours, after the government had initially said that, they will not allow the Sierra Leonean team into their country, because of the fear of the Ebola virus.

Ivory Coast was ready to forfeit the match, if they could not relocate it to a neutral venue. Then CAF made a public statement, through their spokesman, and warned that any country which forfeit a match, will be disqualified from the competition. So the government made a U-turn.

Sierra Leone will be using their foreign based players for the match, and their football federation officials, will be screened of the virus by the health ministry and World Health Organisation (WHO), before they can travel to Abidjan for the match.

Sierra Leone have also found a venue for their home games. They will host their games at the Lubumbashi Stadium of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), until when CAF reviews the Ebola situation, most likely later this month.

In Group C, at 16.00 hours, Burkina Faso will be hosting Lesotho, while at the same time Ghana hosts Uganda.

Zambia will be hosting Mozambique in Group F at 15.00 hours, while in Group G, Tunisai will be hosting Botswana at 20.15 hours. All the other countries participating in the competition, will also play their first games tomorrow.
Read also: Melvinsports.blogspot.com