Sports

Ghana coach, Otto Addo, resigns after World Cup ouster

Published

1 year ago

December 3, 2022

Black Stars of Ghana coach, Otto Addo, has resigned following the team’s World Cup group stage elimination after suffering a 2-0 loss to Uruguay on Friday.

The 47-year-old former international who was named as an interim replacement for sacked Milovan Rajevac in February, before he was given a permanently deal till the end of December, threw in the towel shortly after the team’s failure to progress to the round of 16 at tournament.

Addo who is the talent coach at German Bundesliga side, Borussia Dortmund, in a press conference where he announced his resignation, said:

“I always said if we qualified for the World Cup, I’d resign afterwards, even if we were world champions. My family see our future in Germany.”

Addo who was born in Hamburg, Germany, to Ghanaian parents, was a junior German international before he switched allegiance to the country of his parents.

A no-nonsense defensive midfielder during his playing days, Addo played for the Ghana national team for seven years commencing starting from 1999 his when he made his debut in a 5–0 routing of Eritrea on 28 February 1999.

He went on to play in the 2000 African Cup of Nations and in the 2006 FIFA World Cup where he started the game against the Czech Republic on 17 June 2006 at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne, which Ghana won 2–0.

Ghana was Addo’s first managerial job after several roles at clubs in Germany and Denmark.

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Sports

Nigeria’s football federation appoints Finidi George as Super Eagles coach

Published

16 hours ago

April 29, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has approved the appointment of former international, Finidi George, as the new head coach of the Super Eagles.

The board of the Federation
on Monday, approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Committee to appoint George, a former Eagles winger, as the manager of the Nigeria’s men national football team.

Before his appointment, George, served as assistant to José Peseiro before the Portuguese voluntarily resigned from post after leading the Eagles to the final of 2023 Africa Cup of Nations where they lost 2-1 to host Cote d’Ivoire.

Following Peseiro’s departure, George took charge of the squad in interim capacity during two friendly matches in Morocco last month.

He led the squad to a 2-1 victory over Ghana in the first match but lost 0-2 to Mali in the second game.

The 52-year-old George was a member of the Eagles team of the early 90s fondly called the “Golden Generation” that won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Tunisia and qualified Nigeria for its first ever senior FIFA World Cup in 1994.

During his playing career, George starred for Sharks of Port Harcourt and Calabar Rovers in Nigeria before moving abroad where he played for Ajax Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Real Betis of Spain.

He won 62 caps for Nigeria, including featuring at the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cup finals and also won gold, silver and bronze medals from the 1992, 1994, 2000 and 2002 AFCON tournaments.

George’s immediate task will be to guide the Super Eagles to victory in two 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against South Africa and Benin Republic in Uyo and Abidjan respectively, in a little over five weeks.

Sports

Al Ahly, Esperance to clash in CAF Champions League final

Published

2 days ago

April 27, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Two of Africa’s club giants, Egypt’s Al Ahly and Esperance of Tunisia, will do battle next month over two legs for the right to be crowned champions of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.

Title-holders Al Ahly and their long-standing rivals Esperance both booked their places in the final with dramatic semi-final victories over DR Congo”s TP Mazembe and Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa respectively on Friday night.

While Al Ahly, winners of five of the last seven editions of the continent’s top draw tournament, with a record 11 in total, overcame TP Mazembe with a 3-0 aggregate victory in the semi-final second leg after a goalless first leg last Saturday, Esperance surprised Sundowns with a 1-0 victory in Pretoria to wrap up a 2-0 aggregate win.

The two-legged final will mark the third encounter between Ahly and Esperance in the Champions League final, with the Egyptians winning in 2012 and the Tunisians triumphing in 2018.

In 2023, the two clubs clashed in the semi-finals with Ahly emerging victorious home and away, securing a 4-0 aggregate triumph.

Esperance who are aiming for a fifth Champions League title, will host the first leg in Rades on May 18, with the return fixture scheduled in Cairo seven days later.