Sports

24 teams line up for AFCON 2023 as qualifiers end

Published

8 months ago

September 13, 2023

The race for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) which will hold in Ivory Coast in February 2024 was completed on Tuesday night, with Cameroon picking the last spot after a 3-0 spanking of Burundi in Garoua.

Goals from Brentford’s forward Bryan Mbeumo, Lens defender Christopher Wooh and a late strike from captain Vincent Aboubakar saw the Indomitable Lions nicking the ticket at the expense of the Swallows of Burundi.

Cameroon finished top of Group C to qualify alongside Namibia, to complete the line-up of 24 teams for the tournament.

The final round of the AFCON qualifiers saw 48 teams divided into 12 groups of four teams, with the top two nations qualifying for the final tournament after a home and away round-robin format.

The opening match of the four-week continental championship which is in its 34th edition will take place on Saturday, 13 January 2024, at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Ebimpe, Abidjan, with the final taking place on February 11, 2024.

Teams that have booked their ticket for the tournament are:

Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia.

Others are Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Morocco, Namibia.

Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia complete the lineup.

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Sports

Al Ahly, Esperance to clash in CAF Champions League final

Published

10 hours 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.

Sports

Former Zambian captain Rainford Kalaba discharged from hospital after near-fatal accident

Published

2 days ago

April 26, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Former Zambian national team captain, Rainford Kalaba, has been discharged from hospital weeks after he was involved in a near-fatal accident where he sustained serious injuries.

The accident which involved a head-on collision between a Mercedes-Benz car in which Kalaba was in, and a truck, had initially sparked fears for his life and has since been in the Intensive Care Unit of the Zambian University Teaching Hospital (UTH).

The good news on the footballer’s progress was released by the UTH Public Relations Officer, Nzeba Chanda, who informed that the Chipolopolo legend has been discharged after showing positive signs of recovery.

“Mr. Rainford Kalaba has been discharged from the UTH-Adult where he was admitted after being involved in a road traffic accident two weeks ago,” Chanda said, adding that Kalaba will continue his recovery at his family home.

According to local media reports, the 37-year-old was a passenger in a Mercedes Benz when it collided with an oncoming truck in the south-eastern Zambian town of Kafue a week and five days ago.

In his active playing days, Kalaba spent the majority of his club career at TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo, winning the CAF Champions League with the club in 2015 and the CAF Confederation Cup in 2016.

He also had a spell with clubsides in Portugal including FC Braga, and was a major part of the Zambian squad that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2012 under Frenchman, Herve Renard.