Sports

Three Moroccan amputee footballers abscond from team camp in Poland

Published

2 years ago

June 15, 2022

Three football players from the Moroccan national amputee team which took part in the Amp Futbol Cup 2022 in Poland between June 7 and 12, have reportedly absconded from the team camp.

According to post on Facebook by authoritative Moroccan sports media, AlmarssadSports, the three players escaped even before the competition started, leaving the national team with eight players instead of 11 with only one reserve player.

According to an unnamed official of the North African country’s Para Sports Federation, the embarrassing incident is being investigated and any official who aided the escape of the players would not be spared.

The sport platform reports that the incident was not the first time Moroccan athletes would escape their training camp or hotel when they travel to Europe to play in an international tournament.

It noted that in May 2022, a total of eight Moroccan minors fled their camp at the World School Cross Championship in Slovakia while in
September 2021, three volleyball players from Morocco’s national team escaped once they landed in Italy for the World Championships.

In April of the same year, two Moroccan boxers escaped after arriving in Poland to participate in the Aiba Youth World Boxing Championship just as Moroccan Taekwondo champion, Anouar Boukharsa, made headlines in 2019 after he crossed the Mediterranean sea to reach Spain on a small boat.

He was to document his trip in a short video where he was seen throwing his medals in the water and saying that they were of no value to him and his family.

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Sports

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

Published

23 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

3 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.