Sports
CAF Fixes January 9 for Commencement of AFCON 2022
The Africa Cup of Nations tournament will be staged in Cameroon from January 9 to February 6 next year, a Confederation of African Football official confirmed on Thursday.
A virtual executive committee meeting chaired by recently elected president Patrice Motsepe from South Africa also decided that a draw to divide the 24 qualifiers into six groups will be held on June 25.
Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Comoros, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia and Zimbabwe have qualified.
The remaining place rests between Benin and Sierra Leone, whose fixture in Freetown this week did not take place because the visitors challenged Covid-19 results after five of their key players tested positive.
A CAF statement said the match had been rearranged for the May 31-June 15 international window, following which Sierra Leone launched an appeal against that decision.
The Sierra Leone Football Association said the appeal was based on the “failure (of Benin) to report for a match and/or refusal to play”.
Sierra Leone trail Benin by three points in Group L and must win to replace them in the second qualifying place and go to the Cup of Nations for the first time since 1996.
Pre-match Covid-19 tests are currently performed in CAF competitions by the host national team or club and there have been numerous allegations of false positive results depriving opponents of stars.
The CAF meeting acknowledged that having hosts in charge of testing was problematic and is planning, with World Health Organization assistance, to use independent medical staff instead.
Concern was also expressed by the executive at the degradation of football infrastructure in many African countries, highlighting a long-standing problem of poor stadium maintenance.
AFP
Super Eagles winger, Ademola Lookman, has been named the CAF Footballer of the Year for the past year.
Lookman was announced as the winner at an elaborate event in Marrakech, Morocco on Monday night.
The Atalanta star won the prize ahead of Ivory Coast’s Simon Adingra and PSG’s Achraf Hakimi, Guinea striker Serhou Guirassy and South Africa goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.
It has been an incredible year for Lookman, who became the first player to score a hat-trick in the Europa League/UEFA Cup final since 1975, netting the three goals within 26 minutes against Bayer Leverkusen.
Lookman was included in the Team of the Year for the Europa League, and ended the season having had a direct hand in 18 top flight goals for La Dea.
The 27-year-old was ranked the 14th best player during the Ballon d’Or gala on October 28.
The Swedish Prosecution Authority announced today that the inquiry into rape allegations against French footballer Kylian Mbappé has been closed due to a lack of sufficient evidence to proceed.
This is according to multiple reports on Thursday morning.
The allegations had drawn international attention, casting a shadow over the football star’s career.
Mbappé, who had consistently denied the allegations, has yet to make an official statement regarding the decision
His legal team had previously emphasised his commitment to due process.
Mbappe was “linked to rape investigation in Sweden” and that he intended to reserve any explanations for the Swedish justice system “if necessary,” according to his lawyer, Marie-Alix Canu-Bernard.
“He prioritises providing his explanations, if required, to the Swedish judiciary,” Canu-Bernard told AFP, while strongly condemning “media allegations suggesting that Kylian Mbappé had commented on the events of his trip to Stockholm.”
The case, which began earlier this year, involved accusations stemming from an alleged incident in Stockholm. The prosecutor’s decision not to press charges marks the end of months of scrutiny and speculation.
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