By Samindra Kunti
November 4 – In a historic first, Egyptian hosts Wadi Degla and Mali’s AS Mande will kick off the maiden African Women’s Champions League on Friday, but question marks remain over the competition’s prize money, sponsorship and media visibility.
November 3 – Five Eritrean footballers from the women’s Under-20 national team have gone missing during a regional tournament in Uganda, raising concerns that they may have defected.
November 2 – Sports marketing agency Sportfive has picked up the commercial rights to Nigeria’s top tier league and the country’s national teams in a two-year contract starting this year.
October 22 – Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe has again called for the launch of an African Super League on the continent.
October 21 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has shielded Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) president and FIFA Council member Fouzi Lekjaa over his new role in the Moroccan government, claiming that FIFA is politically neutral.
October 14 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has launched the media rights tender in Sub-Saharan Africa for its flagship men’s national team tournament, the Africa Cup of Nations to be played in Cameroon next year.
October 5 – Days after withdrawing from any attempts to host the Club World Cup this December, the South African Football Association (SAFA) have confirmed football fans will soon be returning to stadiums in South Africa, if they are fully vaccinated.
October 4 – Following the lead of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the South African Football Association (SAFA) has endorsed the proposal for a biennial World Cup, with the governing body’s strongman Danny Jordaan arguing that the tournament in its current form “has not brought progress in African football over the last 100 years”.
September 27 – The battle against piracy saw a significant win for rights holders and owners at the end of last week when a Rwandan court in Kigali ruled against an appeal that would have seen UEFA and English Premier League continue to be broadcast without rights fee in the country.
September 27 – IMG has picked up the worldwide media rights for African 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
September 23 – While FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been walking the halls of the UN and the financial district of New York, meeting with heads of state and financiers, FIFA’s general secretary Fatma Samoura has been treading the path of women’s football in Africa.
September 22 – Samuel Eto’o has announced his candidacy for the presidency of the Cameroon Football Federation (Fecafoot), labelling the tenure of the governing body’s current interim president Seidou Mbombo Njoya “a failure”.
September 16 – One of African football’s biggest problems across the continent is the condition and safety of stadiums. The African confederation highlighted the issues this year, even banning some from use. A UN-certified Sport Safety and Security Training and Advanced Education Programme for professionals in Africa football has been launched as a step towards finding solutions.
September 9 – Egypt have hired Carlos Queiroz as their new manager to steer the Pharaohs to the World Cup in Qatar. The Portuguese will succeed Hossam El Badry.
September 6 – Morocco had to flee Guinea on Sunday ahead of their World Cup qualifier against the ‘Syli Nationale’ because of a coup d’etat.