African presidents question speed of change to AFCON and European influence
July 15 – More African federations have expressed reservations about the speed with which the Continent’s showpiece tournament is being overhauled.
July 15 – More African federations have expressed reservations about the speed with which the Continent’s showpiece tournament is being overhauled.
July 21 – The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has reacted swiftly to accusations that money from Puma’s kit deal has not been accounted for through the federation’s accounts, saying that the reports are “maliciously false, calculated to cause damage to the reputation of the GFA and (GFA president) Mr Nyantakyi.”
July 21 – African football chiefs have rubber-stamped the biggest ever overhaul to the Continent’s showpiece competition by agreeing to switch the African Nations Cup from its traditional January date to June and expand the finals to 24 teams – starting with the next edition in 2019 in Cameroon.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 20 – The biennial club-versus-country row that has dogged African football’s major competition looks set to end after a landmark decision to switch the African Cup of Nations from January to June.
July 20 – Cameroon has been quick to re-assure African football leaders that it is fully capable of staging the 2019 African Cup of Nations with the necessary government backing.
July 20 – With the country still in mourning, Senegal’s Union Sportive Ouakam club has been suspended by the national federation for its role in last weekend’s stadium disaster.
July 20 – The international players union FIFpro says unions in Africa have started to achieve “clear improvements” in the welfare of thousands of players.
July 18 – A new future for African football could be about to be plotted if a two-day symposium this week, followed by an extraordinary general assembly, agrees to change the format of the continent’s top regional competition.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 17 – Having missed out numerous times on hosting the World Cup, Morocco says it is ready to take over from Cameroon in staging the 2019 African Cup of Nations “in case of lack of capacity”.
July 17 – African football has fallen victim to yet another stadium disaster after a wall collapsed in Senegal on Saturday, killing eight people and injuring between 60-90 according to conflicting news reports.
July 14 – The Bureau of the FIFA Council has lifted the suspension imposed on the Sudan Football Association (SFA) for government interference, but it is too late for the Sudanese clubs who had already been disqualified from CAF competitions. However, the good news is it is in time to allow to the national team to fulfil this weekend’s fixture against Burundi in African Nations Championship 2018 qualification.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 13 – South African football has been plunged into controversy after the country’s Premier Soccer League (PSL) allowed a Durban-based club to buy their way into the top flight.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 12 – The crisis enveloping Sierra Leone football has taken a further twist with the country’s sports minister facing accusations of deliberately misleading the public in an attempt to oust the country’s female FA president Isha Johansen.
By Mark Baber
July 12 – A roadmap was agreed on Sunday between the Sudanese Minister of Youth and Sports, the Sudan Football Federation, and the so-called ’30 April Group’ to try and restore the country to FIFA after last week’s suspension.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 11 – Six months after FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura visited the country on a mission to resolve a festering internal dispute, the annual congress of Sierra Leone’s FA, scheduled for Friday to pave the way for elections, has been suspended by FIFA.