Sports
Legal Cloud Hangs Over Confed Cup Final
The CAF Confederation Cup final is scheduled to have its first leg match between hosts RS Berkane and Zamalek held in Morocco on Sunday.
However, there is a cloud hanging over this fixture (and the scheduled return leg in Egypt the following Sunday) in regards to a controversy between Berkane and their semifinal opponents, USM Alger.
The scheduled semifinal matches on April 21 and 28 between the teams were both cancelled in the wake of Berkane having their playing kit confiscated by Algerian immigration authorities ahead of the first leg.
The Berkane kit displayed a map showing a disputed area between Algeria and Morocco, and were thus considered to be politically provocative by Algerian authorities.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) responded by awarding the first leg 3-0 in favour of Berkane, and repeated the action for the second leg when USMA refused to take to the pitch, despite having travelled to Morocco.
USMA and the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) last week filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against CAF, arguing that “the RS Berkane shirt, which the Appellants consider presents a political message, contravenes the laws of the game, CAF regulations and FIFA rules”.
Given that this has become a complicated legal matter, in which “the parties are currently exchanging written submissions and the arbitral panel that will decide the matter is being appointed,” it is fair to assume that no resolution will be reached before Sunday, when the first leg of the Confederation Cup will be held at Stade Municipal de Berkane.
This means that Berkane and Zamalek will head into their two-legged clash with the possibility that it could be rendered null and void at a later date, as decided by lawyers and administrators in Switzerland.
The idea that an athletic competition’s ultimate outcome could be determined by those in suits and ties rather than the players in kit and football boots is a hard one to fathom for all involved, but that is the situation the parties find themselves in. For now, we can look forward to what should be a tense encounter between the Orange Boys and the White Knights, but with the lingering thought that it could all be delegitimised by a stroke of a pen at some point in the not-too-distant future.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor