Sports
Caf Hails ‘Miraculous’ Tournament
The Africa Cup of Nations
in Equatorial Guinea has been described as “miraculous” by the Confederation of African Football general secretary.
Only in November original hosts Morocco’s plea to delay the event was rejected , leading to its relocation.
And despite a riot and poor facilities, Hicham el Amrani rated it a success.
“Based on the time we had, and the circumstances, making it happen the way it happened was miraculous – nothing short of that,” he told BBC Sport.
“We’re happy about the whole organisation, in general, with the time we had and the resources we had, and I think it was quite something to have been able to have a tournament that ended up well.”
However, the tournament, which ended on Sunday with Ivory Coast beating Ghana on penalties to lift the trophy , will be remembered as a controversial and troubled one.
Crowd violence marred the semi-final between the hosts and Ghana, when play was interrupted for 30 minutes as missiles were thrown from the stands, forcing Black Stars fans to gather on the field behind a goal for their own safety.
And there was a hotly-disputed penalty decision in Equatorial Guinea’s quarter-final win over Tunisia, whose players needed to be restrained as they chased referee Rajindraparsad Seechurn off the pitch at the end of the match.
Tunisian Football Association president Wadie Jary was suspended from all activities relating to Caf and Tunisia must apologise to Caf by 31 March for accusing the body of cheating or be banned from the 2017 tournament.
Caf also banned Seechurn for six months for his “poor performance” in the match.
“We are not pleased with some incidents that happened in a couple of games, but this is part of football,” said El Amrani in an exclusive interview with our source.
“Thank God no casualties happened (at Equatorial Guinea’s semi-final in Malabo), or no major injuries happened on the pitch. We had a few people injured but those were very light injuries.
“We are very sad and sorry about that [crowd trouble] happening – but the best way of dealing with it is to work on its prevention in the future, rather than just try to find the wrong causes that created that.”
El Amrani also defended Caf’s decision not to punish Equatorial Guinea fans for their violent behaviour, instead fining the football federation and warning the team would have to play behind closed doors if there was a repeat offence.
“After everything Equatorial Guinea did, and the fans as well, in general they were very peaceful, supportive, we realised that the guarantees received by the security authorities for the third-place play-off were sufficient to allow the fans to watch their team for the last time in the competition,” he said.
“We felt it would have been really unjust and unfair to spoil the whole party of a month that was organised, a party also for the youth. We told them we were extremely disappointed.”
Overall, El Amrani believes the tournament was “better than expected”.
“We were delighted by the crowds that came, delighted by the beauty of the smaller sites that were unknown to the public in general before, Mongomo and Ebebiyin, Equatorial Guinea did a fantastic job.
Sporting have not received an offer for striker Viktor Gyokeres and there is no gentleman’s agreement for him to leave for £59million, says club president Frederico Varandas.
Sweden international Gyokeres, 27, has been heavily linked with Manchester United and Arsenal after scoring 97 goals in 102 matches during two seasons in Portugal.
He has a 100m euro (£85m) release clause in his contract.
It has been widely reported that, after staying at Sporting last summer, Gyokeres and Sporting agreed he could leave for 70m euros (£59m) this summer.
However, Varandas said the club’s only promise to Gyokeres was that they would not demand his full release clause.
“I can guarantee that Viktor Gyokeres will not leave for 60m euros plus 10m euros because I never promised that,” Varandas said.
“To this day Sporting has not had an offer for Gyokeres, neither today nor last season.”
Gyokeres spent three seasons with Coventry City in the Championship before joining Sporting under Ruben Amorim.
Manchester City director of football Hugo Viana was sporting director at Sporting last summer, when Gyokeres’ agent sought assurances about his leaving if a suitable offer arrived.
“One of the agent’s biggest concerns was whether we would demand the termination clause,” said Varandas.
“He wanted to guarantee certain things. And what was agreed? That Sporting would not demand a release clause now.
“For one reason: he was going to be 27 years old and no player leaves Portugal at 27 for 100m eurors or 90m euros.
“In that same meeting the agent wanted to anchor the exit to a value. I said this sentence: ‘It’s not worth us setting a value because I don’t know what will happen in a year’s time. I don’t know if it will be 40m euros, 60m euros or 80m euros. What I can guarantee is that I will not demand 100 million euros.’”
Concacaf President Victor Montagliani has criticised a proposal to expand the 2030 men’s World Cup to 64 teams.
The plans, put forward by South American governing body Conmebol, have also drawn opposition from Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The tournament will be hosted by Spain, Morocco and Portugal, after the opening matches are held in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The 2026 World Cup, which will take place across the United States, Mexico and Canada, has already been expanded from 32 to 48 teams.
But Conmebol said it wanted to add more participants to mark the competition’s 100-year anniversary.
“I don’t believe expanding the men’s World Cup to 64 teams is the right move for the tournament itself and the broader football ecosystem, from national teams to club competitions, leagues, and players,” Montagliani told Tidesports source
“We haven’t even kicked off the new 48-team World Cup yet, so personally, I don’t think that expanding to 64 teams should even be on the table.”
Concacaf is the governing body of football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
The decision to expand the 2026 World Cup to 48 teams was taken in 2017 following a unanimous vote at a Fifa congress.
Fifa’s 75th congress will be held in Paraguay on 15 May, when Conmebol’s proposal could be discussed.
If the proposal is accepted, the 2030 edition would consist of 128 matches, double the number played under the 64-game format used from 1998 and 2022.
In March, Ceferin described the proposal as a “bad idea” while AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa said it would cause “chaos”.
“If the issue remains open to change, then the door will not only be open to expanding the tournament to 64 teams,” said Salman.
“But someone might come along and demand raising the number to 132 teams. Where would we end up then? It would become chaos.”
Brazil qualified for the 2026 World Cup this week with a 1-0 win against Paraguay in South American qualifying to give Carlo Ancelotti his first win as manager.
Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jnr scored from close range in the second half, finishing after fine work from Manchester United-bound playmaker Matheus Cunha.
The victory, Ancelotti’s first after a 0-0 draw against Ecuador on his debut last week, means Brazil has now qualified for every edition of the World Cup.
“We needed to win and qualify for the World Cup,” said Vinicius Jr.
“Now the coach will have more time to work. Of course today wasn’t one of our best performances, but the important thing is always to win.
“Now it’s time to celebrate qualifying.”
Elsewhere, World Cup holders Argentina played out an entertaining 1-1 draw with Colombia in Buenos Aires.
Liverpool winger Luis Diaz opened the scoring with a fine individual goal, dancing through three defenders before finishing past Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Argentina was reduced to 10 men with 20 minutes remaining when Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez was sent off for a high-boot challenge on Colombia’s Kevin Castano.
But Lionel Messi’s side found an equaliser nine minutes from the end through Lyon’s Thiago Almada, leaving Colombia four points clear of seventh-placed Venezuela.
Ecuador, Argentina’s nearest challengers, booked their spot at next summer’s tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States after a 0-0 draw away at Peru.