Sports
More Aspirants Angle For CAF Presidency
As the clock ticks down to the Confederation of African Football, CAF, Presidential elections scheduled to take place in Morocco on 12 March, 2021, more aspirants are lining up for the continent’s football plum job.
Ahead tomorrow’s deadline for candidates to submit their applications, four heavyweights in the continent have already indicated their interests. After current CAF President, Ahmad Ahmad’s announcement, South African Patrice Motsepe, one of Africa richest men became the third candidate to declare his intention to contest, less than 48 hours after Jacques Anouma of Ivory Coast, a former member of FIFA’s Executive Committee (now FIFA Council) between 2007 and 2015.
Motsepe’s bid, breaks the traditional contestants for the CAF presidency, which had been restricted to high-ranking members of African Football’s ruling body in the past.
Meanwhile, Mauritania’s Ahmed Yahya became the fourth candidate to announce his candidacy for the presidential elections in March.
The head of the Mauritanian federation (FFRIM) since 2011, Yahya was named the continent’s best football administrator at the 2017 CAF awards.
“After much thoughts and discussions, I have decided to present my candidacy,” Yahya announced on social media on Monday evening, adding the hashtags ‘commitment, determination, vision’.
Tomorrow is the deadline for candidates to apply, with Senegal’s Augustin Senghor also expected to throw his hat into the ring before then.
Under Yahaya, who was re-elected for a third term in office last year with a landslide victory, Mauritania achieved a maiden qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations in November 2018 when beating Botswana.
For their achievement, they were named CAF’s Team of the Year for 2018 and a year later, at their debut finals in Egypt, Mauritania failed to exit their group but earned draws against both Angola and Tunisia.
Yahaya, a member of CAF’s Executive Committee member, has also been praised by FIFA for his role in developing both football and its infrastructure in his homeland.
“The FFRIM is a great example of a successful and progressive member association and, in fact, I often refer to it in my speeches and encourage people to visit Mauritania to see for themselves.”
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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