The former Cameroon captain has teamed up with the Nine-headed Bird after cancelling his contract with Toulouse

Stephane Mbia has returned to China with newly promoted Super League side Wuhan Zall.

The 32-year-old cancelled his contract with French Ligue 1 side Toulouse this January after failing to secure regular playing time.

He was limited to five appearances this season since teaming up with the Stadium TFC outfit last summer on a year deal.

Source: Goal.com

Cameroon may no longer be hosting the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, but the Japoma Stadium is still set to be delivered to the original, tight schedule.

Project name: Japoma Stadium

Client: State of Cameroon

Value: $220m (£171m)

Contract type: Design and build

Main contractor: Yenigün

Design and structural engineer: Aecom

Steel subcontractor: BCES Bülbüloğlu

Façade subcontractor: Tensaform

Start date: January 2017

End date: March 2019

“By the time we had a deal and were able to start, we only had two years to deliver the stadium,” says Aecom director and head of sport Peter Ayres. The stadium in question is Cameroon’s Japoma Stadium, which is designed by Aecom and being delivered by Turkish contractor Yenigün.

“We had a very general idea conceptually of what we needed to build,” Mr Ayres says, “as in we need a 50,000-seat stadium and we’ve got a site […] but that was it. There was no design as of two years ago. Mr Ayres adds that, normally, it takes a minimum of three years (“absolute minimum”) to design and deliver these projects.

The new stadium was sanctioned alongside three others as Cameroon prepared to host the 2019 African Cup of Nations football tournament. But in November last year, the country was stripped of its right to host the event due to preparation delays and security concerns. Despite this, the time and cost-saving design and construction of the Japoma Stadium in the port city of Douala has meant the project has stayed on schedule. Given the hugely ambitious programme, it has been no mean feat.

Design based on speed and trust

Aecom was approached by the government of Cameroon at the start of 2016. Mr Ayres says the client wanted a turnkey package, which the firm was unable to provide. Instead, Aecom managed to put together a consortium with main contractor Yenigün, who also brought onboard a Turkish bank to part-fund the scheme. By the time all the deal-making had concluded, the contract was signed and the money started to flow through for construction, it was already January 2017. This is when the “nitty gritty designing” work actually kicked off, says Aecom associate director of building engineering Adrian Armstrong.

“We had a very general idea conceptually of what we needed to build as in we need a 50,000-seat stadium and we’ve got a site […] but that was it”

Peter Ayres, Aecom

With the stadium needing to be handed over to the client in a little over 26 months by the end of March 2019, a time-efficient design and build process took priority. One of the first things this meant was, “there had to be an element of trust” on the client’s part, according to Mr Ayres, as there simply was no time to offer “27 different options” for the design. “It was [a case of], ‘This is what works, this is what can be built quickly’. We’ve got our site, how do we work with the site? Instead of trying to fight the topography, let’s work with it,” he says.

A stadium on a hillside

Douala is 200 km west of Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital. The site chosen for the stadium is less than 5 km west of the Dibamba River, which is forested on both banks. “When we got there, [the site] was all covered in bush. It was semi-forestry wasteland, but there were trees, ditches, bits of marshy areas that all had to be cleared and levelled,” Mr Ayres explains. The most intriguing element of the site however, is that it sits on a hillside. There is a 7 m difference in elevation between the lowest and highest points of the hill (pictured, below).

There is a 7 m difference in elevation between the lowest and highest points of the hill The Aecom team took advantage of this by placing all of the changing rooms, operations and internal accommodation facilities on the west side of the stadium, at the bottom of the hill. This meant excavation and earth works could be kept to a minimum, Mr Armstrong explains, as the basement level did not have to be dug up. Relative to the rest of the stadium, the basement sits on a lower floor, but because it has been positioned to sit at the bottom of the hill, it is still at ground level. Another benefit of building the stadium on a hill is that, “we can bring people in at halfway up the stadium bowl,” Mr Armstrong adds. “That means you don’t need lifts and staircases, because for three-quarters of the stadium, people come in and they either go down into the bowl or up into the bowl.”

Starting from the west

Piling work started on site in May 2017, five months after the starting pistol was fired on the scheme. Main contractor Yenigün’s in-house groundworks team installed a total of 2,076 bored piles, each 800 mm in dimeter. Depending on the level on the site and the ground conditions, the piles varied in length from 8 m to 20 m. Given that all of the additional elements in the stadium (basement, VIP box and premium concourse) were all centralised in the west stand, piling work started there. Time constraints meant that as soon as piling for the west stand was complete, Yenigün turned its attention to the stand’s substructure and superstructure, as piling work continued across the rest of the job. Yenigün used insitu concrete for the primary frame as well as for the 48 raker beams that form the stadium’s superstructure frame, which supports the seating terraces.

[BCES Bülbüloğlu] built the whole truss on the ground, lifted it in as one piece and placed it on the concrete structure The Turkish contractor set up a precast concrete batching plant onsite to produce a portion of the concrete required for the terraces, while the remainder was imported from Turkey. “Because it’s such a wide perimeter and we wanted to reduce the amount of insitu concrete for [the sake of] speed, we developed a system where the precast terracing units, which normally would be single 7.5 m spanning elements, we made them into double elements,” Mr Ayres explains. “So instead of being an ‘L’ shape, they’re ‘W’ shaped. That meant we could span twice as far, which meant we could halve the number of insitu units to speed up construction,” he adds.

Porous roof and façade

As this process fanned out across the circumference of the stadium and the 50,000-seat arena took shape, Turkish steel contractor BCES Bülbüloğlu began erection of the steel cantilevered roof. “We came up with 3D trusses that are self-stable,” Mr Armstrong says. “[BCES Bülbüloğlu] built the whole truss on the ground, lifted it in as one piece and placed it on the concrete structure.

Low maintenance design

In order to create a stadium that would fit the demanding programme, have a lasting legacy and be cheap to operate and maintain, the Aecom team made several forward-thinking choices with their design. The first of these was to take advantage of the hillside location by creating a basement level under the west stand, which sits on the ground level at the bottom of the hill. This reduced excavation and earth works on the west stand, while eliminating the need to have staircases on the remaining three stands, as spectators can come in half way up the stadium bowl and either go up or down the terraces. As well as allowing spectators to move in out of the stadium freely, the fabric envelope and roof was also selected to minimise M&E work.

“The porous façade allows air movement through the envelope to ventilate the bowl and keep everyone at a comfortable temperate,” Mr Armstrong explains. “They get a lot of rainfall in Cameroon – the same amount of rain in a month as we get in a year. In terms of the stands and concourses it [the fabric roof and façade] shields people from the rain, but it’s porous in terms of air flow so it keeps it cool.”

As a result, air-conditioned spaces have been limited to the players accommodation area, and the VIP and premium spaces. Catering has also been rethought to accommodate local tastes. “The world of stadium design is going high-tech with massive corporate offerings, more and more aimed at the 1 per cent because that’s where the money’s hidden,” Mr Ayres says. “In Cameroon, when you go to eat, it’s almost all street food. There are hardly any restaurants.” With this in mind, 20 street food pods have been dotted around the stadium, which local catering companies can serve from as they would along the busy streets of Douala.

The self-stabilising design of the trusses meant that only the first truss needed to be propped up. Once the second truss was erected and the two were connected, it was a stable structure. This approach was selected for multiple reasons, Mr Ayres says. First, it hugely minimised the amount of temporary work required to prop up the roof, saving on time and costs. And second, if the project had ended up running behind schedule, the team had the option of erecting the roof and façade solely on the west stand, then coming back to complete the rest once the football tournament had finished.

“The idea is that instead of being a fortress-like stadium, it’s very porous, which suits the climate. There’s no hard barrier around the stadium”

Peter Ayres, Aecom

As it happens, all 48 trusses have been erected and the stadium is due to complete on time. The top chords of every truss come together in a diamond shape and have a glazed roof. A PVC façade supplied by Turkish subcontractor Tensaform links all the trusses, creating a fabric envelope and roof that protects spectators from the rain, while allowing air to flow freely. “The idea is that instead of being a fortress-like stadium, it’s very porous, which suits the climate. There’s no hard barrier around the stadium,” Mr Ayres explains. This means spectators can move freely in and out of the stadium’s terraces and food stalls outside, while a wider security perimeter handles gatekeeping. The result of this impressively fast-tracked and innovatively thought-out stadium project will no doubt be a jewel in Douala’s crown. Cameroon’s loss of the 2019 AFCON tournament no doubt brings an air of anti-climax to the project and to the local population, but it shouldn’t take away from a notable engineering feat.

Not just a football stadium

As well as the 50,000-seat football stadium, the scheme also includes external facilities that will be made available to the public. These include:

• An Olympic standard 50 m aquatics centre
• A football field
• Four tennis courts
• Two basketball courts
• Two volleyball courts

Source: Construction News

Premier League club Cardiff City’s record new signing, Argentina-born striker Emiliano Sala, was on board a light aircraft that disappeared over the English Channel on Monday night, police sources told AFP.

Sala, signed by Cardiff on Saturday from French club Nantes for a reported 17 million euro ($19.3 million) fee, was flying to Cardiff aboard a small plane that disappeared from radars around 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the island of Guernsey.

A statement from police on Guernsey, a British island just off the coast of France, said a search mission had resumed Tuesday morning, hours after the search was terminated at 2am local time due to strengthening winds, worsening sea conditions and reducing visibility.

No trace has currently been found. It was en route from Nantes, France to Cardiff, Wales with 2 people Helicopters from the British and French coastguard joined renewed efforts on Tuesday morning to find the plane which is thought to have crashed.

Sala, 28, who had been at Nantes since 2016 and had scored 12 league goals this season, had signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with relegation-threatened Cardiff subject to receiving international clearance.

When he put pen to paper at Cardiff on Saturday, he said in a statement: “I’m very happy to be here. It gives me great pleasure and I can’t wait to start training, meet my new team-mates and get down to work.

“For me it feels special (to be the club’s record signing). I have come here wanting to work and to help my team-mates and the club.”

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

A tearful Andy Murray on Friday announced he would likely retire this year due to severe pain from a hip injury, saying next week’s Australian Open could be the last tournament of a glittering career. The former world number one and three-time Grand Slam winner broke down at a press conference in Melbourne as he said the pain had become almost unbearable.

“I can play with limitations. But having the limitations and the pain is not allowing me to enjoy competing or training,” the emotional Scot said. Thirty-one-year-old “Sir Andy” said he would like to finish at his home Grand Slam in Wimbledon, but ruefully admitted he might not make it that far.

He will be remembered as the first British man to win Wimbledon in 77 years and as a player who battled his way to the top in a golden era for the game alongside Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

“Wimbledon is where I would like to stop playing, but I am not certain I am able to do that,” he said. “I’ve been struggling for a long time. I’m not sure I can play through the pain for another four or five months.

“Pretty much done everything that I could to try and get my hip feeling better and it hasn’t helped loads.” He pulled out of last year’s Australian Open to have hip surgery and only returned in June at Queen’s Club in London.

He ended the season at Shenzhen in September after only a handful of appearances to concentrate on working his way back to full fitness.

But he was knocked out in the second round on his return at Brisbane last week and called it quits on Thursday after less than an hour of a practice match in Melbourne against Djokovic, with his movement clearly hampered.

“I think there is a chance the Australian Open is my last tournament,” he said.

While he intends to begin his opening-round match against 22nd seed Roberto Bautista Agut next week, how his body withstands potentially gruelling five-set clashes in energy-sapping heat remains to be seen.

‘Legend of a bloke’

One of the so-called Big Four, along with Federer, Djokovic and Nadal, who have dominated the game for years, Murray’s ranking has slumped to 230.

He hasn’t reached a Grand Slam final since winning his second Wimbledon title in 2016, but has nevertheless enjoyed a glittering career since turning professional in 2005, with not only three Grand Slam titles, but two Olympic gold medals and 45 ATP crowns.

Notably, in 2013 Murray became the first British man to win Wimbledon for 77 years, ending the nation’s obsession with finding a champion to follow in the footsteps of Fred Perry.

World number five Juan Martin del Potro, who has also struggled with injuries and will miss the Australian Open, told Murray to “keep fighting”.

“We love you @andy_murray and we want to see you happy and doing well,” he added. Billie Jean King called him “a champion on and off court”, referring to Murray’s long-time support of women’s equality in tennis.

“So sorry you cannot retire on your own terms, but remember to look to the future. Your greatest impact on the world may be yet to come. Your voice for equality will inspire future generations,” she said.

Top Australian coach Darren Cahill, who until recently was mentoring world number one Simona Halep, said Murray was an example of the never-say-die attitude that separated the best from the average.

“When you search for examples of ’emptied the bucket to be as good as they could be’ there should be a picture of Andy Murray sitting under that quote,” he tweeted.

“Remarkable discipline for training, competition, sacrifice, perfection, a little crazy but a legend of a bloke.”

Former star Andy Roddick also paid tribute on Twitter.

“I tip my cap to @andy_murray! Absolute legend. Short list of best tacticians in history. Unreal results in a brutal era. Nothing but respect here. I hope he can finish strong and healthy,” he said.

Murray said he had an option of another operation on his troublesome hip, but it was more about his quality of life after hanging up his racquet. “That’s something I’m seriously considering right now,” he said.

(AFP)

Egypt striker Mohamed Salah has been named African Footballer of the Year for the second successive year at the Confederation of African Football’s 2018 awards ceremony in Dakar on Tuesday. “I have dreamt of winning this award since I was a child and now I have done so twice in a row,” Salah said soon after receiving his trophy in Dakar.

“My thanks go to my family, my team-mates and my fans and I dedicate this trophy to my homeland, Egypt.”

Just as he did 12 months ago, Salah beat fellow nominees including Liverpool FC Senegalese teammate Sadio Mane and Gabon’s (and Arsenal) Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to land the award.

Fans favourite

It was an identical outcome to last year when Salah became only the second Egyptian after 1983 winner Mahmoud al Khatib to be voted the best footballer in Africa.

Award caps ‘incredible 2018 for Mohamed Salah’

A poll of CAF’s national teams’ head coaches and technical directors, members of the governing body’s technical and development committee and a panel of media experts selected Salah as the continent’s outstanding footballer in 2018.

The Liverpool forward was also named in the Africa Best XI for 2018, along with Mane and Naby Keita. He scored 44 times during a 2017-18 campaign in which he helped his club reach the Champions League final, before then netting twice at last summer’s World Cup.

Salah scored four goals in three Africa Cup of Nations qualification outings for his country in 2018 and a further 16 goals in 29 appearances across all competitions for Liverpool in 2018.

Salah completed a memorable day for Egyptian football, as the country beat sole rivals South Africa earlier Tuesday to decide which country hosted the 2019 Cup of Nations.

Memorable day for Egypt

Salah was born in the northern Egyptian town of Nagrig and used to make eight-hour return trips to train with Cairo-based El Mokawloon.

Spotted by scouts from Swiss club Basel, he moved there in 2012 before joining Premier League giants Chelsea two years later.

The Egyptian had his share of setbacks. Early in his career Salah found scoring difficult, resulting in him quitting Chelsea for Italian outfits Fiorentina and then Roma. Salah blossomed in Rome, averaging close to a goal every two matches, and Liverpool paid almost €41 millionn (£37 million) to sign him two years ago.

South African Chrestinah Kgatlana was voted Women’s Player of the Year and South Africa coach Desiree Ellis and the Nigeria national team were the other female winners. The Goal of the Year award also went to Kgatlana.

France 24

ARSENAL are considering a bid for Torino centre-back Nicolas Nkoulou, according to reports. The Cameroon international captain has excelled this season to inspire his mid-table club to the fourth-best defensive record in Serie A.

Nicolas Nkoulou has been the star in Torino’s season so far. Gunners boss Unai Emery is a fan of the former Monaco, Marseille and Lyon defender from his time as Paris Saint-Germain coach.

The Spaniard is eager to strengthen Arsenal’s shaky defence, which has already leaked 31 Premier League goals – by far the worst record among the top five teams.

And reports in Italy claim Emery has urged Emirates chiefs to sanction a bid for 28-year-old Nkoulou. Torino value the defender at around £12million, just six months after paying Lyon £3.15m for him following a successful spell on loan.

Source: The Sun

An Egyptian soccer super-star playing for British football club Liverpool, Mohamed Salah has allegedly threatened to leave the premier league club over an Israeli player joining the team. 

Salah threatened to quit Liverpool if Moanes Dabour joined the team, media reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, Salah said that he will leave Liverpool should Dabour be signed.

Salah in the past refused to shake hands with Israeli players.  

However, people close to the Egyptian athlete said he needs to be left alone to focus on playing soccer and that he is a professional, and it is not his concern with whom Liverpool is discussing a possible contract. 

Salah has had a very good debut season in Liverpool history, helping the club reach the Champions League final.

Salah also represented his country at the World Cup.

Egypt and Liverpool forward, who is currently the best footballer in Africa, has been voted BBC’s No.1  African Footballer of the Year for the second time in a row.

Prior to this Nigeria’s Jay-Jay Okocha had won the award in consecutive years.

Source: Presstv

British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua has been awarded by the Royal Family for his services to Sport. The award of an OBE bestowed on him by the Prince of Wales. Joshua is currently a unified world heavyweight champion, holding three of the four major championships in the sport.

An OBE simply means: (Officer of the) Order of the British Empire. The event took place on Thursday December 20, 2018.

Anthony Joshua who has Nigerian roots currently holds the IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight belts. He has fought 22 fights and won all with all but one coming by way of knockouts.

Anthony Joshua was born in Watford to a Nigerian mother and a British father of Nigerian and Irish descent. He has lived some parts of his life in Nigeria until his boxing debut in 2013.

Joshua expressed interest in representing Nigeria at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, but wasn’t selected. He has since climbed the ladder to be the unified World Heavyweight Boxing Champion under the British flag.

Source: Africa News

Chinese football on Thursday imposed a salary cap of 10 million yuan ($1.45 million) a year for domestic players and vowed to kick teams out for so-called “yin-yang contracts”.

The swingeing measures are part of a ramped-up effort by the Chinese Football Association (CFA) to clamp down on big spending and get teams to toe a tougher financial line.

There will also be a limit on bonuses and other financial inducements for domestic players, according state sports channel CCTV5, reporting on an end-of-season CFA conference in Shanghai.

Foreign players are not affected by the salary cap, which will be in place for the new Chinese Super League (CSL) season when it starts in the spring.

Among a raft of other measures, teams must submit contracts for their players and coaches by the end of the year as part of a crackdown on “yin-yang contracts”.

Such contracts — one for the tax man and another with the real value of the agreement — are thought to be widespread in football and showbusiness in China.

If the CFA uncovers any tax-avoidance schemes, the offending player or coach face a ban of between one and three years. Their clubs can be deducted points or even kicked out the league.

Two years ago, Brazilian attacking midfielder Oscar joined CSL side Shanghai SIPG from Chelsea for an Asian-record 60 million euros and Argentine forward Carlos Tevez signed for rivals Shanghai Shenhua, both earning some of the highest wages in world football.

Their high-profile arrivals, along with dozens of other foreign stars such as Brazilians Hulk and Paulinho, triggered fears that Chinese clubs were distorting the international transfer market with overinflated wages and fees.

But the CFA has since moved to stop the splurge and force teams to focus on youth development instead, and there is unlikely to be serious money spent when the winter transfer window opens on January 1.

“The association will draw on the experience of advanced overseas leagues to design comprehensive measures to control high wages, high bonuses, high transfer fees and other issues,” Li Yuyi, CFA vice chairman, said earlier this week, according to Xinhua news agency.

Li added: “If there’s only investment but no clear idea of what the long-term returns are, Chinese football is not sustainable.

“Companies (who own teams) need to understand why invest, what are the rewards and what it contributes to society.”

 AFP

President George Weah is indeed one of the most successful soccer players to come from Africa, but there are not enough pieces of information out there about his playing days in Liberia.

A situation veteran sports journalist Omari Jackson, who is now an editor at the Daily Observer newspaper is trying to solve in his upcoming biography of the president, titled the “Untold Story of President Weah.”

The book, which is expected to be out early next year revealed that the first semi-professional contract President signed in the 1980s, with Tonnerre Klara Club of Yaounde of Cameroon was intended for James Salinsa Debbah, but the Liberian all-time high goalscorer turned down the opportunity on three different occasions before it went to George Oppong Weah which he gladly accepted.

Jackson writes that Mohammad Konneh, a Liberian with a Cameroonian mother was disappointed that Debbah had turned down the offer, which was apparently because of the love and acceptance that Liberian soccer fans had for him, including President Samuel Doe.

“I have tried for at least three times to get the boy to agree to play in Cameroon without success. I want you to help me find a quality striker,” Konneh was reported to have pleaded.

“Mr. Konneh,” Mr. Jackson said with some warmth, “since from your experience it does not seem that Salinsa is interested in these series of invitations, could you give it to Oppong (George Weah)? After all, he is the next upcoming player with a future.”

Fortunately, Jackson was able to meet President Weah between the corner of Carey and Gurley Street and told him about the opportunity which he gladly accepted.

“Hello, Oppong.”

“Hello Jackson,” Weah said.

“We have a friend who has just returned from Cameroon with an invitation for you to play a semi-professional soccer career in Cameroon. My man, you are already our wizard dribbler and that you can make it in Cameroon,” Jackson writes in the forthcoming book.

Responding to Jackson’s appeal, Oppong (now president) said: “I am ready to play in Cameroon.”

The positive response from President Weah was enough to motivate Jackson who used his influence and had the Liberia Football Association to invite Tonnerre Klara Club of Yaounde to form part of its 50th-anniversary celebration since the club had interest in the president.

After the 50th-anniversary soccer game, Jackson discloses that President Weah was able to seal the deal with the Cameroon giant, making him the first Liberian player to sign a semi-professional contract.

Complication

Upon his return to Liberia to finalize his trip to Cameroon, Jackson in the book, “Untold Story of President Weah” unveiled a situation that almost destroyed the president’s emerging soccer career.

The problem was a result of strong interest from Simplice Zenzou, an Ivorian soccer lover who was then the owner of the Africa Sports FC who offered President Weah a much better contract to play for his club.

“Weah’s brief meeting with Zenzou created a problem. He had signed a contract in Cameroon for three years, and all of a sudden, the Zenzous boys’ offer came, something which he could not refuse,” Jackson writes.

Fully aware of the consequence of what could have happened if President Weah failed to fulfill his contract with the Cameroonian club, Jackson and journalists (Mozart Dennis and Bana Sackey), took upon themselves to intervene in the situation through Josiah N. Johnson and Sam Burnette Jr., invincible Eleven’s godfather back then.

From that meeting, Johnson and Burnette Jr., went on to convince President Weah to turn down the deal from Africa Sports and keep his bargain with TKC, which he gladly did, Jackson writes.

Debbah and Weah rivalry

The two first cousins have been an internal rivalry from day one of their playing days for IE and Mighty Barrolle respectively in Liberia.

Such rivalry, according to Jackson gained momentum during a particular tournament, style Who Owns the Land where Debbah scored two last-minute goals to help his team Barrolle to defeat President Weah team IE 3-2.

Debbah’s performance from that game earned him the title “The Miracle Man,” a name that Jackson says came as a result of the striker’s exceptional ability to score crucial goals when they were needed.

The helpers who are unknown

President Weah during his playing days in Liberia was supported by lots of people financially and morally some of whom are unknown to the public.

Some of these people, Jackson revealed were Tonia Klay, Lydia Jones, S. Izetta Wesley, D. Sheba Brown and Kadiattu Diara (later Mrs. Findley) who once served as president of Invincible Eleven Majestic Sports Association.

Other strong supporters of President Weah, according to Jackson were Archibald Bernard, former President of IE, now legal adviser to the President and Burnette Jr.

Jackson writes that both men, unlike their Mighty Barrolle counterparts, were willing to let their star player seek greener pasture abroad despite fans protest.

Jackson’s forthcoming book, the “Untold Story of President Weah” provides an in-depth account of the president’s football days in Liberia and shined lights on the role many people supported his effort to get him where he is today. This book answers my questions about President Weah’s playing days in Liberia since the author carefully observed the events that surrounded him and the journey he took from Liberia.

There are other interesting issues that have never appeared anywhere else that Jackson reveals that demonstrates that President Weah’s story is an inspiration any young footballer can peruse for their own progress.

“I’m expecting this book to be out very soon. Hopefully by February of next year, but that will depend on the kind of publishing deal I get,” says Jackson.

Source: Daily Observer