Senegal and Liverpool forward Sadio Mane was awarded the African best player 2019 at an event in the Egyptian city of Hurghada on January 7. He became the final awardee for the decade 2010 – 2019.

He succeeds Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah who was also shortlisted along with Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez who led Algeria to AFCON glory in 2019. Both contenders were absent at the ceremony.

Mane received the award from the president of the Confederation of African Football, CAF, Ahmad Ahmad. On stage was the first award winner for the decade, Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon won his fourth award in 2010 when he was with Italian side Inter Milan.

Mane helped his club side win the UEFA Champions League in the 2018/2019 season and was captain of the Senegal side that lost the 2019 AFCON to Algeria in Egypt.

This was the fourth straight time that he had been shortlisted for the award. He lost in 2016 to Gabons Aubameyang (at the time with Dortmund). Then missed out to Salah twice in 2017 and 2018. Many analysts projected after the AFCON that this was his year despite the final loss.

Who won what on the night:

African Player of the Year: Sadio Mane, Senegal / Liverpool
Best Women’s Player of the Year: Asisat Oshoala, Nigeria / Barcelona FC
African club president of the Year: Moise Katumbi, CEO of TP Mazembe
Federation of the Year: Egyptian Football Association
Djamel Belmadi: Men’s African Coach of the Year
Diseree Ellis: Women’s African Coach of the Year
Special Award: Ex-Togolese intl Kodjovi Obilale, victim of 2010 Cabinda massacre
Goal of the Year: Riyad Mahrez strike against Nigeria in AFCON semis
Men’s Team – Algeria
Women’s Team of the Year – Cameroon
Youth Player of the year – Achraf Hakimi MAR
Interclub player of the year – Youcef Beilali ALG

Source: Africa News

The president of CAF Ahmad Ahmad is said to have confirmed that the starting date of the 2021 AFCON to be hosted by Cameroon will see a major back track from June to January.

CAF had before this year shifted the date to mid year, reason why this year’s competition in Egypt was played in June.

CAF has sited unfavorable climatic conditions in Cameroon to buttress the decision which many pundits believe could pin the host nation once again to the wall.

Remember Cameroon was to host the 2019 edition of the AFCON but was stripped off their rights owing to lateness in completing the host facilities among others.

As things stand Cameroon has just about 12 months to completely be ready and host the competition in January 2021.

Source: Africa News

The 2019 Afcon finals were held in June/July, a departure from the traditional period where it was staged at the start of the year

Caf president Ahmad Ahmad says the dates to host the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations could be reverted to the old calendar due to unfavourable June and July climatic conditions in Cameroon who are set to host the tournament.

This year, Egypt hosted the Afcon finals in June and July as the tournament was moved from the traditional January and February period.

With rains expected in the middle of the year in Cameroon’s tropical climatic conditions, Ahmad feels it is not conducive to have the Afcon staged then.

The Caf boss said the continental football governing body will “take a decision” on what would be the appropriate dates to host the 2021 edition.

“When we took the decision to move the Africa Cup of Nations to June, which we did for the last tournament in Egypt, we have always said that we need to have some flexibility over the dates,” Ahmad told Inside World Football.

“This is because of the different climatic conditions in the continent. In my view, it is not possible, because of the climatic conditions in Cameroon, to stage the Africa Cup of Nations in June/July. This is clear, so we must take a decision on the date.”

Also the expanded Fifa Club World Cup could force the 2021 Afcon tournament to be revised back to January/February anyway.

The Club World Cup is set to be played from June 17 to July 4 2021, while the Afcon dates have been tentatively set for June 11 to July 9, placing the two tournaments on each other’s way.

Source: Goal.com

While fans in Africa reacted with indignation after Sadio Mane finished fourth in the Ballon d’Or voting, another striker who played for Senegal and Liverpool, took a slightly more balanced view.

Mane, who won the Champions League, finished behind Argentine winner Lionel Messi of Barcelona, Dutch team-mate Virgil van Dijk and Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo.

Many fans in Senegal were quick to blame racial prejudice. Journalists blamed African voters.

“We can’t talk about racism, but only about favouritism,” said El-Hadji Diouf, who played 55 games in three seasons at Anfield and won 70 international caps, told AFP.

Diouf agreed, however, that players from the continent were at a disadvantage.

“Being an African footballer is of course a handicap, as the main decision-makers and influential media are not from the continent. But Messi deserves it by far. Sadio had an exceptional year but Messi, he is stratospheric,” said Diouf.

The voting panel was made up of one journalist from each FIFA nation who listed their top five order. In total 176 cast votes. Can Dijk was first on 69 ballots, Messi on 61 and Ronaldo and Mane each with 17.

Messi edged the vote with 686 points, just seven ahead of Van Dijk. Ronaldo totalled 476 and Mane 347. Only a dozen of the 46 African voters put Mane first. Messi and Van Dijk both collected more first places on the continent.

Messi collected the most total points in Africa with 187. Mane was second on 170. Van Dijk, who dominated voting from European journalists, collected 154 in Africa.

Aboubacry Ba, who used to cover football on the continent for Canal+ Africa, blamed a lack of solidarity by African journalists on the voting panel.

There is “nothing racist, but if African votes went to the continent’s stars, things would be different”, he told AFP. “The Golden Ball is no longer played on the pitch. You have to give it to a player who sells, who amazes, but not only on the field. African voters have not understood that sometimes it is necessary to vote realistically.”

Lassana Camara, a Mauritanian journalist, wrote in Senegalese newspaper Sud Quotidien that he was frustrated by the absence of Africans on the podium.

“We refuse to believe that there is racism,” he said pointing out that Eusebio, Weah, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo, all former winners are “all players of colour”.

“But when Africans vote against Africans, we will not see the end of the tunnel tomorrow,” he wrote.

Source: AFP

The dates for Cameroon 2021, the next Africa Cup of Nations, are yet to be decided, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) says.

The announcement raises the possibility of the tournament returning to its previous schedule of January/February.

Egypt 2019 was the first Nations Cup to be held in June/July.

Caf say the Cameroon move is due to weather conditions in the country but a move would also avoid a clash with the newly relaunched Club World Cup.

Cameroon are also the hosts, in 2020, of the African Nations Championship, for locally-based players, and that will take place in April.

But an April Nations Cup would clash with the end of the European club season, so is unlikely be an option.

CAF says it will make a decision on the dates “jointly” with the host country.

The news was one of a number of decisions made at CAF’s Executive Committee meeting in Cairo on Thursday.

The governing body confirmed its decision to cancel its long-term media rights contract with French company Lagardere, which CAF says is legally required.

Lagardere has previously said it would challenge the decision or demand “a significant amount of cash”.

Caf also called for bids to host the 2020 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations, which is still without a host after Congo Brazzaville pulled out.

And they announced the return of an award for players based on the continent.

There hasn’t been one since 2017, but the Executive Committee announced a new trophy for the best player featuring in the continent’s inter-club competitions – the African Champions League and Confederation Cup.

Source: BBC

The Indomitable Lions team for the November 8-22 championship in Egypt has been unveiled. Bayern Munich teenager Franck Evina has been named in Cameroon’s final squad for next month’s Africa U23 Cup of Nations in Egypt.

Currently, on loan at German lower division side Uerdingen 05, the 19-year-old attacker is set for his first tournament with the Indomitable Lions since pledging his allegiance to the African nation ahead of Germany last year.

Only the three listed goalkeepers in Cameroon’s 21-man squad ply their trade at home. The Lions are set to face hosts Egypt, Ghana and Mali in Group A of the November 8-22 championship.

The top three teams at the tournament will represent the continent at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in Japan.

Goalkeepers: Junior Dande (Apejes Mfou), Simon Omossola (Coton Sport), Pierre Abogo (Tonnerre Kalara Club)

Defenders: Jules Youmeni Deugoue (Roskilde, Denmark), Raphael Anaba Mbida (Lyon, France), Olivier Mbaizo (Philadelphia Union, USA), Duplexe Tchamba (Stromsgodset, Norway), Oumar Gonzalez (Chambly, France), Guy Kilama (Niort, France) Nouhou Tolo (Seattle Sounders, USA)

Midfielders: Samuel Oum Gouet (Rheindorf, Altach, Austria) Kevin Soni (Espanyol, Spain) Yan Eteki (Granada, Spain), Victor Mpindi (Sonderjyske, Denmark), Martin Hongla (Royal Antwerp, Belgium)

Forwards: Stephane Zobo (Toulouse, France), Michael Cheukoua (Sv Horn, Austria), Eric Ayuk Mbu (Osmanlispor, Turkey) Franck Evina (Uerdingen 05, Germany) Pierre Fonkeu (Lens, France), Herve Ngan Biti (PAE Kerkyra, Greece)

Source: Goal.com

Former African soccer leader Issa Hayatou will help organize some of the continent’s top tournaments.

The Cameroon sports ministry says it has appointed Hayatou, who was FIFA’s interim president in 2015-16, as a special adviser to the organizers of competitions it will host, including the 2020 African Nations Championship and the 2021 African Cup of Nations.

Hayatou left top-level soccer when his 29-year presidency of the Confederation of African Football ended in 2017 with an election loss to Ahmad Ahmad of Madagascar.

Cameroon was stripped of hosting this year’s African Cup by CAF, which cited poor preparations. The decision was widely seen as a riposte to Hayatou.

With CAF in turmoil and Ahmad implicated in financial corruption by French investigators, FIFA has sent secretary general Fatma Samoura from Zurich to run the Cairo-based organization.

The 73-year-old Hayatou has retained honorary membership of the International Olympic Committee and attended meetings in June in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Source: AFP

Former Ivorian international Didier Drogba is running for president of the Ivorian Football Federation, FIF; according to local media reports.

The former Chelsea man is reported to have filed his application for elections slated to be held later this year.

The 41-year-old will face competition from among others, a former playing colleague and turned politician Bonaventure Kalou, who was in October 2018 elected mayor of the municipality of Vavoua.

Incumbent president Augustin Sidy Diallo, will be another candidate to beat. He has been in the role since 2011. The final list of candidates should be known in the coming weeks according to reports.

Recently retired Drogba is on record to have voiced ambitions of heading the football federation in the West African country.

“It’s something that interests me: I want to get more involved. I think more and more about it. I know Ivorian football, I have played in selection for years and I invested in Ivorian football lately …

“I have not made my decision yet, but, if all conditions are met, why not?” he said in an interview on French broadcaster, RFI.

Source: Africa News

The record books may not show exactly how Algeria won their first Africa Cup of Nations since 1990 and, in any case, it is probably best left to the imagination. Their performances over the past month merit the accolade and that much cannot be denied; the pity was that they dropped any pretensions towards making this final a footballing spectacle after going ahead through Baghdad Bounedjah’s heavily deflected early goal, the result being a tedious encounter that grabbed the attention only during those few episodes when it seemed Senegal might punish their voracious lust for attrition.

It all amounted to a colossal riding of their luck but also a personal triumph for Djamel Belmadi, their impressive coach, who took the job only last August but has delivered a continental title where none was expected. He celebrated with his players, who raced towards a delirious 15,000-strong travelling support at full-time, while his childhood friend Aliou Cissé held a lengthy on-pitch debrief after narrowly failing to deliver Senegal a first title of their own.

Senegal 0-1 Algeria: Africa Cup of Nations 2019 final – as it happened

Cissé might have had better fortune if the referee, Neant Alioum, had not reversed a second-half penalty award, given when the ball struck Adlene Guedioura’s right arm, after a VAR consultation. Spot kicks have certainly been awarded for less in major finals this year. But ultimately Senegal ran into too many of the traps Algeria set for them and the moments when Sadio Mané, as well as the rest of a vaunted front line, could influence proceedings were vanishingly rare.

“I’m so happy for my people, who have waited for such a long time,” Belmadi said. “We have won the cup outside our country for the first time. If you look at where we came from, I took a team that faced difficulties. To achieve what we have achieved, to finish on top of Africa, I have to say it is excellent.”

Despite the deeply frustrating fare they produced, this was indisputably a meeting of the tournament’s two best teams. In the end Algeria capitalised on the slight edge they held.

They had beaten Senegal by a single goal in the group stage and repeated the trick through their one attempt of the game, a moment that briefly confused the stadium into silence.

Boundejah’s burst down the inside-left channel past Lamine Gassama oozed menace but the shot he produced after cutting inside, which looped high into the air off Salif Sané, seemed destined for the athletics track behind the goal. But it spun downwards sharply, eventually dropping into the far corner, and the dawning realisation took a few moments to morph into unbridled delight.

Sané, injured earlier in the tournament, had returned to the starting lineup in place of the suspended Kalidou Koulibaly and Senegal’s weakness had been highlighted in the unluckiest fashion.

It did not take a doctorate in Algerian football ethics to divine that, from there, Belmadi’s side might seek to niggle this all the way out. They have played some fine attacking football in Egypt and such a grim final does not erase any of that. But few have quite as firm a handle on the dark arts and they successfully squeezed the air out of what followed.

“They say you don’t play finals, you win them,” Belmadi said. “I don’t really believe that. We prepared and wanted to play against this talented team, Senegal. It wasn’t our best match. We didn’t have ball possession nor impose our play.”

Algeria deserved their Afcon triumph but a shame they decided to win ugly

In fairness it made some sense to cede the initiative to Senegal, for whom guile has long been an achilles heel. If their opponents began to get too clever, Algeria simply stuck spokes in the works. Aissa Mandi felled Mané with a crude challenge led from the knee and Ismaïla Sarr found himself on the end of a hack from Ramy Bensebaini. Sofiane Feghouli collapsed near the goalline before dusting himself down when sympathy proved in short supply. When tempers briefly flared on the half-time whistle, their substitute goalkeeper Alexandre Oukidja took a dramatic tumble while Cissé and Mandi argued their way down the tunnel.

The break felt like a relief from the sheer cynicism of it all but the game did open up enough for Senegal to believe they had found a way back. Sarr, their best attacker on the day, made excellent ground down the right before seeing his cross hit Guedioura inside the area. It recalled Mané’s slice of fortune for Liverpool in Madrid two months previously but this time, after a delay of around a minute, Alioum opted to restart with a drop ball.

“We played well and had our chances over the course of the match but against this aggressive bloc we couldn’t find a solution,” Cissé said. Mbaye Niang, from a tight angle after rounding Rais Mbolhi, and Sarr did spurn opportunities to make Algeria regret stalling to such an extreme degree. By the conclusion, though, their dirty work had been done to a strange, unsatisfactory perfection.

Source: The Guardian