Luka Modric ended the long reign of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo by winning the Ballon d’Or for the first time on Monday, while another first saw Norwegian forward Ada Hegerberg win the inaugural women’s trophy.

Messi and Ronaldo had won every Ballon d’Or since 2008, and usually fought only each other for the greatest recognition among soccer’s elite. Women’s fight for recognition on the biggest stage took a big step with Hegerberg’s award.

Modric won the Champions League with Real Madrid and then guided Croatia to the World Cup final in July. The midfielder was voted player of the tournament. “As a kid we all have dreams. My dream was to play for a big club and win important trophies,” Modric said. “The Ballon d’Or was more than just a dream for me and it is really an honor and a privilege to hold this trophy.”

Ronaldo was second in the polling followed by France forward Antoine Griezmann. France’s teen star, Kylian Mbappe, was fourth. Brazil star Neymar was third last year but only 12th this time. Messi was fifth in the voting, having been runner-up to Ronaldo the past two years and in the top three every year since 2007. Modric had never previously been in the top three.

“2018 is a dream year for me,” the 33-year-old Modric said. “Throughout my career I realized hard work, persistence and belief in yourself in difficult moments are the foundations of success.” Modric’s father was shown on the big screen wiping away tears during the ceremony at the imperious Grand Palais in Paris.

Ronaldo missed out on a record sixth award, which would have moved him one ahead of Messi. The last player to win it before those two started dominating world soccer awards was Brazil midfielder Kaka with AC Milan in 2007.

Ronaldo also won the Champions League last season with Modric, before leaving to join Juventus. He scored a hat trick against Spain at the World Cup but he failed to make an impression when Portugal lost to Uruguay in the round of 16.

Mbappe and Griezmann scored in the 4-2 World Cup final win against Croatia. Mbappe earned a domestic treble with Paris Saint-Germain. Griezmann also scored twice for Atletico Madrid in the Europa League final win against Marseille.

France coach Didier Deschamps said a France player should have won the award. “They deserve it because of what they did with the national team at the World Cup and also because of the trophies they won with their clubs,” Deschamps said.

The 19-year-old Mbappe   the youngest player since Pelé to score in a World Cup final   won the Raymond Kopa Trophy awarded to the best young player. France Football magazine has been awarding the Ballon d’Or since 1956, and created a women’s award for the first time this year.

Hegerberg is a three-time Women’s Champions League winner with French side Lyon and scored a tournament-record 15 times last season. “I want to say thanks to France Football. It’s a huge step for women’s football,” Hegerberg said. “I want to end this speech with a message to all young girls in the world. Believe in yourselves.”

The outspoken 23-year-old Hegerberg said she won’t play for Norway at the Women’s World Cup in France next June. Taking a stand against what she describes as a lack of respect for female players in Norway, she hasn’t played for the national team since 2017 when it crashed out of the group stage of the Women’s European Championship without scoring a goal.

Speaking in an interview shortly before collecting her Ballon d’Or, Hegerberg told The Associated Press on Monday she has no plans to reconsider her decision taken to preserve her “authenticity and my values, as a person, as a footballer.”

“A lot of things need to be done to make the conditions better for women who play football,” she said. “It’s all about how we respect women’s football. I don’t think the respect has been there. “Sometimes you have to take tough decisions to stay true to yourself. I let them know, quite clearly, what I found wasn’t working.”

(AP)

Cameroon has significantly beefed up national security ahead of 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) to be hosted by the country, a joint security inspection mission of Confederation of African Football (CAF) and world football governing body FIFA told reporters here on Thursday.

The mission made the remarks after spending five days inspecting the security in airports, hotels, hospitals, stadiums and road infrastructures in the country.

“We have taken stock (of the security measures). We noticed that there is a great mobilization of the defense forces all over. For the moment, we have taken note,” Djibrilla Hima Hamidou, head of the mission and president of Niger Football Association, said at the close of the five-day visit.

“We have also noticed a few faults and advised that there should be adjustments.”

On Monday, Cameroon’s Minister of Defense assured the mission that “all necessary security measures” have been taken to ensure a hitch-free competition in the country next year.

AFCON 2019 will be held from June 15 to July 13, according to CAF. It will also be the first AFCON expanded from 16 to 24 teams.

Source: Xinhua

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The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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The fallout of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul has spread even to sport, drawing rare scrutiny on a soft power tool that Gulf monarchies have brandished with zeal.

Sport has become a strategic pillar of the House of Saud’s global PR mission. So it was only a matter of time before the pressure would extend to Saudi investments in sport. Football, an immensely popular game in the oil-rich Gulf kingdom, was the first to experience the fallout of the Khashoggi scandal. Last weekend, Amnesty International called on two top Italian clubs, Juventus and AC Milan, to boycott the Italian Super Cup, set to take place in Saudi Arabia in January. The deal to allow the kingdom to host three of the next five editions of the star-studded Supercoppa was only agreed over the summer.

Amnesty’s appeal followed a similar plea from Italian former sports minister Luca Lotti. On his Facebook page, the Tuscany lawmaker urged Italian football authorities to reconsider their decision to play the games in the kingdom “to ensure that Italian football does not shy away from the defence of rights and values”.

Rescinding the arrangement with Saudi Arabia, however, would come with consequences for the Italians, not least financially. According to Italian media, the deal sealed in June is worth about €7 million.

While appeals to cancel sporting events in the wake of the Saudi journalist’s killing may have elicited public soul-searching among some of the athletes involved, they are likely to be balanced against economic imperatives. Exactly a month after Khashoggi’s brutal murder, the lucrative international events on the kingdom’s sporting calendar remain, for now, largely intact.

The debate has also spread to tennis. Superstars Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic couldn’t escape questions about the controversy last weekend in Paris.

“Of course I’m aware of the situation. But I had a commitment since one year ago to play there. And my team is talking to them, to analyse things,” the Spaniard said in Paris. “It’s terrible that one journalist lost [his] life. I know something happened very bad inside there. So we are looking about how evolves the situation and I hope the things will clarify as soon as possible.”

Djokovic struck a similar tone. While insisting the commitment was made more than a year ago, the Serbian star allowed that the situation is “sad”. “My team right now is in touch with the people in Saudi Arabia as well as Rafa’s and of course we are all talking to understand the situation better,” he said. “We have to get more information on what’s happening so we can make a rational decision whether it’s good to go or not.”

Bowing out of the Jeddah clash would immediately deprive each player of his promised million-dollar bonus, not to mention any medium-term knock-on effects of reneging on the agreement.

Those two high-profile competitions may be just the tip of the iceberg. Although the Argentina-Brazil football friendly held last month in the Gulf state managed to escape controversy, other major events with long-term contracts are poised to go ahead in the weeks and months to come.

First up among those is the “Crown Jewel”, a professional wrestling show organised by the all-powerful World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in Riyadh went ahead Friday even as the organising body expressed a measure of regret in its statement confirming its participation.

The decision to go ahead with the Riyadh wrestling showcase has not been met with universal approval, however. Mention of the Crown Jewel even elicited boos from a WWE audience at an event in the US, as British comedian John Oliver pointed out to laughs on his US television show.

Moreover, two of the wrestling circuit’s stars pulled out of Friday’s show. John Cena and Daniel Bryan were written out of the scripted event’s storyline and replaced by other performers. Although neither has made his reasons for withdrawing explicit, Cena’s alleged misgivings about appearing in Riyadh had been widely reported.

Other sporting competitions have, too, ruled out reconsidering their calendars, for now. Golf’s European Tour this week confirmed the addition of a first Saudi International event to its schedule – at the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City from January 31 to February 3 – the first event in a three-year commitment made last spring.

The same goes for motorsport in the kingdom, with Formula E due to hold its first Riyadh race, the electric racing championship’s season opener, on December 15. “Referring to the incident, we obviously have no comment to make,” Formula E chief Alejandro Agag told the Associated Press on October 15. “At this moment, there are no plans to change the Formula E calendar this season. Of course, we are monitoring [the situation].”

Source: France 24

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The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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Brazil’s November friendly against Cameroon will take place at the Milton Keynes Stadium, it has now been confirmed.

The CBF lined up Cameroon as opposition for their second friendly game in the November international break, but were struggling to nail down a venue near London.

Talks took place to hold the match in Paris, but France will play there during the same week, while Seville and Madrid were also touted as destinations.

But Brazil will play Cameroon at Stadium: MK in Milton Keynes, meaning they can maintain their training base at Tottenham Hotspur’s training headquarters for the duration of the fixture list.

Source: Sambafoot

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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Football club Leicester City has confirmed that the club’s owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha died in a helicopter crash on Saturday, along with four others.

The helicopter belonging to the billionaire crashed and burst into flames in the stadium carpark shortly after taking off from the club’s pitch.

The club confirmed on Sunday that none of the five people who were on board survived, and said in a statement, “In Khun Vichai, the world has lost a great man. […] Leicester City was a family under his leadership. It is as a family that we will grieve his passing and maintain the pursuit of a vision for the Club that is now his legacy.”

Leicestershire police said that no one else is believed to have been injured from the crash. Leicestershire Police named the four other victims they believe to have died in the crash. They said that two were members of Vichai’s staff: Nursara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare. Also killed were pilot Eric Swaffer and passenger Izabela Roza Lechowicz.

Images released after the crash showed smoke rising from the fiery wreckage in the carpark at King Power Stadium the scene of unbridled jubilation after Leicester’s against-all-odds Premier League title victory in 2016.

Freelance photographer Ryan Brown, who was covering Saturday’s 1-1 draw with West Ham, told BBC Radio 5 Live that he saw the helicopter rise out of the stadium before it crashed.

“Literally the engine stopped and I turned around, and it made a bit of a whirring noise. It turned silent, blades started spinning and then there was a big bang,” he said.

He said he saw “a huge fireball” when he ran to the scene.

“We are assisting Leicestershire Police and the emergency services in dealing with a major incident at King Power Stadium,” the club said in a statement.

‘Heartbreaking’

As expressions of concern poured in from around the football world, England legend Gary Lineker, a former Leicester player and host of the BBC’s Match of the Day, tweeted: “That was the most difficult @BBCMOTD I’ve ever hosted… A terrible tragedy. Heartbreaking.”

Leicester footballers Jamie Vardy and Harry Maguire both tweeted praying hands emojis and West Ham defender Pablo Zabaleta, who also played in Saturday’s game, tweeted: “My thoughts and prayers are with all those involved in the helicopter accident at Leicester City.”

Vichai bought Leicester City in 2010 and became chairman the following February, pouring millions into the team and becoming a beloved figure in the club and the city a feat not always achieved by the Premier League’s foreign owners.

“Thoughts and prayers with all particularly owners who’ve done so much for Club and our City,” Leicester’s mayor Peter Soulsby tweeted.

Sky Sports said the helicopter took off from the pitch between 1930 and 1945 GMT but developed problems shortly afterwards with its tail rotor.

The local ambulance service said it was alerted at 2138 GMT.

“We sent a doctor, two paramedics in ambulance cars, a crewed ambulance and our Hazardous Area Response Team, with the first resource arriving within two minutes of the call,” it tweeted.

Air crash investigators were also examining the scene.

Leicester’s miracle

It was under Vichai’s ownership that Leicester crafted one of the biggest fairy-tales in English football history by winning the 2015/16 Premier League, having started the season as 5,000-1 outsiders for the title.

Vichai made major investments in the club after his purchase, returning them to England’s Premier League from the second-tier Championship in 2014.

They initially seemed outclassed by richer and more established clubs from London, Liverpool and Manchester, languishing at the very bottom the table for most of the 2014-15 season.

The Foxes, as the team are nicknamed, then engineered what fans now fondly refer to as the “Great Escape”, winning seven of their last nine matches.

They ended up finishing 14th, securing themselves another season in Europe’s richest league in 2015/16.

But not even their most devout fans could have imagined what happened next.

Vardy, signed from non-league Fleetwood Town, scored in 11 consecutive matches, propelling the men in blue to a title without parallel in Premier League history.

The success also qualified them for the first time for the lucrative Champions League, the pinnacle of European football played by the continent’s most successful sides, including Barcelona and Real Madrid.

There, Leicester City defied the odds yet again, winning their group before eventually losing their quarter-final 2-1 over two legs to Atletico Madrid.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

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Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

Brazil will play its last friendly of the year against Cameroon in London on Nov. 20, its soccer confederation said on Thursday.

The last time the teams met was during the group stage of the 2014 World Cup when Brazil won 4-1 in Brasilia with a Neymar double.

On Nov. 16, Brazil will face Uruguay in London. Coach Tite will announce his squad for the two friendlies on Friday.

Brazil has won all four friendlies since the 2018 World Cup in Russia, against United States, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia and Argentina.

Tite is preparing his players for the 2019 Copa America tournament that Brazil will host.

Source: AP

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

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The former Chinese owner of AC Milan has been added to China’s blacklist of untrustworthy individuals over millions of dollars in unpaid debt, according to a local court, which ordered that his passport be confiscated.

Li Yonghong emerged from obscurity to purchase one of Europe’s most high-profile and decorated football clubs from former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in 2017.

He was one of dozens of wealthy Chinese investing in or simply buying up some of the sport’s biggest clubs after President Xi Jinping declared he wanted to turn China into a football superpower.

But Li’s control of AC Milan was plagued from the start and this summer a creditor took over the club.

The order from the Jingmen City Intermediate People’s Court in central China this autumn, made public in October, is the latest indication of Li’s declining fortunes.

Li was on the hook for 60 million yuan ($8.7 million) in unpaid debt to a Hubei province investment company, and a 12 million yuan ($1.7 million) penalty, according to the court.

But the court found no assets to seize and repay the creditor as Li had no bank deposits or cars registered in his name.

Instead, Li’s name was added to China’s national blacklist of untrustworthy individuals, which restricts people from travel by high-speed train and airplane, staying in pricey hotels, or getting a credit card.

As a Hong Kong resident, Li’s passport was ordered confiscated and he was prohibited from entering or exiting China, though his current whereabouts are unknown.

The $740 million deal for AC Milan faced payment problems, with Li’s bid secured only by a last minute, high-interest loan from a US hedge fund.

In July, Li’s group was unable to repay the loan and the hedge fund Elliot Management took control of the club.

Source: AFP