Midfielder Clifford Aboagye is the only foreign-based player in Ghana’s 21-man squad for the Orange CAF U-20 Championship Senegal 2015.

 

The 20-year old, who plays for Spanish side, Granada CF and adjudged the third best player at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey in 2013, will make a second successive appearance at the continental youth championship after 2013 in Algeria.

 

Head Coach Sellas Tetteh, who became the first coach to guide an African side to the global title, Ghana at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt in 2009, has settled for a pre-dominantly locally based side, made up of players who featured prominently in the qualifiers.

South Africa vs Mali
Stade Seyni Kountche, Niamey
Kick-Off: 18:00GMT


South Africa and Mali meet in the final match of the 2015 CAFU17 championship in Niamey for the right to be crowned African junior champions.

 

The Amajimbos, term for boys in local South African dialect, are in the final for the first time while Mali were runners-up in 1997 in Botswana after a 1-0 defeat at the hands of the junior Pharaohs. Amajimbos best ever finish was a fourth placement in 2005 in Gambia where they lost the third place playoff match to Cote d'Ivoire.

 

Both sides marched to Sunday's final unbeaten. With respective impressive and enterprising talents, the final is set to be thrilling, the two sides having battled to an enthralling 2-2 draw when they met earlier in a tournament group 'B' fixture. Amajimbos had to come from two goals down to salvage a point.

DURBAN, 27th February, 2015 – The National teams of South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, and Seychelles are counting down the days to the Power Horse Beach Soccer African Trophy Durban 2015 and now the facilities are getting ready for the three-day party from the 6th-8th of March. The work to build the 2000 seats state-of-the-art stadium at Durban’s South Beach have already begun, and this inaugural event is already shaping up to be one of the jewels of African beach soccer. The South African resort is an ideal setting for this and any other kind of tournament and the hard work being put forth by the locals is beginning to pay dividends. With the stadium built, fans growing, and teams eager to go, this is a must-see event to circle on any sports-lover calendar.

 

The eight participating teams come from all over the continent and are very respected across the globe. The event brings a wonderful opportunity to South Africa, who have been building a high caliber team wanting to qualify for the World Cup again, just as they did for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2005. The hosts will be taking on some of the fiercest contenders in the continent, and this means the Bafana Bafana will really be put to the test on home soil. 

Egypt's U20 women's team made a winning start to the African U20 Championships

Cairo, Egypt, February 27, 2015 - Egypt defeated Algeria 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-11) in the opening match of the 2015 Women's U20 African Nations Championship at the Eastern Company Hall. 

Egypt enjoyed full control of the match as they put pressure on their opponents with powerful spike services from Aya Ahmed and Nada Meawad. Egypt also dominated at the net where Mariam Metwally and Hend Farag dominated with their blocking. 

After Egypt won the first set 25-17, they started to use the spike service as a weapon to disturb the Algerian reception. They succeeded in winning the second set with a wider point deficit of 25-13 using strong attacks from Sarah Hanafy and Mariam. The third set was one sided with opposite Aya Ahmed using her spike service to win the set 25-11. 

Egypt's U21s made a winning start to the U21 African Championship

Cairo, Egypt, February 27, 2015 - Egypt overpowered Morocco 3-0 as the 2015 Men's U21 African Nations Championship opened at the Eastern Company Hall in Cairo, Egypt on Friday.

The tournament winner and runner up will qualify the FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship in Tijuana and Mexicali, Mexico from September 7 -20, 2015.


Egypt dominated the match early through their disciplined defence and strong attacks notably opposite Saad Mohsen and outside hitter Ahmed Diaa. 

South Africa U17 coach Molefi Petrus Ntseki says Sunday's final match of the CAFU17 championship will be tough but stressed that Amajimbos have prepared well to soar over Mali's Eaglets.

 

"It has been a long and difficult road to travel to get to the final. It is a culmination of hard work and the preparation we did getting into this tournament. We are playing Mali for the second time having played a draw in our first meeting in the group stages. We have identified the weaknesses and strengths of the team and we've done all that is needed and prepared well for this game," Ntseki said adding: "We don’t have any major injuries that can hamper the team in final. We will play our normal game but bearing in mind that the most important thing for us is not to concede. We are a goal scoring team so keeping things tight at the back will be important."

They call him the Xavi of the South African under-17 team; nicknamed after the Barcelona and Spain FIFA World Cup winner Xavi Hernández. He may only be 16 years old but Amajimbos captain Nelson Maluleke has even got himself a small tattoo emblazoned on his left hand - "Xavi".

 

He hopes to emulate his Spanish superstar into South African and African football stardom and the U17 championship has thrust upon the diminutive playmaker the platform for his first steps into African football luminosity.

 

Niger 2015 has seen the young Amajimbos playmaker showcase his "shibobo" skills, dribbling mastery, innovation, incredible vision and leadership. Added to the mastery of his footwork, Maluleke has an eye for goal. He is joint second leading scorer on two goals and the final match gives him another opportunity to add to his tally.

Sidiki Maiga and Boubabcar Traore have been key members of Mali's U17 team at the 11th edition of the CAFU17 championship in Niger. As their Malian Eaglets prepare to take on South Africa's Amajimbos in the final match on Sunday, the duo of the rising and new generation of Malian players are confident of victory and believe that they have the attributes to silence the South African boys.

 

Boubacar Traore and Sidiki Maiga have scored four goals between them; Traore with three and making him joint leading scorer with Kelechi Nwakali and Victor James, both of Nigeria. Maiga has one but added to the two players' knack for goals is their phenomenal skill, dexterity of their movement and superb partnership which has helped the Eaglets reach the final.

 

On Sunday, they are looking at nothing but victory.

“It’s so fitting that this induction should be at Eden Park, a home where I made my international debut back in 1982, and where my parents came to watch for nearly 40 years together” 

Martin Crowe, former New Zealand captain and player of the ICC Cricket World Cup 1992, was today inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

 

Crowe became the third New Zealander, after Sir Richard Hadlee and Debbie Hockley, and the 79th overall to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame when he received his commemorative cap from Mr Wally Edwards, ICC Director and Chairman of Cricket Australia. The induction ceremony was held during the innings break of the New Zealand-Australia match in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 at Eden Park, and was also attended by Mr Stephen Boock, New Zealand Cricket President.

There is little more than a month to go to the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Guiyang 2015 on Sunday 28 March when the spotlight will be shone on the Chinese city.

The oldest of the IAAF World Athletics Series competitions, this year’s event will be the 41st staging of the global cross-country contest. It will also be the third time the championships have been held in Asia, following the 2006 edition in Fukuoka and the 2009 event in Amman.

Preliminary entries suggest this year’s championships will be bigger than the past three editions. An expected 460 athletes from 56 countries are set to compete in Guiyang, surpassing the numbers from 2013 (400 athletes from 41 countries), 2011 (423 athletes from 51 countries) and 2010 (437 athletes from 51 countries).

On Sunday 28 March athletes will compete in four races over the conventional distances for the championships: senior men - 12km, senior women and junior men - 8km, junior women - 4km.

Ethiopia champions, St. George will be up against Algerian side MC El Eulma side in the second leg of the CAF Champions League preliminary round on Sunday in Bahir Dar.

The hosts suffered a 1-0 loss in the first leg two weeks ago in the Algerian city of El Eulma and are hoping to turn the tables in the reverse fixture at the weekend.

The narrow margin defeat is seen as positive by the Ethiopian champions and their fans are expectant of a turnaround in the fortunes of their club in the premier continental club championship.

Brazilian coach of St. George, Santos is confident in the abilities of his charges to overturn the result and advance into the next round. 

The 129th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the International Football Association Board (The IFAB) was held today, Saturday 28 February, at the Culloden Hotel in Craigavad, near Northern Ireland’s capital Belfast.

Today’s AGM, chaired by Irish Football Association President Jim Shaw, followed on from the inaugural meetings of two new advisory panels – the Football Advisory Panel and Technical Advisory Panel – in November 2014, which brought together experts from across the world of football to support the board with greater expertise before decisions on the Laws of the Game are passed.

Following further analysis of the so-called “triple punishment” (Law 12) of sending off, penalty and suspension for the denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity within the penalty area, The IFAB agreed that the punishment is too harsh and that a solution must be found. The proposal put forward by UEFA, including a provision that detailed specific instances where a referee should issue a caution instead of a red card, was rejected. After much debate, The IFAB agreed in principle that one element of the triple punishment may be removed and that this element should be the automatic one-match suspension that is currently defined in the FIFA Disciplinary Code.

(Photo: Rio 2016/Getty Images)

Usain Bolt, Serena Williams and Bradley Wiggins among the big names looking for a big performance in their last Games

 

The Olympic Games are always packed with emotional stories and for those athletes saying goodbye to the famous rings, the sentiment is even stronger. The Rio 2016 Games will see a host of great performers striving to ensure they shine during their last appearance on the Olympic stage.

We’ve listed 10 of the athletes for whom Rio 2016 is likely to be their final Olympic Games. The stage is set… and with ticket sales starting in March this year, click here to ensure you don’t miss out.

Ghana's CAF Confederation Cup campaigners, Accra Hearts of Oak will trek to Benin as guest of AS Police in their return fixture with the intention to attack.
   

Despite winning the first leg in Accra a fortnight ago by a lone goal, the Phobians plan to finish off the business away from home when both teams clash at the weekend.
       

Hearts of Oak coach, Herbert Addo has told Cafonline.com that his charges plan to mount an all attacking plan against AS Police as the former champions seek passage to the next stage of the competition.

FIVB President Dr Ary S. Graça F° at the launch of the new Major Series in Zurich

Zurich, Switzerland, February 26, 2015 – The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) today announced a historic new partnership agreement with the Beach Major Company - a joint venture between Hannes Jagerhofer (Acts) and Red Bull - demonstrating FIVB President Dr Ary S. Graça F°’s commitment to sport innovation as he looks to secure volleyball’s position as the most engaging sport entertainment in the world. 

 

This ground breaking partnership will ensure that beach volleyball will set the benchmark as one of the world’s most dynamic forms of sport entertainment, with Red Bull bringing its full marketing, event management and media competence to the realisation of three Major Series events and the Swatch Beach Volleyball Season Final as part of the FIVB World Tour. 

Plans to significantly increase the number of Major Series events are already in place as Red Bull and Hannes Jagerhofer have committed to long term backing of this Olympic International Sports Federation.

Latvia's Aleksandrs Samoilovs, left, and Janis Smedins are two-time defending FIVB Beach Volleyball World Rankings champions as nearly 2,000 athletes from around the globe are preparing for April's start of the 2015 FIVB World Tour.

Lausanne, Switzerland, February 20, 2015 – With eyes, training, goals and inspirations clearly focused on the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil, athletes from around the world who are part of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) are two months out from the start of the $9.2 million 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. 

Launching the season for the third consecutive year with the $150,000 FIVB Fuzhou Open in China, the 2015 season will also start the Olympic qualification process. The FIVB Fuzhou Open will begin the FIVB World Tour on April 21-26 and the entire 2015 FIVB beach volleyball calendar will conclude in mid-December.

David Ferrer beat Italy’s Fabio Fognini to claim the Rio Open title (Photo: Getty Images/Matthew Stockman)

 

The Spaniard becomes most the successful player in Latin America and now hopes to win a first Olympic medal

By winning the Rio Open on Sunday (22 February), David Ferrer became the most successful tennis player in tournaments staged in Latin America. It could be a good sign for the Spaniard, who is now hoping to return to the city for the 2016 Olympic Games where he will try to win a first medal at the third attempt.

“I hope to be here in Rio for the Olympic Games, it’s one of my goals,” said Ferrer, who competed at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games. “I have a lot of motivation to be here, as it could be my last chance to play at an Olympic Games. It’s important to me so I will do my best to be here, but in Spain we have a lot of good tennis players and I have to play very well to get here.”  

Former winners, Accra Hearts of Oak will be on the road to Benin as guests of AS Police in the return fixture in the preliminary round of the 2015 CAF Confederation Cup at the weekend aiming to advance to the next stage of the competition.

       

Holding out a lone victory advantage from the first leg in Accra a fortnight ago courtesy Salasi Adjei, the Phobians look set to welcome back in-form striker Gilbert Fiamenyo who was sidelined because of ill health and will hope to maximize the opportunity to feature in continental club competition for the first time in as many years with progress.

      

While Hearts of Oak will are experiencing a turbulent campaign in the Ghana Premier League, which has seen them plunged into the relegation zone, their opponents are enjoying good fortunes in Benin, where they are leaders in their domestic league after six e matches.

Nawal El Moutawakel spoke of progress at the Barra and Deodoro Olympic Parks (Photo: Rio 2016/Alex Ferro)

The International Olympic Committee has praised the “solid progress” being made in preparations for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as its Coordination Commission (CoCom) finished its latest visit to the city. After three days of meetings with Games organisers and visits to venue sites, the IOC highlighted advances in venue construction, engagement initiatives – such as ticketing, volunteering and the torch relay – and stressed the importance of the 21 test events that would be staged in Rio this year.

An IOC statement at the end of the visit on Wednesday (25 February) reported “solid progress” while CoCom Chair Nawal El Moutawakel said: “We were pleased to be able to show (IOC) President Thomas Bach that good progress has been made on the Rio 2016 Games. The advancements made on both the Barra and Deodoro Olympic Parks were very encouraging, with both areas on track to leave fantastic legacies to the people of Rio and the athletes of Brazil.

Thomas Bach met with about 120 university students from Rio de Janeiro (Photo: Rio 2016/Alex Ferro)

 

Thomas Bach also stresses commitment to promoting equality through sport and staging Games open to all Brazilians

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach highlighted the legacy that will be left by the Rio 2016 Games during a discussion with university students in the city on Wednesday (25 February). During an event that lasted nearly two hours at the Rio 2016 Organising Committee headquarters, Bach also stressed that the Games would be open to all Brazilians and reaffirmed the IOC’s commitment to promoting equality.

“We do not want to leave on the Monday after the Games and say ‘bye-bye, it was a nice party’. We want to go home knowing that the Games have given a lot to Brazil and will continue to give a lot. This is what we are working for,” Bach told about 120 students who had been invited to the participate in the event.

Nairobi, Kenya, February 26: The Kenya High Court has thrown out Kenya Premier League   (KPL) Ltd request to vacate an injunction granted to Federation Kenya Football (FKF) restraining it from running and managing parallel premier league for 14 days from.

KPL attorney, Ben Akech asked the court to vacate an injunction which FKF obtained and came into effect from 20th February, arguing that sustaining it would inflict an irreparable harm to players, coaches and soccer fans.

“Unless the orders granted are set aside, more than 500 football players, coaches and thousand of football fans following the premier league irreparable harm and damage would be occasioned on them,” Akech argued.

He further argued that the order the FA obtained was granted on the basis of material non- disclosure and misrepresentation, saying the FA did not disclose to court regulation 68 of the FIFA statute which outlaws its members to take soccer related disputes to court of laws.

Mali 2-1 Guinea
Stade Seyni Kountche

 

Mali beat Guinea 2-1 to complete the equation for the final match of the 2015 CAF U17 championship. The Malian Eaglets will now face South Africa's Amajimbos on Sunday at the Stade Seni Kountche in Niamey to determine the junior titleholders of African football.

 

Sekou Koita put the Malians ahead on 24minutes when he drove home a beautiful tap-in inside the box, wrong-footing Guinean goalkeeper Moussa Camara. Aboubacar Traore levelled matters in the 50th when he powered his header past goalkeeper Alou Traore.

SLFA members & club officials

 

Members of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) through their chairman, Alhaji Unisa Alim ‘Awoko’ Sesay has reacted to the Football Association’s (FA) call to regularise their status or risk missing out on the planned April 17-19 2015 extra-ordinary congress.

 

February 10th letters signed by the SLFA scribe ordered the FA members to fulfill 10 conditions which will enable them to participate in the April congress which is scheduled for Makeni.

 

Amongst the conditions cited, were for members to fulfill the October 2010 signed ‘Freetown Declaration’ which is popularly know as the ‘ Barmoi Declaration’- which stated that “All Premier League Clubs must contract their players/employees properly by December 2010. Contracts must include limited insurance coverage for various categories of staff… and all Premier League Clubs should have requisite administrative personnel, by the same time.” 

Two pilots, one plane, no fuel -  ONE MISSION. SOLAR IMPULSE. 

 A solar powered airplane with a wingspan larger than a Boeing 747 but weighing no more than a car will take off on March 3 from Abu Dhabi on a journey around the world and into the hearts of millions of people. The pilots hope to see greater use of the very same clean technologies that will be used on this history-making voyage.

Swiss adventurers Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg will take turns piloting the single-seat, 2,300-kilogram Solar Impulse 2 airplane on its pioneering flight around the globe on a voyage that will last about five months and include some 500 hours of flying. Made from of a lightweight carbon fiber frame, their Solar Impulse 2 aircraft will carry zero fuel and produce zero carbon emissions on its journey. The airplain will be powered entirely from the 17,000 solar cells embedded in its wings spanning 72 meters. It will be the first solar-powered airplane that can fly through the night - thanks to the energy stored during the daylight hours in its state-of-the-art lithium batteries.  

David Boon of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees(in Photo)

 

Scotland has been fined for maintaining a slow over-rate during its Pool A match against Afghanistan in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 at Dunedin on Thursday. 

David Boon of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees imposed the fine after Preston Mommsen’s side was ruled to be one over short of its target when time allowances were taken into consideration.

 

In accordance with Article 2.5.1 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to minor over-rate offences, players are fined 10 per cent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time, with the captain fined double that amount.