30 August 2014 - Preparations for the African Women’s Championship (AWC) are well on track for the South African women’s national team, Sasol Banyana Banyana.

Vera Pauw’s charges are set to continue with the hard work as they work towards their ultimate objective of finishing first at the Championships when they host Tanzania at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Sunday, 31 August at 18h00.

Banyana Banyana will have just over a month left after Sunday’s match against Tanzania to prepare for the biggest women’s football tournament on African soil, which will be hosted in Namibia from 11-25 October.

Pauw is confident that the team will perform well at the tournament, though it will not be easy as Sasol Banyana Banyana are drawn in the group of death against, nemesis Ghana, Cameroon and Algeria.

“Our objective of finishing in the top 3 at the tournament is very much possible, although it is not going to be easy. The friendly matches are good preparation for us, we are not focusing much on how Tanzania plays as we don’t know much about them, but on continuing with making sure that we are ready come October,” Pauw said.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (FIBA 3x3 World Tour) - Team Trbovlje defeated Kranj in a thrilling 17-16 overtime win in Saturday’s all-Slovenian final of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Lausanne Masters, which was held in the heart of the Olympic capital.

Former number one 3x3 player in the world Simon Finzgar was unstoppable in the deciding game, scoring 10 points, including a game-winning two-pointer off the screen in overtime.

The event’s top scorer (36 points overall) Jure Erzen had 7 while sharpshooter Dario Krejic added 6 points in a losing effort for Kranj, who had won the Lausanne Masters in 2013.

The two teams had met several times this season, including in the final of the 3x3 Slovenian Championship on 19 July and in the pool stage of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Lausanne Masters on Friday (29 August). Both times Kranj had won the game.

West Ham have announced the signing of Barcelona midfielder Alex Song on a season-long loan. The 26-year-old Cameroon international struggled to hold down a regular place at the Nou Camp following a move from Arsenal in 2012 and returns to the English Premier League with the Hammers - who paraded their new addition to fans ahead of the clash with Southampton.

Clubs throughout Europe were put on alert when it emerged Song would be allowed to leave Barcelona - with West Ham having won the race to take him to Upton Park on a temporary basis.

Song revealed it was a conversation with Hammers boss Sam Allardyce that led to his decision to move to east London and he is targeting European qualification.

"When I spoke to the manager, he gave me very good advice," he told West Ham's official website. "I had a very good chat with him and that's why I am coming here. We have to do better than last season. I think the club has very good ambition and I hope we can maybe catch the European positions, because that would be very good for the club.

That's why I chose to come here. I always said that if I was to leave (Barcelona) one day I would return to the Premier League.

Alex Song, West Ham United midfielder

The Sierra Leone national team, Leone Stars will play their 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier home match against the Democratic Republic of Congo in Lubumbashi, Congo.

The team is expected to face the Elephant of Ivory Coast in Abidjan on September 6 before facing the Congolese in Lubumbashi four days later.

The match which was scheduled to take place in Freetown, Sierra Leone had to be moved due to the recent Ebola Outbreak in the country.

The Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) General Secretary Chris Kamara told journalist in a Press Conference that they were happy about  the decision and support rendered to the Association by the DR Congo football federation.

30 August 2014 – Outgoing Amajita coach Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba has vowed to make the country proud when the national U20 team takes on Cameroon in the second leg of the CAF African Youth qualifying match at Old Peter Mokaba Stadium on Sunday, 31 August 2014.

The winner in Sunday’s game qualifies for the CAF African Youth Championships scheduled for Senegal next year.

“This is a big match but having come so close, we cannot afford to let it slip away. I know Cameroon has some really good players but we are fully prepared to take matters into our own hands,” said Mashaba, who will leave the Amajita post to focus on Bafana Bafana after Sunday’s encounter.

The squad had light training at the match venue on Saturday morning where the emphasis was on set pieces, penalties among other tactics. They boys will relax for the remainder of the day and will have a late meeting in which the starting line-up will be announced.

Sierra Leone striker, Kei Kamara has issued an apology to Middlesbrough fans for any misunderstandings that had occurred during his time at the club.

  

The striker’s apology came just after he departed the Riverside club via mutual consent on Thursday which ended what has been a turbulent period for him in the North-East.

The former Norwich forward tweeted “Thank you MFC & SLFA [Sierra Leon Football Association] for doing NOTHING” when he got malaria whilst on holiday and that aggravated fans.

However, the 29-year-old has apologized for his actions now and says that his experience at ‘Boro was enjoyable.

Friskaviljor striker, Albert Kargbo has been called-up by the Sierra Leone national team Head Coach, Jonathan Mckinstry as a replacement for injured Transmere Rover winger, Abdulai Bell-Baggie.

The 20-year-old striker received his second call up to the 20-man squad mainly made up entirely of overseas-based players.


Coach Jonathan Mckinstry who is currently in the UK and his players will travel directly from their destinations to Abidjan as Leone Stars will face the Elephants of Ivory Coast on September 6th before taking on DR Congo four days later.

Sierra Leone striker, Ibrahim Teteh Bangura has departed Turkish Premier league side, Bursaspor by mutual consent ending his three years spell with the club.

The striker who joined the Turkish club during the 2011/12 league season for a club record fee of 2.6 million Euros from Swedish side AIK Solna is said to be recovering from knee surgery. 

 The club announced on its website that both parties had mutually agreed on the termination of the contract and according to the player agent, Chernor Musa Jalloh it was a win win situation for both the club and the player.

Jalloh said: “The Turkish club is currently facing some financial difficulties and can no longer meet the cost for the player. The player on the other hand is still trying to recover from knee surgery and wants to focus on his rehabilitation; It is a good decision for both parties”.

Teteh has lots of options for now and as a free player he can join any team even when the transfer window is closed but that is not his target at this time as he would rather focus on recovering to gain full fitness again.”

Lusaka, Zambia, August 28:  Zambia under-20 Coach, Hector Chilombo has declared that his team is gunning for a World Cup finals slot as it hosts rivals Malawi at Nkoloma Stadium in Lusaka in the return leg of Africa Youth Championship.

Zambia shocked Malawi 2-1 at its own backyard in Blantyre when the two sides clashed in the first leg encounter last round qualifiers for Senegal 2015 a fortnight ago.

Chilombo declared early this week in a newspaper interview   that his charges are ready and poised for a final kill and will not give their sworn rivals a room to manoeuvre.

“We are ready and want to qualify and we are one step to Senegal after the boys got that vital win in Malawi,” declared Chilombo.

However, he said this declaration does not imply that his team has already crossed the bridge following their victory in Malawi but will still strive to get a result during the Saturday encounter.

He said he will do this with his sights set towards fulfilling his burning wish to get a World Cup finals slot. 

“We are not looking at the 2-1 lead we are carrying but focussed on winning the match to get us the qualification.

 My target is going beyond the Africa Youth Championship as I want to take my boys to the World Cup finals,” he explained.

28 August 2014 - South African National Under-20 captain Ayabulela Magqwaka says Amajita will go for an all-out attack in their 2015 African Youth Championships (AYC) third round second leg qualifier against Cameroon scheduled for Sunday at the old Peter Mokaba Stadium. Kick-off is at 15:00.

 

Amajita go into this match with a slight psychological advantage following their hard-fought 1-1 draw in the first leg. Eteme Adamou put the hosts ahead in the second half while Siyanda Ngubo equalised for the South Africans in the 62nd minute.

 

The focus for Amajita is now firmly on the second leg as they hope to capitalise on that important away goal. The South Africans looked sharp and focused as they went through their fifth training session at the Ranch Resort in Polokwane on Thursday morning.

28 August 2014 – The South African Women’s National team, Sasol Banyana Banyana returned from Zambia on Monday, after beating She-polopolo 4-0 in an international friendly match played at Nkoloma stadium and went straight into camp.

The Sasol sponsored women’s national team is currently in Polokwane with coach Vera Pauw preparing for yet another friendly match against Tanzania. This will see Sasol Banyana Banyana complete what has been a successful women’s month, having played Namibia and Zambia respectively as part of the women’s month celebrations.

The match will be played at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium this Sunday, 31 August. Kick-off is at 18h00.

Coach Pauw said Banyana Banyana’s preparations for the biggest women’s football tournament have been going according to plan and with just over a month left before the team travels to Namibia, it is all systems go.

BILBAO/GRAN CANARIA/GRANADA/SEVILLA/BARCELONA/MADRID (FIBA Basketball World Cup) - The finalised rosters of the 24 participating teams at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup have been verified and confirmed.

All squads have been trimmed to 12 players, as the action tips off on Saturday 30 August in Bilbao, Granada, Gran Canaria and Sevilla for the Group Phase (30 August-4 September).

Click on the name of the team(s) below to see the full roster.
Group A (Granada): Brazil; Egypt; France; Iran; Serbia; Spain
Group B (Sevilla): Argentina; Croatia; Greece; Philippines; Puerto Rico; Senegal
Group C (Bilbao): Dominican Republic; Finland; New Zealand; Turkey; Ukraine; USA
Group D (Gran Canaria): Angola; Australia; Korea; Lithuania; Mexico; Slovenia

NEW YORK (August 28, 2014) – The MLS Disciplinary Committee has suspended Portland Timbers defender Norberto Paparatto one game and fined him an undisclosed amount for serious foul play which endangered the safety of an opponent in the 39th minutes of match on August 24 against Seattle Sounders FC (VIDEO).

SEVILLA - Delegates from the 116 national federations in attendance at the FIBA World Congress on Thursday elected 12 of the potential 29 members that will make up the Central Board for the 2014-2019 term of office.

Horacio Muratore, who succeeds Yvan Mainini in becoming the new President of FIBA, was elected by acclamation.

FIFA has launched a new research area, entitled "Mental Health and Sport", to help lift the taboo on issues surrounding mental health in elite athletes and to build a foundation for the development of treatment and information materials for team physicians, coaches and players.

Despite some prominent cases, mental health problems are rarely reported in football and other sports. Any scientific data on the mental health of athletes is rare, and almost no scientific study has yet investigated the mental health among football players. To respond to this gap of knowledge, FIFA has established the new research area, so that those in the game feel more comfortable coming forwards to talk about issues and in order to ease access to treatment.

Three-time FIFA World Player of the Year Birgit Prinz, who graduated in psychology and is now working as a sport psychologist for a  Bundesliga team, is the lead researcher on FIFA's new project and she is joined by former Karlsruher and Eintracht Frankfurt forward Edgar Schmitt, who is an ambassador for the project.

MIES, Switzerland (2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup) - FIBA, the International Basketball Federation, and social media giant Twitter are teaming up on a large-scale and cutting-edge collaboration starting at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup (30 August-14 September).

For the first time ever, fans will get live scores from every game of FIBA’s flagship event on Twitter. All they have to do is tweet ‘@FIBA scores’ to find out in real time how their favourite team is performing.

It seems as though Samuel Eto’o is getting better with age, just like fine wine! This is after the seemingly ageless forward bounced back with a bang signing a two year contract in the Barclays Premiership after Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho surely thought he had seen the last of him.

The veteran Cameroonian international, who had a horrendous 2014 FIFA World Cup campaign in Brazil that was slightly blighted with injury, recently joined ambitious Merseyside outfit Everton on a free transfer.

The 33 year old is expected to form a lethal strike force with Romelu Lukaku as Roberto Martinez’s side fancies their chances this season among the big boys.

Eto’o is a proven goal poacher who has won the UEFA Champions League an African record three times and scored 108 goals in 145 games for Barcelona in La Liga, finishing as their top scorer in five different seasons including an impressive 36 goals in his final year under Pep Guardiola.

29 August 2014 - South African Football Association (SAFA) President Dr Danny Jordaan will serve on a working group that will re-negotiate the current contract between Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the company that holds the broadcast rights Sport 5.

The current contract that started from 2008 is due to expire in 2016 and CAF has set in motion the process of re-negotiating the deal. The next cycle will run from 2017 to 2024.

Dr Jordaan, who also serves as special advisor to CAF President Issa Hayatou, was selected to serve on a seven-man group which also comprise fellow South African and former SAFA CEO Raymond Hack, the Chairman of the CAF Disciplinary Board.

 

Other members of the group are Suketu Patel (CAF 1st vice-president and chairman of the finance committee), Leodegar Tenga (CAF Chairman of the Marketing Committee), Hani Abo Rida (FIFA Executive Committee member and CAF marketing consultant), Hicham El Amrani (CAF Secretary General) and Amr Shaheen (CAF Marketing & TV Division Director).

Cyclist on Ironage Colner team, from Sorocaba, takes the lead in the last few meters and excites crowd in Três Rios this Thursday, the 28th

It was under rain, fog and mountain climbing that the third stage of Tour do Rio’s fifth edition took place this Thursday, the 28th. During the 173.7 km (107.9 m) stretch between Volta Redonda and Três Rios, cyclists faced tight curves while maintaining an average speed of 42 km per hour. The fastest of the stage was Argentinean Cristian Clavero (Ironage Colner), who took off in a strong sprint during the final two kilometers and passed his adversaries, finishing at 4h03min40s. In second place was Brazilian Rafael Andriato (Neri Sottoli / Yellow Fluo Pro), followed by his teammate Monsalve Yonathan.

Fifth place in the third stage and champion of the Tour do Rio last year, the Spaniard (Oscar Sevilla EPM UNE) remains the leader of the competition’s individual category (yellow jersey), at 12h02min51s. In second place is his countryman Gustavo Veloso (OFM Quinta da Lixa), just five seconds behind overall. Rafael Andriato is still in third place overall, at 1min14s behind.

The fourth of six stages will start this Friday, the 29th, at Ave. Prefeito Alberto da Silva Lavinas, S/Nº, downtown Três Rios, at noon. The final stage will wrap up this Sunday, the 31st, at Quinta da Boa Vista, in Rio de Janeiro, and is estimated to arrive at 11 am.

Monaco - The Local Organising Committee of the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 have published the 1st Official Bulletin concerning next year’s Championships.

The IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 will be hosted in the National Stadium of the Chinese capital from the 22 to 30 August 2015.

“The IAAF World Championships will be the biggest sporting event on the planet in 2015,” commented IAAF President Lamine Diack. “2000 athletes from over 200 nations will assemble in Beijing in a year’s time for nine days of competition which will be broadcast to an accumulated audience of 6 billion worldwide.”

Holders Egypt likewise big guns, Ghana and Cameroon face uphill tasks as the qualifiers for the 19th Orange CAF U-20 Championship climaxes this weekend.

The remaining six teams to join hosts Senegal and Nigeria, who qualified Lesotho were declared losers for failing to show up for the first leg will be decided after the second leg matches of the final round.

Elimination stares in the face of the Young Pharaohs of Egypt, who must overturn a 2-0 deficit against Congo to realize their dream of making a successful defence of the title whilst Ghana’s Black Satellites and ‘Les Lionceaux’ of Cameroon will be engaged in dicey away trips against Gabon and South Africa respectively.

The Congolese, winners in 2007, are seeking to reach the finals of the biennial championship for the first time in seven years, travel for the second leg on Sunday in Alexandria with a 2-0 advantage.

Proteas captain AB De Villiers and Faf Du Plessis struck a 206 run third wicket partnership that all but saw South Africa claiming a nerve wrecking 7 wicket victory over number one ranked Australia at the ongoing one day triangular test series in Harare, Zimbabwe yesterday.

Having won the toss and electing to field, South Africa nearly rued that decision after the pitch turned heavily in their disadvantage.

Entering this match smart from a crushing 198 runs victory, Australia were the first to bat and thought they had wrapped up the win after posting 327 but De Villiers had other plans as he posted 136 runs. Du Plessis played a controlled innings for his 106 runs before he was undone by a Mitchell Starc bouncer.

JP Duminy scored a quick fire 28 as he helped De Villiers to close the match. De Villiers overcame fatigue and severe cramp in his left leg going for big boundaries. This was after South Africa’s task seemed formidable when they lost openers Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock with just 54 runs on the board.

CAF has not changed or made amendments to the announced schedule of fixtures for match days one and two of the final group phase of qualifying for the Orange Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2015.

Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia remain the only countries required to relocate their fixtures to neutral territories as a result of the situation of the Ebola virus as stated in our circular to member countries on 12th August, 2014.

Fixtures for CAF U-20 and U-17 Championships qualifiers as well as inter-club competitions fixtures in the Orange CAF Champions League and Orange Confederations Cup all remain as scheduled and unchanged.

AUGUST 27, 2014 - On behalf of the Houston Marathon Foundation (HMF), the Houston Marathon Committee (HMC) announced today that Executive Director Wade Morehead will also assume the duties of Executive Director for the Foundation. In addition to this announcement, the HMF is getting a new look by changing its logo to include the iconic star footprint associated with the Houston Marathon Committee since its inception.

 

"Both the HMC and HMF Board of Directors have been extremely pleased and impressed with Wade's leadership and the direction of the Houston Marathon Committee since his arrival in 2010," stated Houston Marathon Foundation President Maddie Bunch.  "We are extremely pleased that Wade will take on this additional role because the collaboration between both organizations can be mutually beneficial and the new logo was created to make it visibly clear that the HMF is the philanthropic arm of the Committee."

 

The mission of the Houston Marathon Foundation is to support the advancement of running as an element of a balanced and healthy lifestyle in the Houston community and nationally. In 2013, the HMF educated and helped train more than 500+ Houston area middle and high school students, teaching running and exercise fundamentals while also providing mentorship. The Foundation was also one of the top funding partners for the Memorial Park stretching area rebuild.

Media accreditation for the Final Tournament of the TN Mobile 9TH African Women’s Championship – Namibia 2014 opens from Friday, 1 August 2014 to Friday, 5 September 2014.

CAF is pleased to announce that the media accreditation process for media representatives wishing to cover the Final Tournament of the 9TH African Women’s Championship – Namibia 2014 will open from Friday, 1 August 2014 to Friday, 5 September 2014.

The Final Tournament will take place from 11 – 25 October 2014.

Media interested in attending the Final Tournament must apply for accreditation on the CAF

Media Channel via www.cafonline.com.