Attendees of the #EqualGame conference convened in London to discuss recent cases of discrimination and racial abuse in football, and ways to tackle the issue to move towards fair play.
SchweryCade was privileged to be invited to attend the #EqualGame conference last week in London, organised jointly by UEFA, the English Football Association and the Fare network.
Also in attendance were general secretaries and presidents from a large majority of UEFA member associations, NGOs and experts – many of them part of the Fare network – a host of current and former players, coaches, referees and others from the Game, as well as journalists and reporters. Among these were Greg Clarke (English FA Chairman) and Aleksander Čeferin (UEFA President), both of whom gave strong keynote speeches.

Premier League soccer stars Raheem Sterling and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have invested more than UK£1 million (US$1.3 million) each in STATSports, a wearable teach and performance analysis company.

The England internationals have also joined STATSports as global ambassadors.
The company is best known for its Viper Pod GPS technology suite that tracks and transmits data on the user’s heart rate, distance covered, speed and fatigue for analysis by sports scientists and fitness staff to help improve performance.
Since being founded in 2008, STATSports has been used extensively in soccer – providing monitoring systems to European soccer giants such as Manchester United, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain – but also in football, basketball and rugby.

The need for established methods to measure the impact of sport on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and validating sport as an enabler of social and economic development is overdue. But progress is being made, and the data gap is closing.
Sport is widely cited as a crosscutting tool to enable the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Many actors in sport for development and peace (SDP) have now aligned their work to certain SDGs, while global policy makers, including the Commonwealth Secretariat and UNESCO, have identified specific SDGs, targets and indicators that sport policies can contribute to.

One week at the 2019 African Youth, Junior and Cadet Championships in Accra, Celia Baah-Danso was on duty in the role of official, she was an umpire.
The following week she is a player and in action at the Liebherr 2019 World Championships in Budapest; furthermore, on the morning of Sunday 21st April, she made a most successful start.
Partnering colleague Derek Abrefa, the duo recorded an opening round win in opposition to the Mauritius combination of Allan Arnachellum and Caroline Ramsawny (11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 13-11).
“I cannot believe I am competing in my first World Championships. I have played at the African Championships and Commonwealth Games but Budapest has also shown that this is a unique tournament every player must not miss. Apart from competing against the best in the world, we were fortunate to play our first international tournament as mixed doubles partners on centre court where the whole world watched us. It is a table where only best play on but I have been opportune to play on it in the tournament.” Celia Baah-Danso

The Mamedia annual health walk in Kumasi recaeived its highest patronage on Holy Saturday as hundreds thronged the Baba Yara Stadium to walk and donate blood.
Dominated by members of the northern zone of the National Supporters Union of Ghana the group and the Daddy Lumba Fans Club based in the Ashanti regional capital including weekend revellers walked from the stadium to Adum and back to the stadium.
They were later joined by members of the Referees Association of Ghana (RAG) and other volunteer groups to donate pints of blood to stock the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) Blood Bank.
It was also an occasion of food, drinks and entertainment as people from all walk of life joined in the frail.

Joseph “King Kong” Agbeko (35-5, 26KOs), retained his World Boxing Organisation (WBO), Africa Bantamweight title, after beating Shabani Hashimu Zuberi of Tanzania by unanimous decision at the Aborigines Beach Resort at Keta in the Volta Region.
The judges scored the bout 120-107, 120-108 and 120-107, all in favour of the two-time former International Boxing Federation (IBF) world titleholder.
Agbeko outclassed Zuberi, but the "stubborn" Tanzanian took him to the 12 rounds with no signs of tiredness.

Star Musician, Samini has agreed to play with his band at the 44th MTN/SWAG Awards Night fixed for the Accra International Conference Center on May 11, 2019.
According to Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) President Kwabena Yeboah, the deal with Samini is “SEALED & LOCKED!!! Multiple award-winning dance hall artist @samini_dagaati to thrill over 800 guests @ the 44th @MTNGhana-SWAG Awards on May 11 @ the AICC”. Latest news from SWAG said preparations are on course to produce another great event.
Headline sponsor MTN Ghana have already presented funds in 50,000ghc cash and 10,000 ghc worth of products.
This year’s awards is being supported by other companies like Goil Ghana, CDH Holding, Star Times and Activa Insurance.
Three top sports personalities are contesting for the Flagship Best Sports Personality of the Year.

NEW YORK (April 23, 2019) – Major League Soccer today announced the appointment of Anastasia Danias Schmidt, a highly-respected executive at the NFL for the last two decades, as the league’s Executive Vice President (EVP) and General Counsel. Bill Ordower, the General Counsel who has been with MLS since 1997, is joining the commercial side of the organization in the newly-created position of EVP, MLS Business Ventures.
 
Schmidt joined the NFL in 2000 and is Deputy General Counsel, Litigation and Legal Affairs for the league, overseeing all the commercial, intellectual property, mass tort, labor and employment, insurance, antitrust, and class action litigation involving the NFL and its affiliated companies. During her time at the league, she provided counsel to NFL owners, the Commissioner’s office, and the senior management team on every aspect of the league’s business. Schmidt has also held a dozen officer positions at league-affiliated companies, including NFL Enterprises, NFL Ventures, NFL Properties and NFL International.

Oman moved to the brink of securing ODI status and a spot in ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 with a convincing win over Hong Kong.
 
Oman are the only side with three victories from three games in the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 in Windhoek after a destructive performance with the ball and a well-timed run chase earned a seven-wicket triumph to keep them top of the table.
 
With the top four teams at the end of the week in Namibia earning ODI status and more competitive cricket in the newly-formed Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2, only an unlikely set of results over the final two rounds of group matches can deny the Omanis.
 
USA and Namibia are also in good shape to secure a top-four spot after picking up their second victories on the third day of action – the Americans easing to a ten-wicket win over Papua New Guinea and the hosts beating Canada by 98 runs.

The Africa Energy Forum (10-14 June, Lisbon, Portugal) has teamed with KOHLER, principal partner of Manchester United, and Clarke Energy, a KOHLER company, to raise £50,000 for victims of Cyclone Idai, one of the worst storms on record to ever hit the African continent

LONDON, United Kingdom, April 23, 2019/ -- The ‘Africa Challenge Cup’ football tournament will be a major networking event for all participants of the Africa Energy Forum (aef) taking place on 10th June at the Os Belenenses, Estádio do Restelo in Lisbon, Portugal, to raise funds for victims.

EnergyNet (www.EnergyNet.com) [organisers of aef] has already donated £20,000 to disaster relief efforts in Zimbabwe through the provision of 1,350 WakaWaka Solar Lanterns (Waka-Waka.com) and Power+ Solar Charging Power Packs to support those completely shut off from energy, who live in darkness once the sun goes down as a result of the cyclone.

The storm was the deadliest and costliest in the South-West Indian Ocean in more than 100 years with over 1,000 people killed and over one billion dollars’ of damage to hospitals, farming, schools, housing and infrastructure. One month on and the impact of the cyclone is raising fears that a massive cholera epidemic could break out, with more than 4,000 registered cases and 7 fatalities already.

National Democracy Congress (NDC) Parliamentary aspirant for Dome Kwabenya Constituency, Hon. Israel Kweku Mensah Nornyibey has come up with a ‘Change Strategy’ for his party to reclaim power in 2020.
On Easter Sunday, he hosted senior citizens in the constituency to a Get Together dubbed ‘ Time With The Legends’ and informed them that the Change Center has been opened and he is the ‘Game Changer’ with new ideas and strategies to win power from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He welcomed the over 900 NDC faithfuls to the Change Center, 25 Pawpaw Street and the first ever celebration of NDC Legends and family reunion in Dome Kwabenya.
He said as part of his efforts to recognize the works of the living legends in the constituency and in the spirit of Easter of sharing and catering he organisd the event.
He stressed that the programme is to wind down and share ideas and advices to revive some holistic moments in history.
“I believe firmly that the Legends who have worked hard for the party have a lot of experience and wisdom to share and we intend to tap into them to equip and rejuvenate the party for victory in Election 2020”

Kwaobaah FC defeated Young Elephant 4-1 on penalties to be lift the glittering trophy of the 2019 Adom Easter Gala staged in Adeiso on Monday after drawing 1-1 after regulation time.
Dubbed “Adom Easter Gala” is an inter-community soccer competition aimed at attracting football clubs within the Adeiso and it’s environs to display their supremacy, compete for laurels and to promote peace & unity among the youth.
The competition which has been an annual event was held at Adeiso in the Eastern region saw over eight teams progressing from the knockout phase to converge at the constituency capital of Upper West Akyem for the grand ceremony.

Additional tickets for all teams and all venues at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 will be made available for general sale on the Official CWC19 Ticketing Website on 25 April at 10am BST.


Interest in tickets for the tournament has been unprecedented with over 3m ticket applications for approximately 800,000 tickets so far, from 148 countries across six continents. 
 
The tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis, so fans that missed out will have the chance to secure tickets immediately. There is limited ticket availability for matches across all competing teams and at least one match at all ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup venues.
 
Restricted view tickets will also be available for purchase at 20% discounted price for adults and further discounts for Under 16s across each stage of the tournament.

t’s an understatement to say that Toronto FC midfielder Alejandro Pozuelo is breaking into MLS. The Spanish international – with four goals and five assists in his first four games – has immediately made his impact known, creating highlight-worthy finishes for both himself and for U.S. Men’s National Team forward Jozy Altidore.
 
The new Toronto tandem accounts for eight of the club’s 18 goals, including Pozuelo feeding four Altidore finishes in three consecutive MLS games, and the midfielder shining in his own right with a pair of two goal outings. Of Pozuelo’s five total assists, only was has gone to a player other than Altidore. ​

MIES (SWITZERLAND) / CHICAGO (USA)  – Wilson Sporting Goods Co., and FIBA, the International Basketball Federation, announced today that they have extended their partnership for 3x3 basketball through 2028. Under the agreement, Wilson will provide the Official Game Ball for all FIBA 3x3 Official Competitions. The contract extends over the period of three Olympic Games. Wilson and FIBA entered into a strategic partnership for 3x3 in 2015.

“The Wilson Official FIBA 3x3 Game Ball has been an integral part of the tremendous growth of 3x3 basketball on the international stage and we are proud to continue our partnership in view of 3x3 entering the Summer Olympics as an official discipline for the first time in 2020 and beyond,” said FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis.

The Confédération Africaine de Football club Licensing Regional Workshop has kicked off in Kampala, Uganda on Monday, 22 April 2019, to provide Member Associations (MA) with an update on the club licensing system at the continental level.
 
Divided into two groups, the first workshop will be held on 22-23 April 2019 and 25-26 April 2019, with each session having 13 MA’s each represented by two delegates in attendance.
 
The objectives of the workshops include receive a full update on the status of the club licensing system at National level and assist the MAs with near future planning, in order to have clubs ready before the deadline for engagement in the next CAF Inter Club competitions.
 
CAF Executive Member and Federation of Uganda Football Association President, Moses Magogo, in his opening remarks said: “We are very happy to host such a conference as Uganda and we thank CAF for honouring us the third time to host such events, from Beach Soccer, Young Referee Workshop and now Club Licensing which gives us more capacity as a Federation.

The Women's Football Committee of the Libyan Football Federation organized the U-20 Women's Football League in Benghazi.

Five teams participated in the tournament, namely Shohadaa Al Salmani, Ain Shams, Al-Hassan bin Al-Haitham, Osool Al Ilm and Al Najma School.

Al Hassan bin Al Haitham were crowned champions of Benghazi after winning Osool Al Ilm 2-1 on penalties at Al Najma Sports Hall.

Head of Women's Football Committee of the Libyan Football Association, Souad Al-Shebani said organization of such tournaments will continue and they will be held in different Libyan cities. The goal is to prepare women footballers to represent Libya in the upcoming international competitions.

Hosts Eswatini and Malawi braved out a non-scoring stalemate in their Total African Nations Championship (CHAN) 2020 qualifier first round first leg played at Mavuso Sports Centre on Saturday afternoon.


This left the second leg set for Malawi on the 10th of May to settle matters on who gets the second round date against Angola who received an opening round bye together with other South Zone region heavyweights.


It was the success starved home side that carved the open the visitors’ backline but the Kostadin Papic’s charges failed to find the decisive goal that would have handed them an advantage going into the second leg in Malawi in a fortnight but still the good show on the park raised optimism.


Eswatini will have to eke out an early away goal to settle their illustrious opponents and hopefully the workhorse attacking midfielder Njabulo Ndlovu will be at equal or more best he was at Mavuso.


Malawi had opened the tie well, buoyed by a strong crowd of about 100 supporters who descended at the venue with a lot of noise.

Ghana-import Michael Sarpong was the hero with a late winner to inspire Rayon Sports to a 1-0 victory over bitterest rivals APR to narrow the gap at the top of the Azam Rwanda Premier League table.
 
APR went into Saturday’s game at Amahoro National Stadium six points clear at the top, but saw their lead reduced to three points after tasting their third defeat this term.
 
Sarpong scored from the spot in stoppage time to seal victory for Rayon after Emmanuel Imanishimwe brought down Gilbert Mugisha in the penalty area.
 
It was Sarpong’s 11th league goal for the Blues, and the Ghana-born striker trails joint leading scorers; Jules Ulimwengu (Rayon) and Djuma Nizeyimana (SC Kiyovu) by just one goal.
 
Mugisha came off the bench with seven minutes to clock, replacing Eric ‘Radu’ Iradukunda who was noticeably exhausted.

• Angola, Nigeria, Guinea and Cameroon book tickets for Brazil 2019
• Debut U-17 World Cup appearance for Angolans
• Continental champions to be decided on Wednesday

Angola are set to appear at their first ever FIFA U-17 World Cup, joining Guinea, Nigeria and Cameroon in winning a berth for Brazil 2019 at the CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations in Tanzania.
A 4-2 win over the hosts on Saturday secured Angola's semi-final place from Group A behind leaders Nigeria, who rounded off their first round with a 1-1 draw against Uganda.
Osvaldo Capemba's brace, accompanied by goals in either half from Telson Tome and David Nzanz, secured their debut berth and a trip to South America.

comprehensive 10-wicket win in their final game helped UAE seal their place at the top of the table, while Nepal, despite a win against Kuwait, had to be content with second place at the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup Asia Qualifier Division 1.KUWAIT vs NEPAL, Kinrara Oval
Nepal elected to field first, putting Kuwait’s top batsmen to the test. In-form Meet Bhavsar was the first to exit at 2.5 over for 10 runs, bowled by Rashid Khan. With the main player out, the remaining batsmen stepped up to the plate. Noman Budroo held out for 70 runs off 120, eventually run out by wicket-keeper Aasif Sheikh. Gokul Kumar also contributed a good 36 runs off 66 balls before he was bowled by Surya Tamang. Kuwait managed 157 runs in 49.4 overs.

Already being used by more than 100,000 students at public elementary schools in Tokyo

Tokyo, 22 April 2019 - The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) has introduced a new and specially formulated mathematics textbook which aims to help students enjoy the study of mathematics through interaction with Japanese athletes and sporting bodies. The book also gives students the opportunity to actively participate in educational initiatives linked to the Games. On 17 April, Tokyo 2020 hosted a special class using the new textbook in a public elementary school in Tokyo, with the participation of two medallists, Olympian Kaori Matsumoto and Paralympian Takuro Yamada.

The trio is in the country for a Union Review and other capacity building measures aimed at ensuring sustainable growth and development of the game in the Southern African Country

LUSAKA, Zambia, April 22, 2019/ -- 
World Rugby Services Manager for Africa Steph Nel is in Zambia, Mr Nel who is accompanied by World Rugby Coach Trainer Denver Wannies and Get Into Rugby Coordinator for Central and Southern Africa Johnbosco Muamba, who is also a World Rugby Referee Educator.
The trio is in the country for a Union Review and other capacity building measures aimed at ensuring sustainable growth and development of the game in the Southern African Country.
Speaking when he joined about 50 boys and girls at Lusaka Rugby Club on Sunday morning, Steph, who flew into Zambia after watching the Barthe's u20 group C games in Zimbabwe, the Rugby Services Manager, who was accompanied to the Lusaka Showgrounds by Zambia Rugby Union President Gen Clement Sinkamba, Union Head of Secretariat Noble Sinkamba, ZRU Communications Manager Tom Chaloba, Lusaka Youth Rugby Patron Mibela Chileshe and Lusaka Youth Rugby Coordinator Michelo Shelleni, expressed delight at the level of interest from the young ruggers.

​Nigeria’s Divine Oduduru was on a tear over the weekend at the Michael Johnson Invitational in Waco Texas where he set new marks for himself ,with new personal bests  times of 9.94 seconds in the 100 meters and 19.76 seconds in the 200 meters, demolishing the old Record for Nigeria of 19.84 seconds set by Francis Obikwelu in 1999 at the World Athletics Championship.

Tokyo, 22 April 2019 – The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) today welcomed Mondo S.p.A (headquarters: Alba, Piedmont, Italy) as a Tokyo 2020 Sole Supplier in the Athletic Equipment and Athletic Track category. As Sole Supplier of athletics equipment, Mondo will play a key role in delivering successful athletics track and field events--one of the highlights of both the Olympic and Paralympic Games--at the Tokyo 2020 Games.