by FSL News | 10 Apr, 2020 | African News
The ongoing measures to combat the spread of Covid-19 have resulted in little football of late and, consequently, next-to-no movement in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.
A whole raft of international fixtures, including qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup™ and other major tournaments, were postponed, while dates were redrawn for showpiece men’s events such as the Olympic Football Tournament, CONMEBOL Copa America and UEFA EURO.
Amid this upheaval, the Ranking was impacted by just four matches – all friendlies – and, as such, remains all but identical to the previous edition. The solitary change sees South Sudan move into joint-168th position with Bermuda after the latter dropped a Ranking point thanks to a 2-0 defeat in Jamaica (48th, unchanged) on 11 March.
The five other teams involved in friendly matches since the global ladder’s last update were Panama (played twice – 81st, unchanged), Uzbekistan (85th, unchanged), Belarus (87th, unchanged), Guatemala (130th, unchanged) and Nicaragua (151st, unchanged).
Further information about how the FIFA/Coca-Cola Ranking is calculated can be found by clicking HERE.
Africa’s Top 10: Senegal 20th, Tunisia 27th, Nigeria 31st, Algeria 35th, Morocco 43rd, Ghana 46th Egypt 51st, Cameroon 53, Mali 56th, and DR Congo 56th.
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 11 June 2020.
Source: Fifa.com – Connect with us @football_sierra, on Facebook/ Instagram Football Sierra Leone.
by FSL News | 30 Mar, 2020 | African News
No change to January-February 2021, Africa Cup of Nations dates, despite this week’s 48 qualifiers being indefinitely postponed.
The African football ruling body has said the tournament, to be hosted in Cameroon, will go ahead as planned despite the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.
The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations will go ahead as planned, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed.
“As of today, no competition has been cancelled and there is no plan for that,” Acting Secretary-General Abdel Bah said on Monday.
“We are working on different options to reschedule the competitions impacted.”
This week should have witnessed the third and fourth of the six rounds of qualifying required to determine which teams will contest the 2021 Nations Cup in Cameroon.
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Connect with us @football_sierra, on Facebook/ Instagram Football Sierra Leone, the writer Prince Scott @PrinceArmaniSc2.
by FSL News | 23 Mar, 2020 | African News
Two Nigerian footballers striker Ifeanyi George pictured and Emmanuel Ogbu were killed in a car crash in Nigeria.
Football Sierra Leone gathered that the accident happens on their way to Lagos from Enugu on Sunday.
The pair, who played for Nigerian league side Enugu Rangers, were involved in a crash on the Benin-Agbor road whilst travelling to Lagos on Sunday morning.
Super Eagles forward George, who won two caps for his country in 2017, was 26.
Ogbu was a member of the club’s youth team.
The car had another passenger – Eteka Gabriel, a friend of George’s – who also died.
The players were returning to Lagos from Enugu following a break in the Nigeria league due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“The management of Rangers International FC shall, in conjunction with the families of Ifeanyi George and Emmanuel Ogbu, pay befitting last respect to both players,” a club statement read.
“We mourn their sudden demise. It’s indeed shocking that we are talking of Ifeanyi and Emmanuel in the past tense.”
Connect with us @football_sierra, on Facebook/ Instagram Football Sierra Leone, the writer Prince Scott @PrinceArmaniSc2.
by FSL News | 21 Mar, 2020 | African News
Nigeria Football has been suspended for four weeks, due to the coronavirus pandemic, it has been announced.
This suspension comes after Covid-19 cases in the country increased from three to eight, Football Sierra Leone understands.
“The shutdown affects all on-field activities the various National Teams, the Nigeria Professional Football League, the other Leagues, youth football programmes and even street football,” the NFF said in a statement.
Nigeria joins several other African countries such as Ghana, South Africa, Morocco and Senegal to have called off football activities and sports competitions in general due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Connect with us @football_sierra, on Facebook/ Instagram Football Sierra Leone, the writer Prince Scott @PrinceArmaniSc2.
by FSL News | 13 Mar, 2020 | African News
The Confederation of African Football has officially suspended the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The decision to halt the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers comes after a meeting in Cairo on Friday afternoon.
Caf statement reads: “Following the growing concerns of the COVID-19 virus and the declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) describing it as a pandemic, CAF has decided to postpone the following competitions until further notice.”
– Total AFCON 2021 Qualifiers: Match Day 3 and 4 of the qualifiers scheduled for 25 – 31 March 2020;
– FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup Qualifiers: scheduled for 20 – 22 March 2020 and 27- 29 March 2020;
– Total Women’s AFCON 2020 Qualifiers: scheduled for 8-14 April 2020.
- A new schedule shall be announced in due time.
Connect with us @football_sierra, on Facebook/ Instagram Football Sierra Leone, the writer Prince Scott @PrinceArmaniSc2.
by FSL News | 12 Mar, 2020 | African News
The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has chosen to maintain the schedule of all its competitions, amidst the outbreak of coronavirus, which was labelled a pandemic on Wednesday, BBC Sport reports.
Some 48 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers are set to take place in nearly 50 countries across the continent at the end of March.
Meanwhile, the African Nations Championship (CHAN) is scheduled to take place in Cameroon between 4-25 April.
“According to (the) World Health Organisation, no African country till date has been declared high risk,” Caf said in a statement.
“Consequently, Caf has decided to maintain the schedule of all competitions.”
Shortly after Caf released its statement on Wednesday, the World Health Organisation described the outbreak as a pandemic, meaning it is spreading in multiple countries around the world at the same time.
Kenya’s government has already stated that no sporting competitors can leave the country to travel abroad until early April, meaning the Harambee Stars’ Nations Cup tie in Comoros on 29 March is uncertain.
Coronavirus cases have currently been declared in twelve African nations, with Egypt the worst affected.
On Tuesday, Algeria’s government announced that the remainder of the football season would be played behind closed doors because of the outbreak while others, such as Rwanda among others, have insisted on no handshaking before games.
Caf officials are set to visit CHAN host Cameroon – which has suffered two cases – later this week to ascertain the level of preparedness to combat the spread of the disease during the competition for African players based in their national leagues.
“A delegation from the Caf Medical Committee is scheduled to visit Cameroon from 14-15 March,” the statement added.
“The purpose of this mission is to assess all the preventive measures taken by the Local Organising Committee.”
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