Uganda beat Kenya to take 15th Cecafa Cup title
December 20 – Hosts Uganda have lifted the Cecafa Cup, East Africa’s flagship regional competition, after defeating Eritrea 3-0 in the final.
Africa
Tanzania’s Simba club launches payment card with Equity Bank
By Osasu Obayiuwana
December 20 – In what is a unique drive, in African football, to increase revenue, leading Tanzanian club Simba has launched its own bank payment card. They hope to raise a minimum of $10 million through the deal.
CAF win Round 1 of contract dispute but Lagardère still punching for a knockout finish
By Paul Nicholson
December 16 – CAF has won the first round of the legal battle over the cancellation of its contract with Lagardère Sports. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Geneva ruled Friday rejected Lagardère’s application for emergency measures that would have allowed the agency to continue as per the contract.
More woe for Tanzania’s Malinzi as he is found guilty of forgery
December 13 – Disgraced former president of the Tanzanian Football Federation (TFF) and one-time FIFA standing committee member, Jamal Malinzi (pictured), has been found guilty of document forgery in his homeland .
Former CAF 1st VP Patel opens up on a leadership that has ‘shamed’ Africa
By Osasu Obayiuwana
December 12 – As CAF’s first Vice-President for seven years (2011-2017) and the Chairman of its Finance Committee, Suketu Patel was regarded as the financial brain-box of the African football governing body, during the latter stages of Cameroonian Issa Hayatou’s 29-year presidency.
CAS orders FIFA and CAF to respond to Bility claim that CAF takeover is illegal
By Osasu Obayiuwana
December 9 – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ordered the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and FIFA, football’s world governing body, to file, within 14 days, a reply to the claims made against them by Musa Bility, the former President of the Liberia Football Association.
After 5-year hiatus, Sierra Leone’s Premier League is back in action
December 6 – A new chapter has begun following Sierra Leone football’s troubled recent past, with the Premier League having resumed for the first time in more than five years.
East Africa’s Cecafa Cup reduced to nine teams as nations withdraw
December 5 – East Africa’s flagship competition the Cecafa Cup will kick off with a depleted participants field after South Sudan, DR Congo and Ethiopia all withdrew from the competition.
Egyptian giants Ahly to switch stadiums while they wait for new sports complex
By Osasu Obayiuwana
December 5 – Cairo club Ahly have announced that they will now be staging their matches at the Al Salam stadium.
Interview: Former CAF finance boss lifts lid on Africa’s money pit
Life has certainly not been peaches and cream for former CAF finance director Mohamed El Sherei over the last seven months. In a one-hour exclusive conversation, at the Heliopolis Sports Club in Cairo in November, El Sherei, who has been without an income for several months, spoke frankly, to Insideworldfootball’s Osasu Obayiuwana, on what he says has been a tumultuous period, for him and the organisation to which he once belonged.
CAF Confed Cup champions Zamalek have not paid players for four months
By Osasu Obayiuwana
December 2 – Players of Zamalek, the 2019 CAF Confederation Cup winners, have been without wages for four months.
Infantino promises Africa £1bn and a new $200m pan-African super league
November 29 – On tour in Africa FIFA president Gianni Infantino has said that he wants to invest more than $1 billion in the African game and found an African league.
Life for a life? FIFA gives murderous war criminal Ngaissona six year ban
November 29 – Almost a year after French authorities handed leading African football administrator Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona over to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to face war crimes, FIFA have banned him for six years and eight months.
No pay no say: Pinnick fury as NFF tells Rohr to keep quiet on money and do his job
By Osasu Obayiuwana
November 28 – The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has reacted to Insideworldfootball’s interview with Gernot Rohr (pictured left), head coach of that country’s national team, by issuing him with an official reprimand.
Egypt’s Zamalek refuse to play CAF Super Cup in Qatar
November 27 – In a potentially serious blow to footballing geo-politics in the region, Zamalek of Egypt are refusing to go ahead with Africa’s Super Cup in Qatar in February.