By Osasu Obayiuwana
August 20 – With 24 hours to FIFA’s August 21 deadline – for the 54 nations of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to sign an “irrevocable” mandate, giving the world governing body the exclusive power to sell their media and marketing rights for the 2022 and 2026 World Cup qualifiers – it appears that the continent has fallen in line with the demand.
August 19 – The Guinea Football Federation (Feguifoot) has slapped a life ban on the country’s former Belgian coach Paul Put and issued a seven-year suspension on the federation’s vice president, Amadou Diaby.
By Paul Nicholson
August 16 – Musa Bility, the former Liberian FA president and Confederation of African Football (CAF) executive committee member, is not slowing down in his mission to hold FIFA and CAF to account over their co-operation initiative that has seen control of African football fall under the dominating wing of the world governing body.
August 16 – Vahid Halilhodzic has replaced Herve Renard as the new boss of Morocco in a reported three-year deal.
By Osasu Obayiuwana
August 15 – FIFA, world football’s governing body, has applied to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) to become a co-defendant with the Confederation of African Football (CAF), which is being sued by Liberia’s Musa Hassan Bility, who was recently banned for 10 years by FIFA’s Ethics Committee.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 15 – One of Gianni Infantino’s staunchest allies, former Zimbabwe FA (ZIFA) boss Philip Chiyangwa, has been banned for life by his own federation for “bringing Zimbabwean football into disrepute.”
By Osasu Obayiuwana
August 15 – Miguel Maduro, the immediate past chairman of FIFA’s Governance Committee, has questioned the legitimacy of the appointment of Fatma Samoura as FIFA’s General Delegate for Africa, while the Senegalese still functions as the Secretary-General of football’s world governing body.
By Paul Nicholson
August 14 – Musa Bility, the CAF executive committee member who has been banned by FIFA, has criticised the mandate issued by FIFA for the collection of African FA World Cup qualification TV rights to be controlled and sold directly by FIFA.
By Paul Nicholson
August 13 – She has only been in the job two weeks but already Fatma Samoura, FIFA Secretary-General and General Delegate for Africa, has landed herself in a governance and conflict of interest crisis over the move to consolidate all African national federation World Cup broadcast rights under a FIFA sales arm.
August 14 – The Normalisation Committee running football in Ghana has set a new date for an Extra-Ordinary Congress, moving it from August 26 to September 5.
August 14 – The Liberia Football Association (LFA) has banned referee Josephus Torjilar for two years for accepting a bribe.
By Osasu Obayiuwana
August 13 – In a highly unusual move, FIFA has asked the 54 member associations of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to sign a one-page media rights “mandate” that gives the world governing body “an irrevocable mandate to implement a central marketing plan to market and commercialise the media rights for the FIFA African Qualifiers 2022 & 2026.”
August 12 – Nigeria is in the running to host the 2020 U-20 Women’s World Cup. A FIFA inspection team visited facilities in the proposed host cities of Lagos, Benin City, Asaba and Uyo.
By Osasu Obayiuwana
August 9 – Musa Bility, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Executive Committee member, recently banned for 10 years, by the Adjudicatory Chamber of FIFA’s Ethics Committee, is accusing a key official of the world governing body of strong-arming him, over his refusal to accept FIFA’s direct intervention in CAF’s affairs.
August 9 – Having been stripped of hosting rights for this year’s African Cup of Nations due to lack of preparations, Cameroon may not even be ready to stage the showpiece event in two years’ time, according to their all-time leading goalscorer.