Category: Sports

Referees in the North West region of Cameroon have made their way back to the classroom for a refresher course that is set to last for two days ahead of the start of the league.

Organised by the Referees Appointment Committee, the course kicked off on Wednesday January 24 at the conference hall of Fecafoot North West in Bamenda.

A number of facilitators took part in the exercise including members of the Referees Appointment Committee made up of Retired FIFA referee Nde Christopher, Lum Nde, Jani Benedict, Asang Martin, Tamukong Norman, and Chi Mary.

In addition, all Elite Football referees from the North West region were also amongst the facilitators.

While overseeing proceedings, Interim President Jephter Pase and Secretary General Ndi Tsembom Elvis Junior hailed the initiative as being incredibly important for the ongoing development of referees in the region.

The refresher course is aimed at ensuring the football season in the North West region runs as smoothly as possible, with referees being at the
top of their game and up to date on all changes in the rules and regulations of football.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

The knockout stage of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations will feature 16 teams, six of which finished as group leaders, six as runners-up, and four as third-placed finishers

Given the tournament’s upsets in the group stages, predicting the teams to watch out for in the knockout stage can be challenging.

However, based on group stage performances, the defending champions Senegal would be among the strongest contenders.

Senegal are the only team to have won all group matches and secured nine points, scoring goals while conceding just one.

Equatorial Guinea and Cape Verde are also teams to look at after they finished first in their groups, with Equatorial Guinea humiliating host country Ivory Coast and Cape Verde beating the black stars of Ghana and holding 7 time champions Egypt to a 2-2 draw.

However, teams like the Atlas Lions of Morocco, Angola, Mali who all finished as leaders of their groups can not be overlooked as potential contenders.

The knockout stage of the 2023 African cup of Nations will begin o
n January 27 and will run till January 30th 2024.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Thunder they say can strike again in the same place at different times.

This same can be expected when Cameroon’s senior men’s national team trade tackles with their Nigerian counterparts in the Round of 16 of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

The knockout stage tie rekindled the rivalry between the two teams that have eight AFCON titles shared between themselves.

Cameroon has won five African titles beating Nigeria three times in those title triumphs.

Nigeria are three-time winners with victories in 1980, 1994, and 2013.

A second-placed finish for both sides in Group A (Nigeria) and Group C (Cameroon) respectively set up a much-awaited knockout schedule for the two neighboring teams.

The match venue, Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, Abidjan is getting ready to welcome the two teams.

It was on the same turf where both teams battled out the 1984 AFCON final.

On 18th March 1984, Président Félix Houphouët-Boigny declared a public holiday to encourage football fans to troop to the stadium for the fi
nal, as public interest in the competition had waned following the group stage elimination of the Elephants.

Nigeria got in front after 10 minutes when Muda Lawal toe-poked a deflected pull-out past Joseph Antoine-Bell.

The Lions equalised just before half-time, Stephen Keshi unwittingly diverting the ball into his own net from a free-kick, and they seized the game by the throat in the second half, deploying the experience and exposure from playing three matches unbeaten at the 1982 FIFA World Cup finals in Spain. They won 3-1.

A win for Rigobert Song’s side over Jose Peseiro’s unbeaten side will be a repeat of what happened in 1984 at the same venue.

In case Nigeria comes out victorious, the West African side will maintain their unbeaten run at the tournament with two wins and a draw so far.

The winner will make it to the quarter-final with a chance to go far in the competition.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Legendary Nigerian footballer, Jay Jay Okocha has given the Super Eagles a word of caution ahead of their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations Round of 16 clash against Cameroon.

Despite Nigeria’s second place finish in Group A with seven points, Okocha feels that the match against Cameroon will be a tough nut to crack for the Super Eagles.

Okocha, who scored in Nigeria’s 2-1 win over Cameroon in 2004, urged the Super Eagles to stay focused to progress to the next stage.

‘It’s for them to try and get the win to progress to the next stage no matter what, but I want to say they should note that it is always difficult against Cameroon’ Okocha said in an interview with SportsBrief.

While Nigeria qualified as runners up in their group, the Indomitable Lions made it through to the knockout stage thanks to a gasping 3-2 victory over Gambia in their final group game.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will face the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon on Saturday January 27 at the same venue where they defeated Nigeria to claim their
first AFCON title at the Felix Houphouet Boigny stadium.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Five-time AFCON winners Cameroon, have arrived in Cote d’Ivoire’s commercial and industrial capital Abidjan, for Saturday’s much-awaited encounter against three-time champions Nigeria.

The team had their last training session in Yamussoukro with a boost as far as injuries are concerned.

The duo of Vincent Aboubakar and Clinton Njie joined the team for group training for the first time since being ruled out of the opening set of games of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

In effect, Nigeria and Cameroon have clashed in 17 competitive matches since their first of such matches in the Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah Cup on 8th December 1962, which Nigeria won 3-1. Of those 17 matches, Cameroon has won only 4 – three of these in the Final matches of the Africa Cup of Nations in 1984, 1988, and 2000.

The only other time Cameroon have beaten Nigeria in a competitive match was on 27th August 1989, when Francois Omam Biyick scored the only goal in Yaounde that eliminated Nigeria from the race to the 1990 FIFA World Cup final
s in Italy.

Nigeria has won nine of the other 13 matches, including a 2-1 defeat of Cameroon in the bronze medal match of the 1992 AFCON; a 2-0 triumph in a 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Ibadan; a 3-2 win in Yaounde in a 1970 World Cup qualifier; a 2-1 win in Monastir in a 2004 AFCON quarter-final; a 4-0 win in Uyo in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier and; a 3-2 win in Alexandria in a 2019 AFCON Round of 16 clash.

Both sides finished second in their groups to make it to the knockout stage.

Super Eagles finished second from Group A behind Equatorial Guinea with seven points while Cameroon with four points made it out of Group C ahead of Guinea which also qualified as one of the four best third-placed teams.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Legendary Nigerian footballer, Jay Jay Okocha has given the Super Eagles a word of caution ahead of their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations Round of 16 clash against Cameroon.

Despite Nigeria’s second place finish in Group A with seven points, Okocha feels that the match against Cameroon will be a tough nut to crack for the Super Eagles.

Okocha, who scored in Nigeria’s 2-1 win over Cameroon in 2004, urged the Super Eagles to stay focused to progress to the next stage.

‘It’s for them to try and get the win to progress to the next stage no matter what, but I want to say they should note that it is always difficult against Cameroon’ Okocha said in an interview with SportsBrief.

While Nigeria qualified as runners up in their group, the Indomitable Lions made it through to the knockout stage thanks to a gasping 3-2 victory over Gambia in their final group game.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will face the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon on Saturday January 27 at the same venue where they defeated Nigeria to claim their
first AFCON title at the Felix Houphouet Boigny stadium.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Referees in the North West region of Cameroon have made their way back to the classroom for a refresher course that is set to last for two days ahead of the start of the league.

Organised by the Referees Appointment Committee, the course kicked off on Wednesday January 24 at the conference hall of Fecafoot North West in Bamenda.

A number of facilitators took part in the exercise including members of the Referees Appointment Committee made up of Retired FIFA referee Nde Christopher, Lum Nde, Jani Benedict, Asang Martin, Tamukong Norman, and Chi Mary.

In addition, all Elite Football referees from the North West region were also amongst the facilitators.

While overseeing proceedings, Interim President Jephter Pase and Secretary General Ndi Tsembom Elvis Junior hailed the initiative as being incredibly important for the ongoing development of referees in the region.

The refresher course is aimed at ensuring the football season in the North West region runs as smoothly as possible, with referees being at the
top of their game and up to date on all changes in the rules and regulations of football.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Thunder they say can strike again in the same place at different times.

This same can be expected when Cameroon’s senior men’s national team trade tackles with their Nigerian counterparts in the Round of 16 of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

The knockout stage tie rekindled the rivalry between the two teams that have eight AFCON titles shared between themselves.

Cameroon has won five African titles beating Nigeria three times in those title triumphs.

Nigeria are three-time winners with victories in 1980, 1994, and 2013.

A second-placed finish for both sides in Group A (Nigeria) and Group C (Cameroon) respectively set up a much-awaited knockout schedule for the two neighboring teams.

The match venue, Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, Abidjan is getting ready to welcome the two teams.

It was on the same turf where both teams battled out the 1984 AFCON final.

On 18th March 1984, Président Félix Houphouët-Boigny declared a public holiday to encourage football fans to troop to the stadium for the fi
nal, as public interest in the competition had waned following the group stage elimination of the Elephants.

Nigeria got in front after 10 minutes when Muda Lawal toe-poked a deflected pull-out past Joseph Antoine-Bell.

The Lions equalised just before half-time, Stephen Keshi unwittingly diverting the ball into his own net from a free-kick, and they seized the game by the throat in the second half, deploying the experience and exposure from playing three matches unbeaten at the 1982 FIFA World Cup finals in Spain. They won 3-1.

A win for Rigobert Song’s side over Jose Peseiro’s unbeaten side will be a repeat of what happened in 1984 at the same venue.

In case Nigeria comes out victorious, the West African side will maintain their unbeaten run at the tournament with two wins and a draw so far.

The winner will make it to the quarter-final with a chance to go far in the competition.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

By Biwah Bryan

The head coach of the Ivorian National team, Jean-Louis Gasset has been relieved of his position as coach by the Ivorian football fédération midway through the Africa Cup of Nations.

The head coach was fired alongside his assistant Ghislain Marie Joseph following their poor performance with the Elephants of Ivory Coast as revealed in the fédérations publication ‘insufficient results in accordance to the contract of objectives they had with the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF).’

Despite the team’s chances of qualifying for the knockout stage of the AFCON still alive, the fédération took the bold step to discard the coaching staff and appoint Emerse Faé, a former Ivorian midfielder on interim basis.

Ivory Coast failed to secure automatic qualification to the tournament’s knockout stage when they suffered their biggest ever home defeat to Equatorial Guinea, losing 4-0 in their final group match.

The Elephants are now on standby, hoping that their only three points from three group games will
be enough to qualify for the last 16 as one of the best four third-place finishers.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

By Muluh Alfred

Algeria’s exit from the AFCON 2023 in Côte d’Ivoire has added to a string of mediocre performances recorded since the nation’s victory in 2019.

Their recent downfall is marked by the early elimination from the 2023 AFCON, resulting from the shocking 0-1 defeat to Mauritania on January 23.

The Fennecs failed to secure a win in the group stage, managing just two draws against Angola and Burkina Faso. They bowed out occupying the last position in group D with just 2 points.

Prior to the ongoing AFCON, the Fennecs had failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup after losing against the Indomitable Lions in an epic decider in Blida.

The AFCON 2021 had similar results as the Algerian national team suffered an early exit in the hands of Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, and Sierra Leone with just one point. They finished bottom of the group.

Since their triumph over Senegal in 2019 which secured their second AFCON trophy, the Fennecs have experienced a steady decline.

Nonetheless, the Algerian
s have made a good start in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. They have so far won their first two matches and are currently group leaders with six points.

Source: Cameroon News Agency