COACHES - SOUTH AFRICA - South Africa set to name new coach

Queiroz coached South Africa for two years from 2000 but was sacked after qualifying the side for the 2002 World Cup. He has been in charge of Iran since 2011 and took them took to the World Cup in Brazil, where they were eliminated at the group stage.

26 Jul 2014
TRANSFER - IVORY COAST - Serge Aurier joins Paris St-Germain on loan from Toulouse

The 21-year-old right-back played in all of his country's matches at the World Cup in Brazil.

25 Jul 2014
Transfer - Senegal - midfielder Guirane N'Daw joins Metz

N'Daw, who has played 44 times for his country, started his career in France with Sochaux in 2002.

24 Jul 2014
COACHES - IVORY COAST - Renard among names on coach shortlist

The 45-year-old Renard ended his second spell as Zambia coach in October 2013 to take over at French club Sochaux for the second half of the Ligue 1 season. 

23 Jul 2014
Transfer - Algeria - Midfielder Yavine Brahimi signs for Porto

The 24-year-old French-born attacking midfielder has agreed an $8.7m (£5.1m) deal with a $67m (£40m) buy-out clause.

 

23 Jul 2014
2015 AFRICA CUP QUALIFIERS - 2ND ROUND - first leg - all results

SATURDAY'S MATCHES
• Botswana vs Guinea-Bissau 2:0 
• Uganda vs Mauritania 2:0 
• Sierra Leone vs Seychelles 2:0 
SUNDAY'S MATCHES
• Lesotho vs Kenya 1:0 
• Tanzania vs Mozambique 2:2 
• Congo Brazzaville vs Rwanda 2:0 
• Benin vs Malawi 1:0 

21 Jul 2014
COACHES - ALGERIA - Christian Gourcuff named as Algeria's new national coach

Gourcuff was last coach of Lorient, leaving the job in May at the end of the Ligue 1 season. He has also coached at Le Mans and Stade Rennes and had a one-year spell in Saudi Arabia.

21 Jul 2014
2015 AFRICA CUP QUALIFIERS - 2ND ROUND - FIXTURES & RESULTS - Saturday matches

2nd round - fixtures & results

SATURDAY (19th July 2014)
Botswana vs Guinea-Bissau 2:0 
Uganda vs Mauritania 2:0 
Sierra Leone vs Seychelles 2:0 

20 Jul 2014
Fifa ranking - Nigeria move up, Carpe Verde suffer big drop

The Super Eagles climbed three places in the Confederation of African Football region and 10 spots on the global list - up to 34th in the world.

19 Jul 2014

2015 AFRICA CUP - CAF - SOUNDS OUT ALTERNATIVE HOST OPTIONS

AFRICA CUP 2015

How the Ebola outbreak has affected African football

• Sierra Leone has suspended all football matches in the county

• CAF has placed bans on Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone hosting any international football

• Seychelles forfeited their Nations Cup qualifier rather than host Sierra Leone

 

Last week, scheduled hosts Morocco asked CAF to postpone the January tournament because of fears over Ebola.

"CAF wrote to us and indicated that Morocco had given strong indications they would pull out if CAF did not change the date," Ghana Youth and Sports minister Mahama Ayariga said.

South Africa have been sent a similar letter, seen by BBC Sport.

CAF has stated there are no changes to the schedule of next year's tournament and it would discuss the Moroccan health ministry's request on 2 November before meeting Moroccan officials the following day.

Speaking in an interview with Ghanaian radio station Citi FM, Ayariga added: "CAF also indicated that it was firm on the tournament dates but they will meet the Moroccan authorities and take a decision at that meeting.

"But in the meantime they are writing to a number of countries that they think have the capacity to be an alternative venue… in the event of Morocco actually pulling out."

Almost 4,500 people have died in the Ebola epidemic that broke out in west Africa at the start of the year.

While Moroccan youth and sports minister Mohamed Ouzzine said on Thursday his country had not withdrawn as hosts, he reiterated that they will follow the lead of the World Health Organisation (WHO), which has advised against big gatherings in the fight against the Ebola outbreak.

"Our concern is the health of Africa, and based on WHO reports and guidelines, we have to listen," Ouzzine said.

"Zero safety does not exist, but one has to take the necessary precautions so that the coming tournament will be a football feast, bringing together our African brothers, but given the current Ebola situation we don't think such a feast can take place as expected.

"We are talking about the Africa Cup of Nations where we are expecting between 200,000 to 400,000, even one million spectators to converge in Morocco.

"I don't think there is any state or any country that has the necessary capabilities to monitor, check and control the current Ebola situation when faced with these numbers.

"This is our real problem.

We don't have a problem with visiting teams, we have a problem with visitors."

Ouzzine believes the situation is critical and pleaded for a decision to be taken for humanitarian rather than financial reasons.

"If there are fears about the loss of funding and financial commitments, we can always find solutions to these issues - but today is not the day to discuss these things," he said.

"We will discuss these things when we meet with CAF - and we might even debate other options. 

But I beg you, what's the significance of the financial losses compared to human losses? A human being is priceless.

"I can tell you that we will reach a definite decision during our meeting with our brothers from CAF."

 

17 Oct 2014
(BBC Sport UK)

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