FIFA rankings - Egypt makes big leap in latest rankings

Egypt have climbed up more places than any other African country in Fifa's latest world rankings for March.

14 Mar 2014
2014 World Cup - warm up - Ghana

Ghana Sports Minister Elvis Ankrah is confident the team will prepare in the right way for a successful World Cup.

12 Mar 2014
2014 World Cup - warm up - African sides ready

All five of Africa's World Cup finalists are in action this week as they continue their preparations for this summer's tournament in Brazil.
(Algeria; Cameroon; Ghana; Côte d'Ivoire; Nigeria)

5 Mar 2014
stars in Europe - Yaya Toure's incredible journey

He won the Champions League and two La Liga titles while with Barca. Toure also won league titles in Greece and England, and domestic cups in each country too. According to the people who know him best, Yaya Toure always had the ability and ambition he needed to make his journey from a barefooted boy footballer to one of the best players in the world. 

22 Feb 2014
stars in Europe - AC Milan set to sign Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien

Chelsea have agreed a deal with AC Milan to sell midfielder Michael Essien to the Italian side. Essien has flown in for talks and a medical with Clarence Seedorf's underachieving Serie A club.

25 Jan 2014
NATIONAL LEAGUE - TUNISIA - COACH - Ruud Krol appointed as new Esperance coach

The 64-year-old former Dutch World Cup captain joined the Tunisian side only a day after leading CS Sfaxien to glory in the Confederation Cup with a 3:2 aggregate win over TP Mazembe. Krol's departure ends a successful year at the club in which he also led the Tunisians to a first league title in eight years in May. "It was my decision to leave. 

20 Jan 2014

2015 AFRICA CUP - CAF GIVES MOROCCO NEW DEADLINE

AFRICA CUP 2015 AFRICA CUP 2015 QUALIFIERS

Morocco want a postponement because of fears over the Ebola outbreak.

CAF has asked Morocco to "clarify their position" by 8 November.

A deadline also given to any countries who may want to step in as replacement hosts.

 

HOW THE EBOLA OUTBREAK HAS AFECTED 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

CAF immediately rejected the notion, insisting the three-week tournament go ahead as scheduled.

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The governing body says a final decision will be made on 11 November.

After a meeting in Rabat on Monday, CAF tweeted that it was "unanimous on keeping competition on the dates; namely from January 17 to February 8, 2015", adding that Morocco has been asked "to clarify its final position not later than 8 November".

CAF also said it would convene again "on 11 November in Cairo, Egypt to take the necessary decisions" on the finals.

The meeting in Rabat was fixed last month when Morocco asked CAF to postpone the tournament after being advised by its own health ministry that hosting the 16-team tournament posed a risk of the spread of the deadly virus, which has killed about 5,000 people - mostly in Africa.

Anticipating the possibility Morocco's government would stand firm, CAF have since asked seven countries if they might be able to step in as emergency hosts at short notice.

Last month CAF stridently declared they were not interested in changing the dates of the event.

"It should be noted that since the first edition in 1957, no Africa Cup of Nations has ever been a postponed or deferred," a statement from the Cairo-based organisation said last month after news of Morocco's request first broke.

There have been no cases of Ebola infection in Morocco and only one country where the deadly virus has taken hold has any chance of qualifying for the finals.

Ironically, Guinea were granted permission by Moroccan authorities to use Casablanca to host two of their Nations Cup qualifiers in September and last month, after Caf banned them from hosting games at home.

They are among three west African countries banned from hosting any football games.

The World Health Organization said on Friday "intense transmission continues in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone".

 

3 Nov 2014
(BBC Sport UK)

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