African Champions League 2014 - group stage - 2nd matches - fixtures

DR Congo rivals to meet two weeks after tragedy.

African Champions League 2014

• 23.-25.05.14: TP Mazembe (DR Congo) vs AS Vita Club -:-
• 23.-25.05.14: Zamalek  (Egypt) vs Al Hilal -:-

• 23.-25.05.14: Al Ahli Benghazi (Libya) vs Esperance -:-
• 23.-25.05.14: Entente Setif (Algeria) vs CS Sfaxien -:-

 
23 May 2014
2014 World Cup - Cameroon to play Moldova in final warm-up

Guatemala pulled out for security reasons, said Cameroon Football Federation spokesperson Laurence Fotso.

23 May 2014
stars in Europe - Yaya Toure wants Manchester City 'job for life' - agent

Toure, who joined City from Barcelona in 2010, was linked with a return to the Catalan giants when Seluk made his initial comments on Tuesday. 

22 May 2014
stars in Europe - Kevin Prince Boateng plans to build a school in his father’s hometown

The former AC Milan midfielder also spoke about his plans to build a school in Kumasi - Ghana's second-largest city and his father's home town - in order to strengthen the bond with the local support.

21 May 2014
NATIONAL TEAM - LIBERIA - COACH - Roberto Landi is in talks to return to Liberia

Roberto Landi is in talks to return as coach of Liberia

20 May 2014
2015 Africa Cup qualifier - Malawi, Benin begin with victories

Malawi, Benin, Namibia and Mauritania begin with victories - Malawi began their campaign to reach the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco with a 2:0 win over visiting Chad on Saturday.

19 May 2014
2015 Africa Cup qualifier - 1st round 1st leg - fixtures & results

Mozambique thrash debutants South Sudan in 2015 qualifying

Sunday's Results: 18.05.2014

   Liberia vs Lesotho 1:0 
   Kenya vs Comoros 1:0 
   Madagascar vs Uganda 2:1 
   Libya vs Rwanda 0:0 
   Burundi vs Botswana 0:0 
   CAR vs Guinea-Bissau 0:0 
   Swaziland vs Sierra Leone 1:1 
   Tanzania vs Zimbabwe 1:0 
   Mozambique vs South Sudan 5:0 

Saturday's Results: 17.05.2014

   Mauritania vs Eq Guinea 1:0
   Namibia vs Congo 1:0 
   Sao Tome vs Benin 0:2
•    Malawi vs Chad 2:0

 

19 May 2014
African Champions League 2014 - group stage - 1st matches - results

AS Vita Club beat Zamalek in the African Champions League first group match.

19 May 2014

STARS IN EUROPE - ENGLAND - SUNDERLAND - Black Cats flourishing in Africa

Sunderland A.F.C.

 

Top Africans who have played for Sunderland

Ghana's Asamoah Gyan 
• scored 10 goals in 34 appearances 
• between 2010 and 2012

Benin's Stephane Sessegnon 
• scored 17 goals in 87 matches 
• between 2011 and 2013

Ghana's John Mensah 
• played 38 games and scored thee goals while on loan 
• between 2009 and 2011

Ghana's Sulley Muntari 
• played nine games in a loan spell 
• in 2011

 

In stature and global reach Sunderland are considered one of the league's smaller clubs but an appetite for global reach is helping them transform their standing in Africa, where they are establishing a business footprint.

On the field of play Sunderland have not been producing encouraging results. 

They have slowly fallen into the relegation zone, a situation which led to the club sacking manager Guy Poyet recently.

However, off the field the club's fortunes have been flourishing.

Club officials say things have been falling into place since 2012 when they had their first business contact with Africa. 

This was through an oil mining company which sponsored the club's official kit.

Sunderland, nicknamed the Black Cats, became famous among African fans for its "Invest in Africa" football shirts which helped to announce its arrival on the African continent.

Now they are looking to join the elite league of popular English Premier league clubs in Africa.

"Our ambition is to be an established club.

Everyone follows Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea but after those clubs comes the rest of us. 

What we want is to be that next club," said Gary Hutchinson, Sunderland's commercial director.

The club has taken a deliberate strategy to market itself on the continent through business and community links.

Sunderland have an African shirt sponsor based in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

As part of the deal the club also has a twinning agreement with South African top-flight league team Bidvest Wits and an on-going charity arrangement with the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

And in Ghana, Sunderland are helping develop young talent in an arrangement with Kumasi-based football outfit Asante Kotoko.

"We have three key pillars of work, football, business and community operations.

We are in Tanzania, South Africa and Ghana and we hope to be working in at least another country on the African continent by end of 2015," added Hutchinson.

The club has also become Tanzania's official tourism partner. 

Adverts promoting the country as a destination are an omnipresent feature at its 49,000-seat Stadium of Light.

"We promote the destination through the power of the Premier League and through the 4,2 billion people who follow it. 

The club will use the global marketing vehicle of the premier soccer league to promote Tanzania as a place to visit," Hutchinson said.

"We are running competitions to activate our fan base so that they can realise what a wonder Tanzania is and encourage them to visit."

For some, the African continent might matter only when there's money to be made or talent to be spotted for the European clubs.

Graham Robinson, head of international football development at the club, says Sunderland have a different philosophy.

"It's the hardest thing to bring players to the UK and Europe. 

Our strategy is to develop players that can be eligible for the African market because only one or two players make it through to Europe but there are hundreds of thousands who stay within Africa. 

We want to train them into well rounded players who can be traded on the growing African market," said Robinson, who himself is from South Africa.

As part of the strategy, African football players and coaches will come to Sunderland to experience the way they do business.

"We are opening a partnership.

We expect our partners to come over here and see how our infrastructure works, how the club works as a business because nowadays stadiums cannot be used for matches only. 

They have to be a 24 hour, 365 days a year business," Robinson said.

28 Mar 2015
(BBC Sport by Stanley Kwenda)

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