2015 AFRICA CUP - CAF - EBOLA AND NATIONS CUP - SOUTH AFRICA RULE OUT BEING 2015 HOSTS

South African sports minister Fikile Mbalula has stated the country will not step in as hosts for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations if Morocco withdraws.

20 Oct 2014
NIGERIA - COACH - ENYEAMA 'SHOCKED' BY TIMING OF KESHI'S REMOVAL

Goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama expressed his surprise that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) decided to replace coach Stephen Keshi barely a month before the side's final two African Nations Cup qualifiers.

18 Oct 2014
2015 AFRICA CUP QUALIFIERS - GROUP STAGE - 4TH MATCHES - ALGERIA AND CAPE VERDE QUALIFY

Algeria and Cape Verde became the first teams to qualify for January's Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco.

18 Oct 2014
2015 AFRICA CUP - CAF - SOUNDS OUT ALTERNATIVE HOST OPTIONS

The Confederation of African Football has approached Ghana and South Africa about hosting the 2015 Nations Cup.

17 Oct 2014
2015 AFRICA CUP QUALIFIERS - GROUP STAGE - 4TH MATCHES - ALL RESULTS

Cameroon on verge of qualification - Cameroon took a huge step towards qualification with a 2:0 victory over Sierra Leone on Wednesday.

16 Oct 2014
2015 AFRICA CUP QUALIFIERS - GROUP STAGE - 4TH MATCHES - PREVIEW

Algeria will qualify, if they beat Malawi today, while wins for Cameroon and South Africa will put them within touching distance.

15 Oct 2014
2015 AFRICA CUP QUALIFIERS - ZAMBIA - GROUP STAGE - 4TH MATCHES - KATONGO THROWN OUT OF SQUAD

The former BBC African Footballer of the Year was captain in 2012 when Zambia caused an upset to win the Nations Cup in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

14 Oct 2014

World Cup - Fifa president Gianni Infantino wants 48-team tournament

Gianni Infantino

 

Fifa president Gianni Infantino has proposed expanding the World Cup finals to 48 teams.

After initially suggesting he wanted to boost it to 40.

According to the 46-year-old Italian, 16 countries would be eliminated after a preliminary knockout round.

The rest of the tournament would then be the same as it is now, with 32 teams competing in the group stages, followed by further knockout rounds.

Infantino said a decision on possible expansion would be taken in January.

"These are ideas to find the best solution," he said.

"We will debate them this month and we will decide everything by 2017."

Infantino took charge of world football's governing body in February.

One of his election promises was to expand the World Cup to 40 teams.

But his idea now is that 32 teams take part in a preliminary knockout round in the host country, with the winners joining 16 seeded teams in the group stages.

"It means we continue with a normal World Cup for 32 teams, but 48 teams go to the party," said Infantino, who replaced Sepp Blatter.

"Fifa's idea is to develop football in the whole world.

The World Cup is the biggest event there is.

It's more than a competition, it's a social event."


Analysis
Richard Conway, BBC Radio 5 live sports news correspondent

This is all part of Gianni Infantino's plan to expand the tournament because there is a lot of discontent from some continents who feel World Cup places are not allocated in the right way.

It could be something like England against Iceland in the first round if England were not seeded.

It is very high risk - and it would be dramatic and exciting for TV, I am sure.

That is what is on the table and a decision will be made in January next year.

 

 

 

5 Oct 2016
(BBC Sport UK)

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