mostob:
Respect to the Napoli boss for being blunt. Even though, it might seems to be an insult (to some people) but what he said is true.

CAf needs to do something

Cecco90:


Do what exactly?

Cote D'Ivoire is hosting next AFCON.
Kindly suggest a favourable period (that will suit the Europeans) of the year when the tournament should be hosted considering the weather conditions in the country

mostob:
Respect to the Napoli boss for being blunt. Even though, it might seems to be an insult (to some people) but what he said is true.

CAf needs to do something

lovewins:


CAF needs to do what exactly? Isn't it this the reason the next AFCON was scheduled for June/July next year to make accomodation for this, but after careful reflection they realized it wouldn't work?

We need to take ourselves more seriously as Africans and call out obvious racism when we see it. Notice he started the rant with Africans and South Americans, but singled out Africans when it came to who he wouldn't sign again. The problem isn't the Napoli head by the way, he is just a symptom of the problem, FIFA is a major culprit.

Didn't FIFA change the usual period for the world cup to make accomodation for the hot Qatar weather? Won't all the leagues in the world be going on break to make accomodation for this?

Haven't Qatar insisted that persons who aren't married can't stay in the same room together (talk less same sex marriage) and FIFA has done next to nothing about it, again making accomodation for the religious sensitivities of their host? FIFA needs to do more; make accomodations for Africa by making the AFCON period a FIFA window.

Point is, Africa is far from perfect, but when we see blatant racist comments like this, we should call it out. Don't rationalize it, call it out. You'll be surprised even if the AFCON period is made a FIFA window, some clubs still won't release their players. It has nothing to do with their schedule, they just do not regard African football. We've seen it in the past so we shouldn't be surprised.

Cecco90:


Do what exactly?

Cote D'Ivoire is hosting next AFCON.
Kindly suggest a favourable period (that will suit the Europeans) of the year when the tournament should be hosted considering the weather conditions in the country

Philosopher1979:


As long as we africans srnc our players to Europe wr have to reach a compromise with them. MOST OF The best players from Africa will end uo in Europe.
We all want our best players to play in Europe but then we cant compromise with them

Samueltemi337:
We take on Portugal In a friendly game September

TheSuperNerd:
Transfer News: Daniel Francis finally unveiled, Signs for Bayern and loaned to Austrian side, Klagenfurt.

ICYMI, it was already reported here I believe that Francis just signed a pro contract with Bayern and will be loaned to Austria Klagenfurt in the Austrian Bundesliga.

Now we have pics to match this news.

charlesemeka85:
is he a dm or cm?

mostob:
You reacted the same way I expected people would. The FIFA example you mentioned is valid but it is different from my POV. When I said CAF should do something about it, it doesn't really mean they should shift the tournament. Put yourself in Laurentis shoe, the clubs are the one paying these players and also medically, they are always the first point of call for the players so not having them available for important matches will certainly hurt the clubs especially when the players are key players in their club (Salah, Mane, Osimehn,Kouli)

Now, the issue of weather is also valid and looking at it vividly, both sides (club and CAF) have valid excuses.

And even if the players forced their way to AFCON, it might affect their career.

CAf doesn't necessarily need to move the tournament. Some sort of agreement or truce should be reached.

TheSuperNerd:
Transfer News: Daniel Francis finally unveiled, Signs for Bayern and loaned to Austrian side, Klagenfurt.

ICYMI, it was already reported here I believe that Francis just signed a pro contract with Bayern and will be loaned to Austria Klagenfurt in the Austrian Bundesliga.

Now we have pics to match this news.

komekn:


How did you arrive at this conclusion.

Highest transfer fee ❓

Most outstanding player in the lowly Norwegian league ❓❓

Transferred to one of the best teams in Europe ❓❓❓

charlesemeka85:
moving from hereveen to cska Moscow wasn’t a bad move. Cska is miles bigger than any club in the Dutch league aside their top 3 teams

chrisooblog:
The bold is why I think he might struggle a bit. EPL defenders don't like pace, which unfortunately puts Awoniyi at a disadvantage.

I think he will need time to get used to the EPL but will Forest be patient? Especially if there are not getting desired results?

On the plus side Nottingham plays a 2-man attack system which should suit Taiwo.

Yes if he can get 10 goals it will be good season.

Chief I see you still managed to sneak in your EPL agenda against Bundesliga while forgetting how Dennis, a German league reject did well in England

Cecco90:


Do what exactly?

Cote D'Ivoire is hosting next AFCON.
Kindly suggest a favourable period (that will suit the Europeans) of the year when the tournament should be hosted considering the weather conditions in the country

drDoom3:


Context.

Ejuke was doing well enough in the Eredivisie at that time to get offers directly to the top 5 leagues. He was rated as one of the best players in the league. I think he even had offers from some teams in top 5 leagues, but he chose CSKA (probably financially motivated).

He wasn't just some random quantity.

TheSuperNerd:
A CM.

Can also slot in as CDM.

TheSuperNerd:
More on Naija Midfield Prodigy, Daniel Francis move to Austria Klagenfurt on loan from Bayern


"With Daniel we get a highly talented lad who, despite his young age, behaves very cleverly on the pitch. He is robust, technically strong and has a good pace. I'm convinced that he can take the next step in his career at Austria and come as a surprise this season," says sporting director Matthias Imhof about Francis.

After Alex Timossi Andersson (January 2021 to June 2022) and goalkeeper Liu Shaoziyang (since February 2022), Francis is the third player that Munich has given to Waidmannsdorf as part of training and further development.

While Timossi Andersson now plays for SC Heerenveen in the Dutch honors division, Shaoziyang is number one among the Austria amateurs and started the Carinthian League series with two wins.

“Daniel played his way to the fore during his time in the FC Bayern World Squad and acted very conspicuously in the test games. He's attracted the interest of a number of clubs, so we're delighted he's signed and that he can now gain match practice at Austria Klagenfurt. We have already had good experiences with Klagenfurt at Timossi Andersson. Liu has also been there for six months and is developing well,” emphasizes Jochen Sauer, Head of the FC Bayern Campus.

This year, Francis was one of the 24 young talents that FC Bayern selected from more than 2,600 applicants for its "FC Bayern World Squad", the training camps in Rio de Janeiro under the direction of Zé Roberto and in Munich under Klaus Augenthaler, as well as several completed test games. Austria access Francis immediately proved to be a leading player and was appointed captain of the "world selection".

In mid-July, the 1.76 meter man traveled to Klagenfurt as a guest player, accompanied by world champion Augenthaler (1990 with Germany). Shortly thereafter, those responsible at FC Bayern made the decision to sign Francis on a long-term contract and loan him to Klagenfurt for a year. He will take part in training with the main team under Peter Pacult, but like Liu Shaoziyang he will be used and recommended for the amateurs.

Francis, who cites the German ex-team player, world champion and four-time Champions League winner Toni Kroos as a great role model, previously played for FC Hearts Abuja. In 2019, at the age of 16, he represented Nigeria at the U17 World Cup in Brazil took part.


Culled from SK Austria Klagenfurt site

drDoom3:


Awoniyi has never been a prolific goalscorer. He has always been a high work rate striker, working hard to make the team succeed while bagging the occasional goal.

The EPL is so much more physical that his Bundesliga physical advantage will not carry on. He is also not the fastest, the most tricky, has the best finishing or the most elite positioning.

I love Taiwo, but my estimate is 5 or 6 goals this season. I think Johnson will score at least twice as much as Awo, he is another Alli/Jota with his positioning and ability to ghost into space and grab goals from nowhere. Either way, Forest will not score a lot of goals.

TheSuperNerd:
UECL Qualifiers Round 3: Battle of the Nigerians

Alhassan Yusuf starts for Royal Antwerp FC as they take on Lillestrøm SK away in the first leg of this qualifying round.

Igoh Ogbu and Ifeanyi Matthew both start for Lillestrøm SK.

No Akor Adams today for Lillestrøm as he was injured in their last league game.

This battle kicks off in 42mins.

mostob:
How about we start constructing stadiums with retractable roofs in Africa.

It might sound somehow but looking at the big picture, the players will be the one suffering for it even if we decided to dare these clubs and continue hosting in January.

Do you think only the Napoli boss shares the same view? There are many of them that's why I commended him for coming out openly to say his mind.

Danielnino00:


This your idea of constructing stadiums with traceable roofs is quite funny, you know...
Okay, let's say African countries spend millions of dollars to build stadiums with retractable roofs just for the purpose of hosting AFCON and protect the game from the rain, then how about the people outside? Imagine you are in Lagos, an AFCON game between Nigeria and Ghana is going to take place around 5pm at the "state of art retractable roofed national stadium" in Surulere, but it's raining heavily.. How do you get there? you will brave the rain?
I'm very sure the air conditioned Stadiums Qatar built for the world cup can stay cool even in June,but for very obvious reasons,they still moved the tournament to November.
No matter how much we try, we can defeat nature..It's the fact..

In my opinion, the best suggestion is for CAF to make the AFCON a 4 year tournament! I've said it severally..There's no need for a 2 years AFCON. When something is too available,it's value reduces..... It will also give the host countries more time to prepare.. Since 2010, no AFCON tournament ha taken place in the designated host country due to frequent last minute changes. .
We can introduce something similar to the nations league to cover for the period of no AFCON...It's a win win for everybody..

lovewins:


We can debate this subject back and forth, what we shouldn't do is to suggest member association of CAF haven't tried to make accomodations for these clubs. Many have had to excuse players till the last week of camp just to ensure these clubs have their players for critical games. If anyone hasn't, then it's the clubs.

Discrimination exists or are bound to exist. This is why we anticipate such and make policy decisions to combat these discriminations. For instance, most employers would rather hire a male employee (all things being equal) , so they wouldn't have to deal with pregnant employees and maternity leave when the child is born. In anticipation of discriminations like this, laws were made to protect women. So as an employer you can't decide not to hire a woman because of this, or fire one when pregnant. Women also get maternity leave running into months were necessary and return back to their job when ready.

Football is a job/business. Employers would rather keep theses players (especially those from Africa) around and have them not attend national commitments, but it is the responsibility of FIFA not just to make these laws (I know some laws exist to address this), but also enforce them. You referenced Mikel's Olympics example. If I remember correctly, clubs didn't have engagements at the time, but same sentiments applied, they'll rather keep him than have him go represent his country.