Check out the huge amount CAF is paying to African Teams at the world Cup

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At its last meeting held on 16 November 2017 in Rabat, Morocco, the CAF Executive Committee decided to set up an ad hoc committee chaired by the CAF 1st Vice President, Kwesi Nyantakyi, to map out a kind of support to be provided to African representatives to the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018.

 

The committee, which has CAF Executive Committee member Kalusha Bwalya and presidents of the Football Associations of the five qualified countries as members, met in Moscow, Russia, on the sidelines of the draw for the FIFA World Cup scheduled for 1 December 2017.

 

At the meeting, it was decided that the body will grant a financial subsidy of $500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand dollars) to each of the five African teams. The financial package will be used mainly to strengthen and improve the technical supervision of each team.

 

In addition, CAF will provide each African representative with “fieldwiz” equipment, a technological device and physical performance measuring tool for outdoor team sports players.

Desailly Tips Nigeria for Semi final at 2018 World Cup

 

Marcel Desailly 

 

A former France international Marcel Desailly has rued the absence of Ghana from the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and has tipped the Super Eagles to be one of the surprise teams of the mundial.

 

Born in Accra, Ghana, the Chelsea legend was an important member of the French team that won the World Cup for the first time in their history in 1998 and captained the European powerhouse at the 2001 Confederations Cup.

 

“My native Ghana did not get into the final part. This is my spiritual wound. But other African teams are able to surprise,” Marcel Desailly told Sport Express Russia.

 

“And Nigeria, which has a strong squad, and the Arab countries - Tunisia, Egypt. Perhaps, the moment has come when a team from Africa will finally reach the semifinals.”

 

In their maiden appearance at the World Cup in 1994, Nigeria were a minute and forty five seconds away from qualifying for the quarterfinals, only for Roberto Baggio to equalize, before grabbing his brace in extra-time which knocked the then African champions out of the competition.

 

The Super Eagles also qualified for the second round in 1998 and 2014. 

FIFA CONFIRMS SUPER EAGLES AS THE YOUNGEST SQUAD IN THE WORLD

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The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) says Nigeria paraded the youngest players during the qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

This was announced on FIFA’s official website on Tuesday by a Switzerland-based independent study Centre International d’Étude du Sport (CIES) in it’s issue number 30 of Observatory Monthly Report.

The CIES Football Observatory is a research group founded in 1995 by FIFA in partnership with the canton and town of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.

World Cup champions Germany emerged as the second country that had the youngest squad, while England were third.

A statement on FIFA’s website reads: “The CIES Football Observatory and FIFA have joined forces to analyse the profiles of the players who were fielded by the 32 qualified teams on the road to Russia. The analysis highlights the diversity of the squads in terms of both age and height, as well as the importance of migration with almost two thirds of players currently playing for clubs outside of the association they represent.



“While Nigeria fielded the youngest players (with an average age of 24.9 years) in the qualifiers, followed by title-holders Germany (25.7) and by U-17 and U-20 world champions England (25.9), at the opposite end of the spectrum were two newcomers Panama (29.4 years) and Iceland (29.0), as well as 2014 FIFA World Cup quarter-finalists Costa Rica (29.0).


“There were also considerable differences among the teams in terms of the average height of players. At one extreme, seven associations fielded players with an average height of less than 180cm: Peru, Argentina and Uruguay (CONMEBOL), Saudi Arabia and Japan (AFC), Mexico (CONCACAF), and Spain (UEFA). At the other extreme, the average height of the players fielded by four European nations – Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Serbia – was at least 185cm.


“The study also revealed that about 9% of players were born outside of the association they represent. Only seven of the 32 teams did not field any players born abroad. The number of footballers playing for clubs outside of the association they represent also revealed the importance of migration in football. In total, 64.6% of footballers play abroad: from 0% for England and Saudi Arabia, to 100% for Croatia, Sweden and Iceland.”

The Super Eagles who are in Pot 4, will know their group stage opponents when the draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup holds on Friday, December 1st, in Russia.