Windfall for region’s clubs

Southern African football clubs could be in for a major financial windfall this winter after a huge shift by English clubs who have suddenly developed a massive interest in players from this region. The mega-rich English clubs have generally ignored players from this region with the last transfers of substance coming in 1996 when a host of South African stars moved to Britain. The last movement of a player from this region to an English Premiership club came four years ago when former Bafana Bafana captain Mbulelo Mabizela moved to Premiership side Tottenham Hotspurs. ...Read on

‘Absent thee from felicity awhile’

We ere all quiet, deathly silent. You could have heard the proverbial pin drop if you had been there, except of course that you were not and so you could not have heard the proverbial, or — indeed, for that matter — any other, pin drop. But you would have heard the proverbial pin drop if you had been there. I had been out for lunch with two friends. Where we were they did not have the channel that was live from Singapore, covering the announcement of the city that had the won the right to host the Olympic Games in 2012. So I added to the revenue generated by my mobile network provider by phoning the office and asking that they alert me just before 1330 hours or once it looked like the announcement was going to be made-whichever was earlier. ...Read on

Super Eagles send bold warning to rivals

The Super Eagles might be down but they sent a bold warning to their southern African rivals — Angola and Zimbabwe — last week that they are not out of the running for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. The Nigeria Football Association boosted the Super Eagles' technical department by drafting former internationals Samson Siasia and Daniel Amokachi as assistant coaches. Siasia, who led the Nigerian Under-20 side to second place at the World Youth Championships in Holland, has been rewarded for his work with his promotion into the senior national team. Amokachi, known as The Bull during his playing days, will join Siasia as another assistant coach. ...Read on

Khoza: SA football’s dynamo

The history of South African football is being rewritten everyday as new events unfold. In every bit of the chronology of the development of the game in that country in the postapartheid era, there is a name that one simply cannot leave out. It is the name Irvin Khoza. This is the man who has played a truly leading role in the remarkable rise of South Africa football, whose climax will be their hosting of the 2010 Fifa World Cup finals - a first by an African country. Khoza (57), nicknamed "Iron Duke" or "The Princess of Darkness" proudly wears several hats within the administration of the game in the Rainbow Nation. ...Read on

Retired soccer referees, instructors from SADC hold workshop

Retired soccer referees and instructors from SADC countries who gathered here for a weeklong FIFA Referees' FUTURO Course left the Namibian capital with one voice after the course brought uniformity in the different “slight interpretations” usually made by match officials. Speaking on the sidelines of the course, FIFA's Germany based instructor Merere Gonzales, noted that there had been some different theoretical understandings of the game, which affected practical performance during a match. ...Read on

Namibia out of World Cup

The Namibian national cricket team butchered at the recent International Cricket Council (ICC) Tournament in Northern Ireland arrived in the capital with coiled tails and a swarm of unanswered questions over the future of the team. Having failed to make it to the Caribbean World Cup in 2007, Namibia now ponders on the future of National coach Andy Waller whose contract with the NCB expires this July. ...Read on