Eritrea Withdraws Team From 2026 World Cup Qualifiers

Published

2 years ago

November 11, 2023

Eritrea has withdrawn its national men’s team from next week’s World Cup qualifiers, the global football governing body FIFA said, without giving further details.

The country, which has been blocked from African football competitions in the past because players would often flee while abroad, is considered among the most repressive countries on earth.

The unranked minnows were due to meet World Cup history makers Morocco in a Group E match on November 16.

“FIFA and CAF can confirm that the Eritrean National Football Federation has withdrawn from the FIFA World Cup 2026 preliminary competition,” FIFA said in a statement late Friday.

The group will now be contested by the five remaining teams including Zambia, Congo, Tanzania and Niger.

“All of Eritrea’s matches have been cancelled, while the rest of the match schedule for Group E remains unchanged,” FIFA said.

Both Eritrea’s men’s and women’s national football teams are not ranked on FIFA’s standing “due to not having played at least one match during the last 48 months”.

Eritrea’s last international kick of a ball was a friendly match against Sudan in January 2020, which they lost 1-0 at home.

Their most recent competitive games were in 2019 during the regional CECAFA Challenge Cup. Five footballers went missing in Uganda during the 2019 tournament, their fate is unknown to this day.

Eritreans are one of the world’s largest group of refugees, fleeing a repressive nation which restricts foreign travel and forces its citizens into indefinite military service.

In 2015 Botswana granted asylum to 10 Eritrean footballers who had refused to return home after a match against the national team.

In 2012, 18 Eritrean players claimed asylum in Uganda after a match there. Another six fled while in Angola in 2007 and 12 more did the same in Kenya in 2009.

The impoverished Horn of Africa nation has been ruled by one man, authoritarian President Isaias Afwerki since its formal declaration of independence in 1993.

It is a “one-man dictatorship” with no legislature, no independent civil society organisations and no independent judiciary, according to the Human Rights Watch.

Tobi Amusan Hits Season’s Best At Paris Diamond League

Published

22 hours ago

June 21, 2025

Editor

Nigeria sprint icon, Tobi Amusan has emerged as the winner of the Diamond League trophy for a third consecutive time.

World record holder Tobi Amusan delivered a powerful performance at the 2025 Paris Diamond League on Friday, recording a season-best 12.24 seconds in the women’s 100m hurdles to secure a strong second-place finish.

This marks the Nigerian star’s second-fastest time ever, trailing only her world record of 12.12s set in 2022.

Amusan surged in the final stretch, narrowing the gap on the USA’s Grace Stark, who had an explosive start and clinched victory with a lifetime best and meet record of 12.21s—making her the fifth-fastest woman in history over the distance. Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent followed closely in third, clocking 12.30s.

The race in Paris was a thrilling continuation of Amusan’s resurgent 2025 campaign. After beginning the season with a pair of fourth-place finishes in Xiamen (12.74s) and Shaoxing (12.66s), she rebounded in style, winning the Rabat leg of the Diamond League in 12.45s—a season-best at the time and a meet record.

Paris marked Amusan’s fourth Diamond League appearance this season, and the consistency she’s building suggests she is rounding into peak form just as major international competitions approach.

She faced a stacked field that included the likes of former world silver medallist Keni Harrison, Jamaican rising talent Ackera Nugent, Poland’s Pia Skrzyszowska, Dutch national champion Nadine Visser, Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas, and the in-form Diamond League leader, Grace Stark.

Despite the fierce competition, Amusan showcased her experience and rising form, finishing strong and scoring valuable points in the race toward the Diamond League Finals in Zurich.

She now sits fourth on the Diamond League leaderboard with 10 points, trailing Stark (23), Danielle Williams (15), and Marione Fourie (12).
(VANGUARD)

Sports

Enabulele Hails Edo-born Athletes’ International Feats

Published

2 days ago

June 19, 2025

Editor

The Executive Chairman of the Edo State Sports Commission, Hon. Amadin Desmond Enabulele, has expressed delight over the outstanding performance of Edo athletes representing Nigeria on the international stage.

Enabulele, while describing the athletes as worthy ambassadors of the state and the country in general, singled out the impressive participation of seven Edo kickboxing athletes in Team Nigeria at the African Union Kickboxing Championship in Cameroon.

In a congratulatory message signed by his media aide, Edoko Wilson Edoko, Enabulele lauded the accomplishments of Flora Ugwunwa and Christopher Michael, who clinched gold medals at the 2025 World Para Athletics (WPA) Grand Prix in Tunis, Tunisia.

INFO DAILY reports that Ugwunwa bagged gold in the F54 women’s shot put and discus events, while Michael emerged victorious in the T11 men’s 100m event.

He said: “The remarkable performance of the country’s para-athletes in Tunisia, where Nigeria finished second overall out of 42 participating nations with 10 gold, 6 silver, and 3 bronze medals, is highly commendable.”

The Edo sports boss, while recalling the impressive performance of Team Edo during the recently concluded National Sports Festival (Ogun 2024), where Edo kickboxers secured 20 gold medals, said the feat which earned many of them national call-ups.

Enabulele reaffirmed the Commission’s unwavering commitment to grassroots sports development and consistent support for para-athletes and other promising talents who continue to bring pride to Edo State and Nigeria.

“I’m proud of our athletes. Flora, Christopher, and our kickboxing team have done exceptionally well. This is what we want to see—Edo athletes in large numbers representing Nigeria at global events,” he emphasized.

Enabulele added that the achievements of Edo athletes reflect the deliberate investments in sports development by the current administration.

Sports

Full List: Maresca No Longer Needs Nine Players At Chelsea

Published

3 days ago

June 19, 2025

Editor

Chelsea are preparing for another major squad overhaul this summer, with as many as nine players set to leave Stamford Bridge.

New manager Enzo Maresca is keen to trim the squad further, targeting players who no longer fit into his long-term plans.

According to BBC Sport, the Italian tactician has identified nine players who are now available for transfer.

The players reportedly on the exit list include Raheem Sterling, Axel Disasi, Djordje Petrovic, Armando Broja, João Félix, Renato Veiga, Ben Chilwell, Carney Chukwuemeka and Lesley Ugochukwu.

Sterling and Félix were both omitted from Chelsea’s squad for the ongoing FIFA Club World Cup in the United States. Sterling, who spent last season on loan at Arsenal, struggled to make an impression at the Emirates and failed to secure a permanent move.

Félix, meanwhile, was on loan at AC Milan from January until the end of the campaign, but the Serie A club have reportedly decided against making the deal permanent.