Federation International de Football
Association (FIFA) is currently looking into several options in their bid to
effect changes to the rules guiding players’ nationality switch after
representing another country at junior level. Head of FIFA stakeholders
committee, Victor Montagliani, confirmed they are looking into the rule, which
currently forbid players who have played a competitive international for one team
from switching to another national side even when they hold dual nationality.
Already the Cape Verde football federation has proposed for the rule to be
relaxed especially when the player has only featured in few games for his
original side, but has no chance of earning a recall. The other option
the Montagliani lead committee are looking at is a compensation scheme in cases
where a player goes through the training system of one country and represents
it at youth level before switching to another.
Presently, Nigeria have three players
who have represented England at youth level in Victor Moses, Alex Iwobi and Ola
Aina representing in the Super Eagles; and if the new rule is approved, England
could be entitled to some compensation from Nigeria.
Leicester City set to appoint Claude
Puel as new manager
Former Premier League Champions
Leicester City have been hunting a new manager since sacking Craig Shakespeare.
And former Southampton manager Claude Puel is seen as the ideal man to sort out
the Foxes after leading Saints to eighth last term. Former Manchester City
manager Manuel Pelligrini has also been linked with the job and current Premier
league bosses like Watford's Marco Silva, Burnley's Jojn Dyche and Huddersfield
manager David Wagner. Caretaker-chief Michael Appleton led Leicester to only
their second Premier League win of the season 2-1 at Swansea on Saturday,
October 21, as they moved out of the drop zone. And the ex-Blackburn chief said
afterwards he hoped to "be given a chance" to revert to assistant
boss when a permanent manager was found.
Then Appleton guided the Foxes to an
impressive passage into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on
Tuesday evening of October 24 with Kelechi Iheanacho, Islam Slimani and
substitute Riyad Mahrez.
We are aiming for the semifinals in
Russia 2018
Super Eagles technical adviser Gernot
Rohr has revealed that his team is aiming to reach the semifinals of the 2018
FIFA World Cup in Russia. The German led the team to Russia in a game to spare
earlier this month and he has already began planning his next move for the
team. Nigeria have advanced into the last 16 of the World Cup on three previous
occasions, including in 2014 when they were beaten 2-0 by France.
“They (Nigeria) are already out
of the group stage to go to the round of 16, especially in 2014 when they faced
the French team,” Rohr told L'Equipe.
“We will try to do well,
unfortunately, here, the ambitions are a little more excessive: the team must
reach at least the semifinals. “We have the ambition of the leaders to manage,
even if I get along very well with the president (Amaju Pinnick), who came to
get me. “There are many people at the federation (NFF). As in all African
countries, it's never easy. But for now, it's going very well.”
Nigeria face Algeria on November
10 in their final World Cup qualifier before facing Argentina in a
friendly four days later in Russia.
Former Brazilian goalkeeper escapes
death from armed men, lose SUV to them
Former Brazil international Jefferson
was attacked by an armed gang on his way to training for his club Botafogo and
had his Range Rover jacked in the process. The goalkeeper had been on his way
to training when a group of men in a car wielding pistols pulled up alongside
him and forced him out of the car. The 34-year-old, capped 22 times for Brazil
between 2011 and 2015, is seen kneeling on the pavement with his hands in the
air. The shocking footage, captured on CCTV, then sees the three thugs speed
off in Jefferson's Range Rover, abandoning their other car. Jefferson was
driving the 4x4 in Rio de Janeiro.
According to local reports, police
recovered the Range Rover during a raid. The car was being stored in the Rio
suburb of Fazedinha. Jefferson wrote on social media: "I've sadly become
another victim of the violence that ravages our city. I was on my way to
training in Botafogo when I was overpowered by armed men who intended to steal
my car and my belongings. God gave me the calmness to deal with the dangerous
situation, and thanks to Him I did not suffer any violence."
The goalkeeper had a spell in Europe
between 2005 and 2009 with Turkish sides Trabzonspor and Konyaspor. Jefferson
helped Brazil win the Confederations Cup in 2013. He was No 2 for Brazil in the
2014 World Cup - sitting on the bench when Germany humiliated the Selecao 7-1
in the semi-final.
By Mercy Kukah
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