MOLATsportgist

“No Covid-19 Vaccination card, no game” – NWFL sounds warning to participating teams

The Secretariat of the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL), yesterday in Abuja announced that, henceforth for the remaining part of the NWFL Premiership, the Covid-19 Vaccination card is now a compulsory document before any league game is played.

According to the NWFL Chief Operating Officer, Modupe Shabi, all the players listed for league matches and officials must as a matter of necessity submit their Covid-19 Vaccination card for scrutiny before they are allowed to play in the league games.

Modupe Shabi noted that from the Week 3 NWFL Premiership matches on Wednesday, December 22, 2021, all the players and their officials must submit their fully vaccination card to their respective Match Commissioners before the kick off of games.

“For the NWFL Premiership remaining matches, it’s now, no Covid-19 Vaccination card, no league match. We are going to be very strict with this, this is in strict adherence to the Federal Government ‘s preventive measures against the spread of the Omicron’s Covid-19 variant which is ravaging the world today.

“We don’t want to expose our players to the dreaded Covid-19 variant. Aside from this, all Covid-19 preventive protocols must be carried out at match venues nationwide and the restrictions too, strictly obeyed.”

ICYMI: Super Eagles to face Egypt, Sudan and Guinea-Bissau in AFCON preliminary fixtures

With less than twenty days to the kickoff of the 33rd African Cup of Nations (AFCON), 24 nations set to battle are all preparing with teams releasing names of invited players to camp.

Hosts, Cameroon will flag off the tournament when they slug it out with Burkinafaso on Sunday, 9 January.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will begin their campaign without their head coach Gernot Rohr who was with them at the last tournament, when they battle the Pharaohs of Egypt at 5pm on Tuesday, 11th January.

The interim appointed, Austin Eguavoen will lead Eagles as Sudan awaits in their second game on Saturday, January 15 also at 5pm while their last group stage match will see the 3-time Champions play Guinea Bissau at 8pm on Wednesday, January 19.

The Knockouts begin with the Round of 16 on Sunday, January 23rd, while the Quarter finals will hold between January 29 and 30.

The Semifinals have been scheduled for 2&3 February, while the third place and the final will go down the same day on the 6th February, 2021.

UWCL Quarter-finals and Semi-finals draw revealed

The draw which was held on Monday at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, features the eight teams that advanced from the new group stage; the first-place teams are seeded and the runners-up are unseeded.

Both the quarter-finals and the semi-finals are over two legs. In the quarter-finals, the group winners will be at home in the second legs.

Barcelona, Bayern München, Lyon, Paris and Wolfsburg who were five of the last season’s quarter-finalists came through the group stage to reach the quaterfinals once again.

Speaking before the draw, Bayern defender, Carina Wenninger stated that: “At this stage, there are only tough opponents in the draw. But we are also aware of our strength. We were able to prove that against Lyon at home. That gives us a very good feeling. We know we can win against every team on a very good day. But we have to reach our limits.”

Defending Champions, FC Barcelona Femeni, will square up against the European debutants , Real Madrid in the quarter final of the 2021/2022 UEFA Women’s Champions League.

In the other quarter-final pairings, Juventus – one of the two sides still in the competition to have begun back in Round One – will play the seven-time champions Lyon, who eliminated the Bianconere in last season’s round of 32.

Due to being the only teams that began in round 1 to progress past the group stage, Arsenal and Juventus will have played 12 games after the quarter-finals.

Arsenal’s progress ensured they booked a 14th quarter-final in as many campaigns since the inaugural 2001/02 edition, a record tally. The 2007 Champions will face Wolfsburg –have achieved the unique feat of making the quarter-finals in ten consecutive seasons since their 2012/13 debut– and have won the competition in 2013 and 2014.

PSG who won their six games without conceding a goal – a first in a home-and-away UEFA club competition group – will battle German Bundesliga Women Champions Bayern Munich, in what is a repeat of the 2016/17 quarterfinal fixture.

UEFA Women’s Champions League Ambassador, Patrizia Panico on the draw: “This new format is very interesting and makes it more challenging, because more teams can fight for the final.”

The winner of semi-final 1 will be the designated home side in the final at Juventus Stadium. Also, there will be no away goal rule as ties level after 180 minutes in the quarter-finals or semi-finals will go to extra time irrespective of the number of goals each team has scored home and away. If the teams still cannot be separated after the additional 30 minutes then it goes to a penalty shoot-out.

Semi-final draw:
Real Madrid/Barcelona 🆚 Arsenal/Wolfsburg

Juventus/Lyon 🆚 Bayern v Paris

Quarter-finals
First leg: 22/23 March
Second leg: 30/31 March

Semi-finals
First leg: 23/24 April
Second leg: 30 April/1 May

Falconets to be in Cameroon during AFCON for FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Qualifier

Africa’s most successful team at the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup, the Falconets of Nigeria will battle their Cameroonian counterparts on January 22, 2022 in the first leg of the fourth and penultimate qualifying round for FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, Costa Rica 2022.

To qualify for this round Nigeria thrashed Congo 4-0 away in the first leg before the opponent withdrew from the competition ahead of the return leg.

Their next opponent, Cameroon also qualified on walkover after Gabon withdrew before the first leg to set up a clash with arch-rivals, Nigeria in the winner takes all round.

According to the full fixtures released by CAF at the weekend, all the first leg matches have been scheduled for the weekend of January 21-23 while return leg matches will hold in the weekend of February 4-6, 2022

Morocco, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda and Senegal all clinched places in this fourth round.

Nigeria will be away to Cameroon in the first leg match scheduled in the middle of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Cameroon 2021, which will be played in six stadia across the country.

Fourth Round Full Fixtures: First leg – January 21-23, 2022;

🇹🇿 Tanzania 🆚 Ethiopia 🇪🇹
🇺🇬 Uganda 🆚 Ghana 🇬🇭
🇲🇦 Morocco 🆚 Senegal 🇸🇳
🇨🇲 Cameroon 🆚 Nigeria 🇳🇬

Second leg – February 4-6, 2022;

🇪🇹 Ethiopia 🆚 Tanzania 🇹🇿
🇬🇭 Ghana 🆚 Uganda 🇺🇬
🇸🇳 Senegal 🆚 Morocco 🇲🇦
🇳🇬 Nigeria 🆚 Cameroon 🇨🇲

Only two teams will represent the continent at next year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica 2022.

Ramat Abdulkareem on target for Ataşehir Belediyespor in season opener

The 2021-2022 season in the Turkcell Women’s Football Super League starts with matches played on Saturday, December 18th.

Kocaeli Women’s Football Club welcomed Ataşehir Belediyespo to the Gölcük Kavaklı Stadium as the visitors won 0-4.

Eda Karataş opened the scoring before Sultan’s double gave the visitors a dominant lead.

Nigerian international, Abdulkareem Ramat completed the rout to give Taner Öner girls a great start to the new season.

Atasehir are now second on the log with goal difference behind Fomget Gençlik, and will next face Besiktas on Christmas day.

The league will see 24 teams compete in two groups (A & B), and the regular season competitions will last for 22 weeks. The teams that take the first four places in their groups will play in the championship playoffs, while the teams that take the last 4 places will play-out to relegation.

Sweden FA agrees to equal pay including parenthood insurance

Sweden has become the latest national football team to give equal pay to its men’s and women’s players.

The agreement, announced by the Swedish FA, will also include insurance costs and support during parenthood.

The agreement has been drawn up in dialogue with the men’s national team, the women’s national team and the Players’ Association. The agreement applies to participation in the national team’s activities but does not concern compensation for upcoming championships.

Bonuses at championships are excluded, because they will continue to be negotiated before each championship. The benefits, on which the form of the bonuses is based, come from FIFA or UEFA and differ greatly for both sexes.

The agreement is valid until 31 December 2024. In the new agreement, SvFF offers the opportunity for players to be able to receive support linked to their parenting, as well as to cover insurance costs for players if they are injured outside the contract period with a club.

“I am very happy that we have reached a good agreement that gives both national teams good conditions to be able to give everything on the field,” says Victor Nilsson-Lindelöf, team captain for the men’s national team.

“We are happy and it feels good that a new agreement is in place. This is another step to give us as good conditions as possible to succeed on the field,” says Caroline Seger, team captain for the women’s national team.

SvFF and the players reveal the sums in the new agreement:

• SEK 6,000 is paid to a player who participates in an A national team gathering or tournament, regardless of time period.

• SEK 4,000 is paid for victory in home matches, applies to competition matches and training matches during FIFA dates.

• SEK 8,000 is paid for victory in away matches, applies to competition matches and training matches during FIFA dates.

Also, in the new agreement there is an audience bonus:

SEK 12 per ticket sold at home international matches goes to the squad

List of Nations agreed to equal pay:

• New Zealand, 2018
• South Africa, 2019
• Australia, 2019
• Norway, 2020
• England, 2020j
• Brazil, 2020
• Sierra Leone, 2020
• Ireland, 2021
• 🆕 Sweden, 2021

Ajibade hits double, Kgatlana on target as Atlético Madrid thrash Asantewaa’s Betis

Atlético Madrid welcomed Real Betis to a 6-1 dominant victory for their match week 14 of the 2021/22 Primera Iberdrola season at the Estadio Wanda Atlético de Madrid Alcalá de Henares on Saturday.

The hosts started on a high note with Rasheedat Ajibade opening the scoring in the 10th minute after a great offensive action that the Nigerian culminated with a shot to the squad. A few minutes later, Betis tied with a goal from Paula Perea.

Santos restored the rojiblancas lead in the 34th minute after beating Thalmann. Ajibade scored the third which was her second in the last minute of the first half.

After the break, Ajibade had the opportunity to make it 4-1, but the ball went brushing the post and it was Barbara who took advantage of a rebound to score the fourth on the 69 minutes.

South African forward, Thembi Kgatlana came off the bench in the 75th minute to replaced Barbara Latorre, at the same time Nigerian Rasheedat Ajibade was replaced by Ludmila.

The two substitutes proved to be effective as they completed the rout in the 83rd (Kgatlana) and 86th (Ludmila) minute respectively.

At the other end, Ghanaian international, Grace Asantewaa was an unused substitution for Real Betis as they suffered demolition in the hands of Atlético de Madrid.

FIFA U20 WWCq: Evelyn Badu fires Ghana through, Tanzania and Senegal through to the fourth round

Ghana, Tanzania and Guinea progressed to the fourth and penultimate round of the African qualifiers for the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup, Costa Rica 2022 after positive results in their respective second leg matches of the third qualifying round on Saturday.

After playing a barren draw in the first leg, the Black Princesses of Ghana defeated the Young Copper Queens of Zambia 1-0 at the Cape Coast Stadium on Saturday, December 18, 2021 in a FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup qualifier.

A first half strike from Hasaacas Ladies player Evelyn Badu was all that the Black Princesses needed to win the game to advance to the next phase of the qualifiers.

The defeat did not only dashed Zambia’s maiden qualification dreams but also confirmed the elimination of all COSAFA representatives from the ongoing qualification campaign after the earlier exits of Botswana and South Africa.

Ghana will now play Uganda who knocked out South Africa in the previous round.

Guinea couldn’t overturned a 0-2 first leg deficit against Senegal to qualify to the final round after getting beating 3-1 (3-3) in the second leg.

Nambinty Sylla opened the scoring in the 38th minute and Fanta Sanda Camara doubled the lead to see the home side levelled on aggregate before Walimata N’Diaye secured the needed away goal just four minutes into the second half.

Nana Camara scored once again for the hosts in additional time but her effort was not enough to see them through as the visitors progressed on away goals rule after a 3-3 aggregate score.

Senegal will next face Morocco who sent the Gambia packing on a 9-1 aggregate victory.

After a narrow 3-2 win first leg result in Dar es Salaam, eight-woman Tanzanites held on to a hard fought 1-1 draw against Burundi.

U20 Women’s World Cup Qualifier: COVID hits Tanzania camp, forced to field eight players

Tanzanian forward, Emeliana Isaya Mdimu’s strike broke the deadlock in the 10th minute, before Burundi fought back to equalized few minutes later but fell short on a 3-4 aggregate.

Tanzania will take on Ethiopia in all CECAFA fourth-round showdown for a place in the final stage.

U20 Women’s World Cup Qualifier: COVID hits Tanzania camp, forced to field eight players

Sixteen members of Tanzania’s national U-20 women’s football team (11 players and 5 technical bench staff) tested positive for COVID-19 in Bujumbura before facing Burundi for the second leg match of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 2022 qualifiers.

Only nine players tested negative and the Tanzanites were forced to field 8 players against 11 players of Burundi in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica™ qualifier second leg match in Bujumbura that ended 1-1.

Despite the challenges, Tanzania qualified to the next round.

U20 Women’s World Cup Qualifier: South Africa out, Uganda and Ethiopia progress to fourth round

After winning the first leg 1-0 against South Africa at St. Mary’s Stadium, Kitende on December 3rd courtesy of Hadijah Nandago’s goal, Uganda has progressed to the fourth and penultimate round of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup Qualifiers with a goal less draw in the return leg of the third round, at the Volkswagen Dobsonville Stadium, in Johannesburg, on Friday.

Uganda will now face the winner between Ghana and Zambia to determine the teams that will qualify for the 2022 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica.

The first leg meeting between Ghana and Zambia ended goalless and the two nations will face off in the return leg this Saturday.

Ethiopia advance to the fourth & final round of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup Qualifier 8-2 on aggregate after beating Botswana 5-1 in the second leg of the third qualifying round.

The reigning CECAFA U20 women’s champions, Ethiopia picked up from where they had left in the first leg, breaking the deadlock in the 29th minute, and going 4 up by the 37th minute to place both feet in the fourth round.

They will meet the aggregate winner between Tanzania and Burundi. Tanzania won the first leg 3-2 and the second leg encounter is set for 18th December, in Burundi.

The penultimate qualifying round of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica 2022 will mark the imminence of results and only two teams will represent the continent at next year’s world cup.