July 20, 2022
The brief from today:
CAF announces Player of the Year shortlist
CAF has resumed its awarding of the CAF Player of the Year after a pause since 2019 due to COVID. This year’s contenders included some of the usual names, and the shortlist was officially announced today with: Sadio Mane, Edouard Mendy, and Mohamed Salah making the final three. Each player had an impressive year in their own right. Chelsea goalkeeper, Mendy, had a successful season winning the AFCON title alongside Mane, as well as the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup with Chelsea. That said, the keeper’s stellar 2020/21 season with Chelsea—where he was dominant in their run to the Champions League title—likely also contributed to his nomination this year. Salah was instrumental for Liverpool, winning the Premier League Golden Boot with his 31 goals in 51 games, propelling them to the EFL Cup and FA Cup titles. Unfortunately for him, however, he was on the losing Egypt side in that AFCON final which saw Mendy and Mane crowned champions of the continent. Mane, meanwhile, will hope his decisive penalty in Senegal’s shootout victory in the AFCON final, alongside his 23 goals in 51 games for Liverpool, which helped them win the aforementioned EFL Cup and FA Cup, will be enough to get him more votes than his fellow contenders.
Mane (L), Salah (C), and Mendy (R) are all vying for the top award in African football
Super Falcons’ protest
The Nigeria women’s national team, fresh off their AFCON semifinal penalty shootout defeat to Morocco, are refusing to train before the third-place match on Friday out of protest. Their reason for the boycott stems from unpaid bonuses they are owed by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF). The agreement is that each player is meant to receive a $100 daily allowance, $3000 per group stage win (or $1500 per draw), and $5000 for their quarterfinal victory. A conservative estimate based on the days since the tournament commenced, combined with the team’s results, would put the bonus balance at roughly $12,900. Instead, they have only been paid $1000 by the NFF thus far. As a result the team has decided to remain in their hotel rather than go to training. The NFF has blamed the delinquent payments on the fact that funding they are meant to receive from Nigeria’s Sports Ministry hasn’t arrived. The NFF has given the players assurances that they will be paid, but considering the current state of affairs, combined with similar incidents taking place during the 2004 and 2016 AFCONs, as well as the 2019 World Cup, it’s no surprise that the team have their doubts. Only two days remain before the bronze medal match, and how this matter gets resolved remains to be seen.
Yet another payment dispute between the NFF and Super Falcons needs to be sorted
EA Sports releases trailer for FIFA 23
A few days ago, EA Sports released the cover for the upcoming FIFA 23, and it had both Kylian Mbappe and Australia/Chelsea’s Samantha Kerr on it. Well, the diversity didn’t stop there as the latest release of the successful franchise will also include Women’s Super League (WSL) sides for the first time. In addition to women’s club teams from England and France being in the game, there will also be international sides involved as well. The release date for FIFA 23 is September 30, and it will be the last version released by EA Sports with the FIFA branding as the over two decade partnership has ended. Going forward, the game will be called EA Sports FC, and besides the name change, it will be interesting to see what other modifications will be added.