JOHANNESBURG: A civil war in Sudan has not prevented clubs competing to be national champions and qualify for the 2025/26 Confederation of African Football (CAF) competitions.
Here, AFP Sport also reports on why the Libyan championship play-offs will be staged in Europe, and a huge boost for Burkina Faso as they seek a maiden World Cup appearance.
An eight-club mini-league is being held in Sudan amid a civil war, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives and trigged a massive hunger and displacement crisis, according to the United Nations.
Matches are being staged at two stadiums in a northeastern area controlled by the Sudanese army, who have been battling the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023.
The top two finishers, currently Al Hilal and Al Merrikh after three rounds, qualify for the Champions League while those coming third and fourth go into the second-tier Confederation Cup.
Al Hilal, winners of the Sudanese championship a record 30 times, have lost Democratic Republic of Congo-born coach Florent Ibenge to Tanzanian club Azam.
Ibenge joined the Omdurman outfit in 2022 and guided them to the Champions League quarter-finals last season despite being unable to play at home due to the civil war.
The 63-year-old Congolese inherits a club that finished third in the last Tanzanian title race behind Young Africans and Simba and will compete in the Confederation Cup.
Libya will stage the six-club national championship play-offs in Italian city Milan from July 15-31 instead of in the north African country owing to the political situation there.
The west of the nation, including the capital Tripoli, is run by a United Nations-recognized government, but a rival administration controls the east.
Leagues based in the west and east preceded the play-offs, which will feature the top three clubs in each — Al Ahly Tripoli, Asswehly, Al Ittihad, Al Ahly Benghazi, Al Hilal and Al Akhdar.
Yannick Ferrera has been named coach of five-time African champions Zamalek of Egypt in succession to Portuguese Jose Peseiro, who took Nigeria to the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations final.
The 44-year-old Belgian has coached in his homeland, Saudi Arabia and Cyprus and takes over a club that finished behind Al Ahly and reigning African champions Pyramids in the Egyptian league.
Coming third means the White Knights will miss out on the lucrative and prestigious Champions League, and must attempt to win the Confederation Cup a third time instead.
Burkina Faso will end years of homelessness by hosting Egypt during September in a 2026 World Cup Group A qualifier.
Renovations to the national August 4 Stadium in the capital Ouagadougou have been completed and approved for international fixtures by CAF inspectors.
The clash is critical for the Burkinabe Stallions as they trail the Pharaohs by five points with four rounds remaining and only the group winners are guaranteed a place at the global tournament.
Sudanese clubs seek league title amid civil war
https://arab.news/476xh
Sudanese clubs seek league title amid civil war
- A civil war in Sudan has not prevented clubs competing to be national champions and qualify for the 2025/26 Confederation of African Football (CAF) competitions
Trump said Iran ‘welcome to compete’ in World Cup, says Infantino
US President Donald Trump has said that Iran is “welcome” to participate at the upcoming World Cup in North America, despite the ongoing Middle East war, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday.
The war, triggered by US-Israeli strikes on February 28, has thrown into doubt Iran’s participation at this summer’s men’s football World Cup, jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.
During a meeting to discuss preparations for the competition, “we also spoke about the current situation in Iran,” Infantino, the head of world football’s governing body, wrote on Instagram.
“During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States,” he wrote.
The comments marked the first time that Infantino, who in December created a FIFA peace prize and awarded it to Trump, has acknowledged the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Trump’s remarks to Infantino are a stark contrast to his comments to Politico last week.
Trump told Politico: “I really don’t care” if Iran play at the World Cup.
FIFA’s president has grown close to Trump since he returned to the White House, even attending his inauguration.
Asylum claims
Iran’s federation football chief on Tuesday cast doubt on his team’s participation in the sporting extravaganza, following the defection of several women footballers from the Islamic republic during the Asian Cup in Australia.
“If the World Cup is like this, who in their right mind would send their national team to a place like this?” Mehdi Taj asked on Iranian state television.
While the event is spread out across three countries, Iran are scheduled to play all three group games in the United States, two in Los Angeles and one in Seattle.
Should Iran withdraw from the sport’s quadrennial showpiece, it would be the first time a country did that since France and India pulled out of the 1950 finals in Brazil.
On Tuesday, at the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia, some players from Iran’s team claimed asylum after they came under fire from state television for not singing the country’s national anthem before one match.
Five players, including captain Zahra Ghanbari, slipped away from the team hotel under the cover of darkness to claim sanctuary from Australian officials, the Australian government announced.
At least two more team members applied to stay later in the day, according to local media.
However, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Wednesday that one of them had subsequently changed her mind.
Burke said in parliament on Wednesday that he had since been advised that one of the group “had spoken to some of the team mates that left and changed their mind.”
“She had been advised by her team mates and encouraged to contact the Iranian embassy,” he said.
“As a result of that, it meant the Iranian embassy now knew the location of where everybody was.”
The remaining players have been moved from a safe house to another location, he said.
