football

Racism in Football: FIFA Must Live and Lead By Good Examples!

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By Adeola Aderounmu

Some things should not be taken for granted by FIFA and when necessary immediate amends should be made and apology or apologies tendered.

Where am I heading?

The coach of the Nigerian Super Eagles have been left out of the shortlisted candidates for the coach of the year award by FIFA.

In the times past, FIFA and CAF ignored the likes of Okocha for World and African footballer of the year awards even when we saw that at some points, Okocha was the best player in Africa and probably the world.

Keshi is one of only two men who has won the African Nations Cup as a player and a coach – the other being Egypt’s Mahmoud El-Gohary (source BBC Sports)

Keshi is the only African coach to have qualified two countries to the World Cup. He led Togo to the 2006 Finals but was fired before the tournament kicked off. Now he is taking Nigeria to Brazil in 2014.

The Super Eagles did not lose any gain in the campaign towards Brazil 2014.

Now, can FIFA answer this question? What is the basis/ What are the bases or criteria for shortlisting FIFA’s coach of the year?

Is it the colour of your skin?

Is it the continent you live on?

Is it the country you come from?

If FIFA’s criteria are based on achievements, why is Stephen Keshi not on the list?

Is FIFA a promoter of racism in football?

I think people and African especially should be asking questions about the activities of FIFA.

There are many scandals in the past that have been treated with kid-gloves or swept under the carpets especially the bribery scandals. No one knows how far up the scandal eventually reached, we just knew that a few scape goats were brought to the spotlight.

That Keshi did not make the shortlist is a scandal!!!

No one is saying that Keshi should win, but respect is reciprocal. Keshi has been disrespected by FIFA.

FIFA is telling Africans that the football achievements on the continent of Africa is meaningless and inconsequential, me think!

When FIFA does not respect Africa or African coaches and footballers, what do we expect from the racist football fans around the world?

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The Miracle of Berlin: Germany 4: Sweden 4

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By Adeola Aderounmu

I watched in disbelief as Sweden overtuned a 4 goal deficit and nearly snatched victory in Berlin on the 16th of October 2012.

The Germans were 3 goals up after 30 minutes with 2 goals from Klose and one from Per Mertasacker.

In the 56th minute Ozil got the 4th goal and appeared to have “sealed” the game for the Germans.

The turning point came for the Swedes when Zlatan perfectly utilised a cross from Kim Källström. Zlatan headed beyond the German goalkeeper to orchestrate one of the biggest and most inprobable comebacks in football history.

With 35 minutes to go, Sweden scored 3 goals. The last goal was scored in the 93rd minute by Rasmus Elm.

In between, Lustig and Elmander had scored one a piece and Sana missed an open net. Otherwise Sweden would have won the game.

It must have been the worst night for German football but a sweet night for Swedish football.

Adamu de-Brands Nigeria…FIFA has spoken

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Adeola

FIFA has now found Nigerian Amos Adamu guilty of trying to sell his vote for the world cup bid.

I discussed this briefly in a recent post here on this blog .

The guy has been suspended for 3 years.

I should think that the evidence against him were convincing to Fifa Ethics committee. Adamu was caught on camera and I hope he stops pushing the case himself because the video may end up on YouTube.

My concern here is the way Adamu’s image has been splashed on all the major newspapers around the world and how once again the rebranding of Nigeria has been rubbished.

This is what you get when you cannot clean your house and going ahead to trying to clean the streets.

Adamu’s shameful and disgraceful involvement in this scandal is both a reflection and a boomerang of the Nigerian civil service where everything revolves around corruption, settlements and unimaginable acceptable codes of conducts.

Just last week roads were commissioned in Ikenne Ogun State in Nigeria by Goodluck Jonathan. There are reports that the roads already have pot holes. In less than one week!

It shows that the governor of the state is corrupt and the man who left Abuja to Ikenne to commission a bad road is…?

And for the past 6 days there has not been electricity in Ikenne.

This is Adamu’s background, a society founded on rot and gross ineptitude.

He should use the last pride and dignity in him to vacate FIFA and sport altogether. But No, not in Nigeria.

I will NEVER be surprised if he is rewarded in Nigeria with the position of the Sports Minister. Nigeria has several ways of rewarding stupidity and corruption.

Unless something unthinkable happens, this case is nothing to Nigeria and the further elevation of Adamu nationally is around the corner.

You must love my country of birth.

FIFA HAMMERS NIGERIAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION

/ Adeola / 3 Comments

Nigeria is in the news again for the wrong reason. From this week we cannot play any form of football on the African continent and worldwide.

Government has intervened continuously in the administration of football in Nigeria. As a matter of fact I think FIFA shares in the blame. Nigeria has hosted major football tournaments and each time she does FIFA is always so entangled to the Nigerian government in manners that beat my imaginations.

I think the Nigerian government got carried away by the relationship it had with FIFA and so the individuals in government did not know when to draw the lines.

We have hosted the U-21 and U-17 championships and on both occasions FIFA was actually dealing directly with the Federal and States Governments. Jack Warner knows all about these.

I am not saying FIFA is totally as fault. I mean FIFA had permitted the permeation of football administration and tournament organisation by the Nigerian government on two occasions instead of insisting on the football association in Nigeria to do the proper organisation and hosting.

FIFA permitted the Nigerian government to apply the fire brigade approach on two occasions as mentioned above.

Anyway you will think that this ban will inculcate some lessons into the greedy and corrupt football/ government officials in Nigeria. Wait until the ban is lifted, it will be business as usual.

I can almost not see anywhere in Nigeria where we have learnt from history and past events. People with the shortest myopic perspective in the world live in Nigeria. As soon as an event passes, we forget the lessons and the never apply our hearts to wisdom on how to make things work better.

Football administration in Nigeria has been in the hands of crude and unintelligent minds-people who probably know nothing about football administration. If you conduct tests about football, sports and sports administration for these people, their level of mentality will leave you spell bound for the rest of your lives.

How did they get there? Good question.

In Nigeria my country of birth, merit is dead. They use one useless thing called federal character in assigning positions and assignments. It means any fool can occupy any top position because he is from a certain part of Nigeria. Nigerians are united with their lips while their hearts are far apart. They so hate one another you will not imagine the depth.

The FIFA ban is about football but it is a total reflection of what is wrong with Nigeria. It is part of the reason why poverty and diseases continue to spread like wild fires. In Nigeria the jobs are never given to the people who are qualified or fit for the positions. Some people call it paddy-paddy.

Federal character and paddy-paddy at the expense of both merit and technical know-how have completely destroyed Nigeria.

I am not happy about the ban but I am not in a rush either for it to be lifted.

Nigerians must learn one thing. That is at some point we must begin to do things the right way. We must do the right thing always.

Imagine a premiership football in Nigeria with no relegations…what type of nonsense and stupidity is that. Imagine also all the Hullaballoo about the election, annullment, court cases and so on. What is wrong with Nigeria and Nigerians?

The federal character must be abolished. The person who can and who is qualified should be elected or appointed to do a given job. If he or she fails there must be buoyant mechanisms to allow for replacement according to guidelines or constitutions.

This affects every aspect of our lives including the forthcoming (future) political elections.

Nigeria and Nigerians must negotiate the turning point of their common history, the status quo remain a consistent recipe for continuous failure and international embarrassments.


UPDATE:

FIFA provisionally lifted the ban and Nigeria can continue to play their qualifying games for the Nations Cup.

Mr. Jonathan, No, You can’t suspend Nigerian Football!

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Adeola Aderounmu

Is Goodluck Jonathan A Dictator in the Making?

There are reports that Goodluck Jonathan has suspended the Nigerian Football Team from participating in future competitions for the next 2 years. According to him this will allow Nigeria to reorganise her football.

Sometimes I wonder if Nigerian politicians are from planet earth. Does Mr. Jonathan know FIFA rules concerning football? Do we have advisers in Abuja? Does Nigeria have a Ministry of Sports that Jonathan can consult for information and knowledge about football?

You cannot suspend your team from International competition. If you do, FIFA will help you by extending the suspension for another 2 or 4 years.

Nigeria does not need to suspend her national team from International competition to be able to do things the right way. Common sense shows that that is a negative approach.

There are ignorant people running football in Nigeria and we have said it many times without number: let those who know about football run our football. Let seasoned administrators and tested hands handle our sports. There are trained sports administrators in Nigeria. Look for them.

And when it concerned football look for our ex-internationals at home and abroad. They can do things right. Bring back Stephen Keshi, call on Oliseh among many others. The list is endless!

Segun Odegbami has been in this field for decades. Look for him and people like him scattered across Nigeria. Let those who know football run our football.

Mr Jonathan does not need to suspend the National Team. That is bad judgement and an indication of dictatorial tendencies. We are supposed to be under civilian rule, not tyranny or military rule. You can’t wake up from a bad dream and say the National team is dissolved.

Please get this right. There are thousands of football talents in Nigeria who can take our country to greater heights. Catch them young and play them with their real ages!

I think the most important thing is to eliminate politics from our sports. Until then, we are only chasing shadows like Mr Jonathan is doing now.

On the other hand, rather than using such a strong hand on our football, Mr. Jonathan should use his strong hand and will to bring prosperity to Nigeria. I don’t think football is our problem.

Corruption is eating Nigerian deep, ever since 1960 anyway. If you are such a principled man, please leave the footballers alone and go after your likes-politicians who are looting and carrying away our national wealth.

Over 70% of Nigerians are living below the poverty level, please divert your energy away from the footballers and think of how you can reduce the percentage of Nigerians living under acceptable conditions of human existence.

There are loads of problems facing us in Nigeria. Football is the least of them. Go to Jos and live among the people for 1 weeks, try to understand their rotten mentalities and why they continue to kill one another.

Go to Borno and see the basis for the emergence of Boko Haram.

From East to West, from North to South, please go around and see what you can do to bring better the good life of the 50s and 60s. This country is dying, leave the footballers alone and focus on how to create employment opportunities, how to build good roads, how to make water flow into our homes and our to ensure that my children get quality education.

Above all, suspend that 10 billion naira that you are about to waste on a common party! Divert the fund into procurement of cancer testing machines for Nigerian decaying hospitals. Save a life today Mr Jonathan. The children are crying!

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