IFFHS STATISTICS AND NEWS OF THE WEEK 20
Picture : the empty Stadium in Dortmund, but the hope for the future
IFFHS STATISTICS AND NEWS OF THE WEEK 20
GERMAN FOOTBALL RETURNED TO ACTION
Of course, the game will look and sound unfamiliar in the next weeks. Yesterday, "You'll never walk alone" was played in an empty Westfalenstadion at the local derby between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04, the usually intimidating Yello Wall nowhere to be seen ! Substitutes with facemasks, no spectator but again goals and football, taking its first tentative steps into the unknown. Someone, always, had to take the leadership and credit to Germany and the Bundesliga for the planning of the return in action so soon !
Haaland scored his 10th goal in 9 matches with Borussia Dortmund !
The whole world desparately searches for the way out amidst the Covid 19 pandemic, once again, it's Football...
Which dribbles that way out for the world!
May it be spectatorless stadia, may it be parting away with the goal celebration huddle or may it be wearing a mask at the sidelines. May it be additional officials to monitor physical distancing...
... Lockdown stories, layoff workouts, rusty feet n lack of match practice...
... The commentary too couldn't avoid the corona moments!
... But one thing was visible... The resolve to dribble the way out for the world. Goal to break the chain of Covid-19 lockdown and bring back the world to the normalcy.
No matter it's #NewNormal at the football field, it's football again which shows the way for the humanity...
The new hope, the new dawn, the new world post Covid...!
Viva Football...!!
ONE ONLY MATCH IN HISTORY !
The German Democratic Republic women team has played ONE only match in the History ! On Mai 9, 1990, the East German Team was beaten by the Czechoslovakia team 3 to 0 for the first official women match in the History of the country in Potsdam. Bernd Schröder was the coach and Sybille Brüdgam (Picture) the captain of this historical team. Six months later, after the wall of Berlin felt , the East German Football Association (DFV) and the West German Football Assciation (DFB) became one !
LEGEND
Olympique Lyonnais’s women team has won his 14th consecutive French Championship (since 2006/07) ! In all football categories, the team OL has beaten the Record of Belarus Man Champion Bate Borisov (13 consecutive titles) and joined the Lincoln, Gibraltar’s Champion between 2002 and 2016 , and Skonto ,Latvia’s Champion between 1991 and 2004.
Wendie Renard (Picture) , OL’s captain, who is only 29, has won all 14 Champion titles with OL ! She is the World Record holder , one of the best defenders in the World and the symbol of the French club.
LATE-COMERS CAMEROON PUT END TO DOMESTIC LEAGUE SEASONS.
The Cameroon Football Federation, FECAFOOT, has put an end to its domestic leagues one week after the deadline given by the Confederation of African Football, CAF, for all its 54 member associations to decide on the way forward for their various national leagues, either stopping or continuing them. A circular earlier issued by the general secretariat of CAF and sent to the various associations on April 26th required that the members make the decisions latest May 5th. But after that deadline, only ten countries had made their decisions known.
Besides putting an end to the Elite 1 and Elite 2 seasons, FECAFOOT declared the respective champions were the frontrunners when they were halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with only six playing days to go. That means, Public Works Department, PWD, Bamenda becomes only the second team in English-speaking Cameroon to win the Elite 1 championship in 97 years of football birth and development in the country. The first to do so was Tiko United, way back in 2009.
Meanwhile, FECAFOOT, besides equally putting an end to the women’s and youth leagues for the season, also decided that no team in the 18-team Elite league would be demoted; rather, the two teams at the top of the Elite 2 league would be promoted to take the league membership to 20 next season. As well, no Elite 2 league would be demoted.
It would be recalled that the football league seasons of the following countries have been cancelled: Angola, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Mauritius, Niger, and Liberia. However, while the Ethiopia federation has decided not to field teams for the African Clubs competitions next year, three others are considering how to participate in them. The Liberia federation is planning to organize play-offs amongst the four best teams on the league before its suspension to obtain representatives for the Champions League and CAF Cup next year. Burkina Faso is cancelling the season but with no team to be relegated. Rather, the leaders on the current standings are declared champions, while two best teams of the inferior league will be admitted to make an 18-team first league next season. And in Niger, last year’s champions will be representing the country in the African continental campaigns.
CONCACAF MEN’S U-20 CHAMPIONSHIP SUSPENDED
The 2020 Concacaf Men’s U-20 Championships which was originally scheduled to take place in Honduras between June 20th and July 5th has been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federation announced on Wednesday, May 13th
The federation will continue to discuss reorganization proposals with FIFA, member associations and other stakeholders.
The championship has four pots at the group stages. Pot 1 features: United States (defending champions), Mexico, Panama and Honduras. Pot 2 features: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Cuba and Haiti. Pot 3 features: Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala and Jamaica while Pot 4 features: Antigua and Barbuda, Suriname, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Aruba.
The top four teams of the tournament will qualify for the 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia as the Concacaf representatives.
CAMEROONIANS REMEMBER FORMER FRENCH COACH REDON WHO DIES AT 69.
Philippe Redon who took the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon to the 1992 African Cup of Nations in Senegal where they were eliminated at the semi-finals by the Elephants of Ivory Coast also had a stint with the Lone Star of Liberia in 2000.
The French football technician and former football attacker who died in France Tuesday, May 12th was the third French national in a parade of eight to coach the Cameroon National football team. His death which has been described by former Indomitable Lions attacking midfielder, Patrick Mboma, as a sad happening, has been an opportunity for the Cameroon football public to recall how many expatriate head coaches from France have coached the Indomitable Lions since 1961.
The first to do so was Roux who spent a couple of months in the Lions’ den in 1961 before being succeeded by fellow countryman, Dominique Colonna who would qualify them for the 1970 African Cup of Nations in Sudan before relinquishing responsibility. Next was Jean Vincent who was hired only for the 1982 World Cup in Spain, Cameroon’s maiden participation in the Finals. Claude le Roy was drafted as the Indomitable Lions trainer in 1985. He won the pioneer edition of the Afro-Asian Cup Final in 1985, AFCON viceroy in Egypt, 2 UDEAC Cups and AFCON gold in Morocco in 1988. He was later hired to steer the Lions to the 1998 World Cup in France where a Hungarian referee cheated them out of a second round qualification. Yet another Frenchman, Henri Michel bossed the Lions following their qualification for the 1994 World Cup Finals, USA’94 where he managed a squad that was crumbling under the weight of political meddling, in-house fighting at FECAFOOT, and squabbles in the den amongst players, earning a disgraceful first round elimination. In 1999, Pierre Lechantre took over and transformed the squad into a conquering one unseen yet in the history of the Cameroon National Football team. They did it so well, winning the 2000 AFCON, the first co-hosted in the history of the tournament, and earning the nickname DREAM TEAM. But then, political meddling and outright hostility within the managerial staff saw Lechantre depart unceremoniously and briefly substituted by National Technical Director, Frenchman, Robert Corfu. The eighth French national to coach the Indomitable Lions was Paul Leguen who took them to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa where they where the second team to be eliminated from the tournament.
The Late Philippe Redon, in his playing days, sported the colors of Paris St. Germain, Girondins de Bordeaux, FC Metz, AS St-Etienne, Stade Rennais, and over and above all, Rennes where he scored the club’s first-ever goal in the European Cup. The former attacker had also been part of the coaching staff of Créteil, RC Lens, and Rennes, respectively.