IFFHS NEWS AND STATISTICS OF THE WEEK 51
Picture : Pele was crowned by IFFHS as THE WORLD'S BEST FOOTBALL PLAYER OF THE XXth CENTURY (1901-2000).
THE FIRST TO WEAR MASK !
The 2020 Concacaf Champions League resumed last week with leg two of Olimpia versus Montreal — 280 days after the Honduran side had disappointed 23,000 fans inside the Impact’s Olympic Stadium by snatching a crucial 2-1 road win.
One of the sights of the match was Olimpia captain Jerry Bengtson — already a legend of the Concacaf region — wearing a mask for the entirety of his 76 minutes on the pitch. Bengtson , 33 years old, is now the first player to wear a face mask during a professional football match. The only person to come close to matching that record is the18’s very own David Moore, who wore a mask during amateur hour.
EL KHATIB ‘S RECORD !
Al Ahly’s President Captain Mahmoud El Khatib became last month the first in Africa to win the CAF Champions League as a Player and as a President !
The Red Eagles clinched the ninth African title in the Club’s History after defeating Zamalek in the Caf Champions League Final. El Khatib won the title as a Player in 1982 and 1987, and in 2020 he guided the club to win the title as a President to set an impressive Record.
Known by the nickname ‘Bibo’, El Khatib was an icon of Egyptian football in the 1970s and ‘80s. The striker was honoured as African Footballer of the Year in 1983 and was also named as the Arab Sportsman of the 20th century. He was recognised by IFFHS as the joint 11th-best African player of the last century and by CAF in 2007 as the second greatest. On the international front, he won the 1986 Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt and represented the country at the Olympics two years prior, while his club career saw major success with Cairo giants Al Ahly.
‘Bibo’ won 10 Egyptian Premier Leagues and Ahly’s first two African Cup of Champions Clubs (now the CAF Champions League) titles in 1982 and 1987, amongst many other honours and the new CAF Champions League title as President in 2020.
FACTS AND RECORDS
- François Letexier, the future of French Refereeing, made his UEFA Champions League debut last week at just 31 years, 7 months and 16 days of age, becoming the 3rd youngest Official EVER to referee a game in the Top European Competition.
- Inaki Williams, the striker of Athletic Club Bilbao, has played all matches with his club in the Spanish LA LIGA since five years, 171 consecutive games ! We must remember April 2016 to see Bilbao without Williams on the field !
- English referee Rebecca Welsh has been promoted to UEFA Elite. She is the only female Referee promoted to the highest level of European Refereeing
- Pele (Brazil) is always the recordman of Hat Tricks (92) in the Football History ! Cristiano Ronaldo (56) and Lionel Messi (54) took places 2 and 3 in the Ranking. He received already in 2000 the IFFHS Trophy of the World's Best and
- Chelsea FC Women continue to build their Dream team. Sweden’s and FC Rosengard’s Goalkeeper Zecira Musovic has signed a contract with Chelsea for the next 2,5 years !
- Robert Lewandowski (Poland/FC Bayern München) and Lucy Bronze (England/Olympique Lyon/Manchester City) have won the FIFA Player of the Year Awards 2020.
- Ada Hegerberg, the best European Goalscorer of the Champions League History, has signed a new contract with Olympique Lyon until 2024. She came at 19 years old to Lyon in 2014, and has already scored 220 goals in 182 games !
- Youssoufa Moukoko scores his first BUNDESLIGA goal on December 18 with Borussia Dortmund. At the age of 16years 28days, he becomes the youngest goal scorer in Bundesliga history.
18 MONTHS LATER
Veteran goalkeeper Petr Cech returned to action for the first time since May 2019 after he was named in Chelsea's developmental squad for Monday's Premier League 2 game against Tottenham Hotspur at the Kingsmeadow stadium. It was Cech’s first game since retiring as an Arsenal Goalkeeper beore his return to Chelsea as the club’s technical and performance director in June 2019.
Cech, who played for Chelsea from 2004-2015 and was appointed technical advisor in June 2019, has been training with the senior team this season and was named emergency goalkeeper cover in their Premier League squad for the 2020-21 campaign.
The Czech, who won 13 major trophies, including four Premier League titles and the Champions League at Chelsea, was included as back-up to Frank Lampard's side to safeguard against concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cech, 38, had retired as a player in May 2019 after playing for Arsenal in its Europa League final defeat by Chelsea
45 YEARS AGO
Picture : Cameroon’s first President Ahmadou Ahidjo hans African Cup Winner’s Cup to Paul Nlend of Tonnerre Yaounde on December 14, 1975
The first edition of the African competition fashioned on the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup was organized in 1975 with the final won by Tonnerre Kalara Club of Yaounde, Cameroon after defeating Stella d’Adjamé of Ivory Coast in Yaounde on December 14 that year.
For that inaugural edition, 15 national cup winners took part after Malagasy representative, Fortior Mahajanga declared forfeiture. Of the 25 matches played, scoring 59 goals, the second leg quarterfinal fixture between host, Tonnerre and Al Ittihad El Iskandary of Egypt stood under a bright spotlight for the wrong reason. The Egyptians who had won the first leg match 4-0 abandoned the second half on grounds of what they described as poor officiating and hostile home fans. Tonnerre was up 3-0 when the match ended prematurely.
In the final square-off, Albert Roger Milla led Tonnerre in their 1-0 conquest of Stella in the first leg match in Abidjan on November 3, 1-0, followed by a 4-1 trouncing in Yaounde on December 14. Cameroon’s first President, Ahmadou Ahidjo handed the trophy to captain Paul Nlend as the club pioneered the win of the competition.
Before the African Cup Winners Competition was abolished in 2004, Egyptian Club, Al Ahly was keeping the record of the highest number titles, 4, while the last winner was ES Sahel of Tunisia.
STATE BROACAST
The Cameroon Radio Television, CRTV, kicked off its build-up to next month’s African Football Championships, CHAN 2020, last night with a 90-minute live program, “CRTV’s Kick Off” running simultaneously on all its platforms. The event was attended by some members of government, heads of diplomatic missions in Yaounde, sports administrators and fans.
CRTV’s CEO and one of the country’s most celebrated journalists, Charles Ndongo and deputy, Emmanuel Wongibe who supervised the sumptuous event earned a huge pad on the back even from detractors who have scarcely ever given them soft landing. From reports on the presentation of all 16 finalists, the four host venues, facts and figures of the competition, preparations nation-wide and live interview of the country’s Sports Minister, Narcisse Moulle Kombi, it was a compact night of jollity, revelry and expectation as MCs Bennen Buma and Eveline Essomba held viewers spellbound in their presentation with a seductive musical accompaniment of the company’s orchestra. .
Some 2130 CRTV personnel have been mobilized in the build-up to the three-week competition with a resolve to improve on the highly applauded performance when they covered the 2016 Women’s African Cup of Nations. With the die cast and the challenge to record a 100% success rate, all platforms(radio, tv, web) are already being inundated with special programs, updates and vibes ahead of the CHAN for CRTV’s multi-million audience the world over.
THE FIRST EVER IN SAUDI ARABIA !
The cup final was the culmination of the opening WFL season, the first league of its kind in Saudi Arabia, which started on Nov. 17 with 24 teams from Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam taking part in a city qualification round before the semifinals and final. The “final four” saw Challenge Riyadh beat Eastern Flames in the first semifinal, with Jeddah Eagles defeating The Storm in the other before the Riyadh team saw off their Jeddah rivals in the final.
A team of coaches was assigned to the league’s newly formed teams, with four international coaches and four local coaches. Twelve of Asia’s leading female elite referees were flown to the Kingdom to referee all WFL matches. The second season of the WFL will kick off in 2021.