Tell Magazine

    Like past editions of the Africa Cup of Nations, South Africa 2013 will be a straight battle between the minnows and giants of African football   Change, they say, is the only constant in life. In football, perhaps the only constant factor is its unpredictability. Like the last edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, proved, sometimes even the best football pundits can go spectacularly wrong, as the Chipolopolos (Copper Bullets) of Zambia tore the form books and rewrote the script to suit their own footballing history by beating tournament favourites Cote D’Ivoire on penalties in the 2012 final.   It was the first time Zambia would be lifting the AFCON trophy, after finishing as runners-up on…

  Besides the football fiesta that would be offered by the Africa Cup of Nations South Africa 2013 promises to be a celebration of culture, nature and beauty   When coach Stephen Keshi and his Super Eagles team jet out to South Africa in January 2013 for the 29th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, it would be with a mixed feeling of déjà vu and high expectations.   Keshi would have continental glory firmly in his sights, after he had captained the Eagles as a player to win its second AFCON trophy in Tunisia 1994. For the players, it would be an opportunity to redeem their image after a poor outing at the 2010 FIFA World Cup…

An international football seminar, Soccerex Seminar, kicks off today, September 27, at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos, Nigeria, with a host of football legends. Organised by Soccerex,  the internationally acclaimed football business forum, the seminar is the first ever to be held in West Africa. It runs from September 27 through to 28.   The football legends already signed up for the seminar include Sunday Oliseh, former Super Eagles midfielder; Sammy Kuffour, ex-Bayern Munich and Ghanaian legend, and Pierre van Hooijdonk, ex-Feyenoord, Nottingham Forest.   Also expected at the event are Victor Rumson Baribote, Chairman of Nigerian Premier League; Christian Karembeu, President of Fourteen SA and World-Cup wining ex-player, and Jerome Champagne, International Advisor to TP Mazembe.   The footballing legends will talk about business in…

Nigeria remains a basket case in the management and sustenance of human and material resources especially in the sports arena   The main bowl of the Abuja National Stadium finally got a hasty shave on Saturday, September 15. Even at that, it will still need a total excavation of stubborn roots and replanting of the grass before a football game could take place in the nine-year-old once magnificent N54 billion stadium. It took a public exposure in the media to draw the attention of President Goodluck Jonathan to visit the stadium on September 12 when the Super Eagles were training for their Nations Cup qualifier game with Liberia at the practice pitch.   Like everything Nigeria, Bolaji Abdullahi, minister of…