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Spain players end boycott after federation commits to change

The vast majority of Spain’s women’s squad agreed to end their boycott of the national team early on Wednesday after the country’s football federation (RFEF) said it would make “immediate and profound changes” to its structure.

The decision was reached around 5 a.m. local time (11 p.m. ET) after more than seven hours of meetings at a hotel in Oliva, an hour from Valencia, involving the players, RFEF officials, the National Sports Council (CSD) and the women’s players’ union FUTPRO.

Two players, Mapi León and Patri Guijarro, decided to leave the training camp, saying they are not ready represent Spain at this time, but the other 21 players have stayed and will play in the UEFA Nations League clash against Sweden on Friday.

When asked why she left the camp, Guijarro told reporters: “They are working on changes. It’s a different situation for us. It’s tough, it’s difficult. Being here, after the way everything has happened, mentally we were not ready to stay. That’s the explanation.”

León and Guijarro had boycotted the Women’s World Cup after first refusing to play for the national team in March due to the treatment of players.

Spain’s players, who clinched the country’s first Women’s World Cup title last month, had said they would not play for the national team until there were further changes at the federation, deepening a crisis that started after former RFEF boss Luis Rubiales kissed Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the World Cup presentation ceremony.

The Spain squad for the Sweden match only includes 15 players for the World Cup-winning squad, most notably omitting Hermoso who accused the RFEF of trying to divide and manipulate the players.

“A joint commission will be created between RFEF, CSD and players to follow up on the agreements, which will be signed tomorrow,” CSD President Victor Francos told reporters.

“The players have expressed their concern about the need for profound changes in the RFEF, which has committed to making these changes immediately.”

“The players see it as a rapprochement of positions. It is the beginning of a long road ahead of us,” FUTPRO president Amanda Gutierrez told reporters.

“Once again, they have shown themselves to be coherent and the vast majority have decided to stay for the sake of this agreement.”

Later on Wednesday, the RFEF announced the first measure: To remove the adjective “female” from the women’s national team’s official brand to harmonise it with the men’s squad. From now on, both will be known as “Spanish national football team.”

“Beyond it being a symbolic step, we want it to be a change of concept, and the recognition that football is football, no matter who plays it,” RFEF President Pedro Rocha said, adding this would promote a more egalitarian concept of the sport.

After most of the Women’s World Cup winners were selected for upcoming games, the players said in a joint statement they would take the “best decision” for their future and health after they studied the legal implications of being included in a squad list they had asked to be left out.

They argued the federation cannot require their presence because they alleged the call-up was not issued within FIFA’s parameters in terms of timings and procedure.

The players could have faced sanctions including fines of up €30,000 ($32,000) and the suspension of their federation licence for two to 15 years according to Spain’s Sports Act if they had refused the call-up.

Spain won last month’s Women’s World Cup final against England. Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images

“The first thing they have been told here has been: whoever is not at ease, does not feel strong enough, should know that neither the federation nor the CSD was going to apply a sanctioning process,” Francos said.

The revolt by the players was triggered after former RFEF chief Rubiales kissed forward Hermoso on the lips following Spain’s World Cup victory.

She disputed his insistence the kiss was consensual, sparking a national debate about macho culture in sport and eventually led to Rubiales’s resignation.

Spain are set to make their debut in the Women’s Nations League against Sweden in Gothenburg on Friday before playing against Switzerland in Cordoba on Sept. 26.

The Nations League will determine which teams from Europe qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

The RFEF said the players would have a late breakfast after resting and will hold their first practice on Wednesday afternoon before travelling to Gothenburg on Thursday morning.

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Nigeria National League Holds Monthly Award Ceremony In Abuja

 

The Nigeria National League has concluded plans to organize its monthly award ceremony for players and teams in the league on Tuesday, 15th April in the Federal Capital, Abuja.

 

Chief Operating Officer of the NNL, Danlami Alanana, told thenff.com that the event will commence at 2pm at the West-Point Hotel, Zone 7, Wuse.

 

Award categories include Best Behaved Team of the Month, Best Coach, Best Goalkeeper, Highest Goal Scorer, Best Goal, Best Referee and Most Valuable Player.

 

Crown FC’s Oladeji Joshua has been selected as the best goalkeeper, having kept clean sheets in three matches, while Abdullahi Umar of Kebbi United FC is the most valuable player with four goals, among these a hat-trick scored against Kada Warriors – which happened to be the first hat-trick notched in the season.

 

Umar also takes the highest scorer’s gong, while Solution FC’s Coach Emmanuel Duetsch is best coach and Gateway United is the best-behaved team, having remained without any form of caution in the period under review.

 

Gateway United’s Babatunde Taofeek notched the goal of the season, and Ogunfolaju Joshua from Osun State is the best referee of the month.   

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NFF Not Owing Late ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu – Sanusi

 

 

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has decried statements in a section of the social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to former Nigeria captain and coach, ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu, who died on Saturday.

 

Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF was owing the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu. During the first term of the Board headed by Mr. Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.

 

“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”

 

Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents. “As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”

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NDDC committed to developing athletes discovered at Niger Delta Sports Festival

 

 

A new approach to grassroots sports development will see athletes discovered at the ongoing Niger Delta Sports Festival (NDSF) undergo periodical camping where scientific methods of training would be applied.

 

Sir Itiako Ikpokpo, the Co-Chairman of the Main Organising Committee (MOC) of the festival, dropped the hint at a media parley with journalists covering the games and said over 60 athletes have already been spotted as at Day 4.

 

“This festival is not about who came first or who won gold. Our scouts are looking out for hints of potential, quality that can be groomed for future success,” Ikpokpo responded to a question about objectives of the festival.

 

He said the scouts made up of coaches, former athletes and scouts have so far submitted 64 names and most of them were not those that came first or second.

 

“We seek to set up camps for the identified athletes with a view to putting them through scientific research-based training supervised by certified coaches,” added Ikpokpo who is the lead consultant for the project.

 

“The real work is not this festival, it is to design and implement the plan to nurture the talents discovered here to go on and replace those who have been representing Nigeria,” he added.

 

Sponsored by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as part of its mandate to improve living conditions of people of the nine mandate states, the NDSF had about 3,000 athletes and 500 officials competing in 17 sports.

 

It began on April 1 and will end on April 8 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

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