Keshi cleared by Fifa
Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi has been given a warning and no banning by Fifa for alleged racist comments towards former Malawi coach Tom Saintfiet ahead of their World Cup qualifier in September.
According to a Fifa spokesperson, who was interviewed on Monday, Fifa decided to impose a warning on Keshi over his alleged comments.
The decision was reached after the Chairman of the Fifa Disciplinary Committee, Claudio Sulser, referred to Article 57 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code.
Sulser said that Keshi must guarantee that incidents of such high gravity do not occur again in the future.
“If such incidents should happen again, the Fifa Disciplinary Committee will be left with no other option than to impose sanctions against the coach Stephen Keshi,” the Fifa spokesman told reporters.
Article 57 states that: “Anyone who insults someone in way by using offensive gestures or language, or who violates the principle of fair play or whose behaviour is unsporting in any other way may be subject to sanctions in accordance with Article 10 ff”.
The decision will be welcome news to Nigeria officials, Keshi and all Nigerian fans ahead of the Super Eagles trip to Addis Ababa to face Ethiopia in the 2014 World Cup qualifying play-off on October 13.
Uche Nwofor Faces Huge Pay Cut
Nigeria striker Uche Nwofor could get a huge pay cut come next season if he stays back in the Dutch league reports indicate.
The 22-year-old Nwofor is currently on a foreign player’s salary, but by next season he will qualify as a playing Dutch, which means he will then receive far less cash than a foreign player is supposed to earn.
The minimum a foreign player is allowed to earn at the start of his career is an annual salary of 300,000 Euros gross and it is believed that former Enugu Rangers and Shooting Stars striker, Nwofor is on about 360,000 Euros.
“He will become a playing Dutch next season and so if he remains in Holland next season, he would most likely take a pay cut,” a top transfer expert informed reporters.
Nwofor, who has been called up by Nigeria for this month’s World Cup playoff in Ethiopia, moved to Holland in 2011 after he emerged top scorer at the African Youth Championship in South Africa, which Nigeria won.
He reportedly shunned several top European clubs including Benfica of Portugal to join modest Dutch club VVV Venlo.
VVV were relegated last season and he is presently on loan to Dutch top-flight club SC Heerenveen.
He has yet to make his debut for Heerenveen.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULTS (1/10/13)
Arsenal 2 — 0 Napoli
B/Dortmund 3 — 0 Marseille
Ajax 1 — 1 AC Milan
Celtic 0 — 1 Barcelona
Bucuresti 0 — 4 Chelsea
FC Porto 1 — 2 A/Madrid
FC Basel 0 — 1 Schalke 04
Zenit 0 — 0 Austria Wien
EUROPA LEAGUE FIXTURES (3/10/13)
Kuban k — Valencia
Swansea — St Gallen
Chornomorets — PSV
Elfsborg — S/Liege
Wigan — Martibor
Rubin Kuzen — Waregem
Dnipro — Fiorentina
APOEL — Frankfurt
Seville — Freiburg
Lyon — Guimareaes
Rijeka — R/Betis
Trabszonspor — Lazio
Anzhi — Tottenham
AZ Alkmar — POAK
NPFL WEEK 35 RESULTS
Sharks fc 3 — 1 Heartland
3SC 1–1 Enyimba
Pillars p–p Kwara Utd
Akwa Utd 0–0 Nembe City
Bayelsa Utd 1–0 Wolves
Lobi Stars 2–0 Gombe Utd
ABS fc 0–0 Nasarawa Utd
Sunshine 1–1 Rangers
Wikki T 2–0 Kaduna Utd
