domestic football, with Altyn
Asyr beating Ahal on penalties to
win the Turkmenistan Super Cup
after a1-1 draw in Ashgabat.
EUROPE:In the Champions
League qualifying play-offs,
Olympiakos, Dynamo Kiev and
Ferencvaros secure their places
in the group stage.
WednesdaySeptember 30
EUROPE:Midtjylland, Red Bull
Salzburg and Krasnodar also book
their places in the Champions
League group stage.
QATAR:VARisusedinan
AFC club competition for the
first time, in the Champions
League quarter-final between
Al Nassr and Al Ahli Saudi FC.
GERMANY:Bayern Munich win
their fifth trophy under Hansi Flick,
beating Borussia Dortmund 3-2
in the German Super Cup.
ThursdayOctober 1
KYRGYZSTAN:FC Dordoi are
crowned champions of the Kyrgyz
Republic for the12th time after
their 5-1 victory over fellow
Bishkek outfit Alga gives them
an unassailable six-point lead
with one round remaining.
ENGLAND:Tottenham secure
their place in the Europa League
group stage after hammering
Maccabi Haifa 7-2 thanks to a
Harry Kane hat-trick. Meanwhile
Arsenal beat Liverpool 5-4 on
penalties in the EFL Cup.
PORTUGAL:Milan also seal their
place in the Europa League group
stage, requiring an astonishing
24-penalty shoot-out victory
toseeoffRioAve.
UEFA:Bayern Munich striker
Robert Lewandowski is named
UEFA Men’s Player of the Year,
while new Chelsea signing
Pernille Harder collect the
Women’s gong.
FridayOctober 2
FRANCE:Neymar registers his
first goals of the season in a 6-1
victory for Paris Saint-Germain
over Angers.
SaturdayOctober 3
MALAYSIA:Johor Darul
Ta’zim wrap up their seventh
consecutive Malaysia Super
League title by beating Sabah
4-1 to move eight points clear
with just one game to go.
ENGLAND:Everton’s perfect start
to the season continues with a
4-2 victory over Brighton, with
he slow opening up of borders
across Africa, amid much caution
over the coronavirus pandemic,
means the resumption of Africa
Cup of Nations qualifiers will be
the first competitive football
in a year for the continent’s national teams.
The preliminaries ahead of the next Cup of
Nations finals are still only at the halfway stage
and the tournament itself put back a year as
a result of the COVID-19 crisis.
There are 23 places up for grabs at the finals,
along with hosts Cameroon, who are competing
in the preliminaries but guaranteed a berth at
the finals.
The qualifying competition is set up such that
it is virtually guaranteed that all the continent’s
powerhouses should qualify, as the top two teams
in each of the groups (except that of Cameroon)
go on to the finals.The race to Cameroon 2022 finally
returns after an entire year’s hiatusHero’s welcome...
Madagascar’s team
coach is swamped
after their AFCON
debut in 2019T
Fourteen countries have previously won the
African championship and the overwhelming majority
of them should return for another tilt at the title. Only
Ethiopia, long past their heyday of the early ’60s, and
surprisingly Zambia look in peril of missing out.
Ethiopia did have an impressive home win over
the Ivory Coast last time out but will need to get
more points, particularly home and away over Niger
at the resumption of the qualifiers, to stay in realistic
contention of qualifying.
Realistically, the Ivorians, despite all the tumult
at association level, should scramble back to win the
group and Ethiopia need to catch up to Madagascar,
who head the Group K standings after registering
victory in their opening pair of matches.
Madagascar debuted at the last finals in Egypt
and proved the fairy-tale story of the tournament- their motley crew of players, drawn from clubs
literally across the world, were eventually
eliminated in the quarter-finals.
Africa
MARK GLEESONAFCON qualifiers
re-commence