The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has imposed an 18-month period of ineligibility on the Ivorian player Sylvain Gbohouo after he tested positive for the substance trimetazidine following a FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifying match played on 16 November 2021.
The particular substance is included in the WADA Prohibited List 2021 under the S4.4 Metabolic Modulators class.
As a result of the presence of the prohibited substance in his sample, the player was found to be in violation of article 6 of the FIFA Anti-Doping Regulations as read in conjunction with article 17 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.
The aforementioned suspension period starts on 23 December 2021, the date on which the player was provisionally suspended by the chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.
In line with article 30 of the FIFA Anti-Doping Regulations, the suspension covers, inter alia, all types of matches, including domestic, international, friendly and official fixtures.
The motivated decision was notified today and has been published on legal.FIFA.com.
The NBA Africa and KFC Africa Tuesday announced a marketing partnership that will see NBA Africa and KFC Africa collaborate on a number of promotions and activations for basketball fans across eight countries on the continent: Botswana, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania.
Through the partnership, KFC Africa and NBA Africa will launch co-branded product campaigns, limited-edition merchandise giveaways, and limited-edition KFC x NBA promotions, including the opportunity for basketball fans to win tickets to live NBA games in the U.S. and complimentary access to NBA League Pass, the league’s premium live game subscription service. Additional details about the promotions will be announced at a later date.
“We are proud to announce this exciting partnership between our iconic KFC brand and one of the most epic sports brands in the world,” said KFC Marketing Director, Rest of Sub-Saharan Africa, Emmanuel Kasambala.
“As a brand that has been on the continent for 50 years, we are passionate about connecting with the youth at the touchpoints that really mean something to them. So, beyond the extremely cool products and merchandise we will offer, we have longer-term plans to inspire the youth to achieve more in life through basketball. We are exploring various grassroots basketball initiatives, like the refurbishment of courts, and basketball clinics in communities. It is about inspiring and enabling the youth to reach for, and achieve, their dreams.”
On his part, NBA Africa CEO Victor Williams said;
“We are excited to partner with KFC Africa to launch a series of fan-centric activities and promotions as part of our efforts to provide compelling ways for basketball fans across the continent to engage with the NBA.”
“We want to meet our fans where they are and make the game of basketball more accessible, and through this partnership with one of the world’s most iconic food brands, we look forward to reaching new and existing fans and providing them with more opportunities to experience the NBA.”
KFC has been in Africa for over 50 years and has over 1200 restaurants across South Africa and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.
NBA Africa is a standalone entity that conducts the NBA’s business in Africa, including the Basketball Africa League (BAL), and was formed in May 2021. The NBA has a long history in Africa and opened its African headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2010 before opening additional offices in Dakar, Senegal, and Lagos, Nigeria.
The Cranes of Uganda defeated Ivory Coast 0-1 in a pre-Afcon friendly played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi Saturday.
Farouk Miya’s penalty goal was all that was needed for the Cranes to register a famous win in their last preparation match before they take to the field on 22 June against DRC.
Ivory Coast coach Ibrahim Kamara started Nicolas Pepe, Jonathan Kodjia and Max Gradel upfront in a 4-3-3 formation while Zaha and Bony started the game on the bench.
On the other hand, Sebastian Desabre had Farouk Miya and Lumala Abdu spearheading a 4-4-2 attack.
It was Uganda who took the lead with a Farouk Miya penalty in 35 minutes to give Uganda a lead against the mighty Elephants.
FUFA
✔@OfficialFUFA
It is Half time
Miya goal seperates the two sides
Ivory Coast 0-1 @UgandaCranes
Chelsea legend Didier Drogba has confirmed his retirement from playing, ending “an amazing 20 years”.
The Ivory Coast striker, 40, had two spells at Chelsea, scoring 164 goals in 381 games and winning four Premier Leagues and the 2012 Champions League.
He spent the last 18 months of his career with US side Phoenix Rising, the club he co-owns.
“After 20 years, I have decided to put an end to my playing career,” he told BBC World Service’s Sportshour.
It had been expected Drogba would retire after the United Soccer League Cup final earlier this month, with his last game a 1-0 defeat by Louisville City in the final of the United States’ second tier.
“It’s the best way to end, helping some young talent to develop,” he said.
“To give something back to the game was the best way to finish as I have learned so much in the game.”
Drogba did not play top-flight football until the age of 23, when French side Guingamp signed him from Ligue 2 Le Mans in January 2002.
He moved to Marseille 18 months later – and the following year completed a reported £24m move to Chelsea, where he had the best spell of his career.
Drogba won three Premier League titles in his first eight years at Chelsea, including in each of his first two seasons in England, as well as four FA Cups and two League Cups.
He also won the Premier League Golden Boot in 2006-07 and 2009-10.
He left on a high, scoring the winning penalty in the Champions League final shootout against Bayern Munich.
Drogba then spent six months with Shanghai Shenhua and a year and a half with Galatasaray before returning to Chelsea.
He scored seven goals in 2014-15, winning a fourth Premier League title and a third League Cup, leaving the club as their fourth highest scorer of all time.
In 2015, he joined Major League Soccer side Montreal Impact and then became player-owner of Phoenix Rising.
He scored 65 times in 105 caps for the Ivory Coast, playing in three World Cups and being named African Footballer of the Year twice.
Drogba’s career in his own words
Didier Drogba has looked back on his career and life with Football Focus – watch the full interview on Saturday’s programme at 12:00 GMT on BBC One.
‘My mum was in tears’ – growing up and leaving Ivory Coast
Drogba grew up in the Ivorian capital Abidjan and moved to France at the age of six to live with his uncle.
“Tito means ‘my friend’. My mum calls me this. She was young when she had me so I was a friend, a confidant, someone she can rely on. Still now she calls me that because things will never change.
“What I remember is a young kid always with his mum and dad. My mum was 16 when she had me and my dad was working at the bank. My uncle was living in Europe and coming back and forth. I was curious to see what was happening on the other side of the world, he was always bringing sweets or footballs or shirts.
“The idea of leaving Ivory Coast when I was six came when my uncle and his wife came to Ivory Coast and she was playing with me and I got close to her. My dad wanted me to go to France to have a better chance to study, a better chance than he had.
“I was excited to leave Ivory Coast and go to France until I got to the airport. My mum was in tears, I could see sadness in her face. I realised this six-year-old would leave his mum and dad to go to a place he doesn’t even know. As a kid I was sad too, everything changed.”
‘Why are you playing at right-back?’ – start of a career
“I was 11 when I started playing with a team for the first time in the north of France in Dunkirk.
“I started as a right-back. I was going up and down, scoring goals from set-pieces, coming inside and shooting. My uncle said ‘why are you playing as a right-back? As a family we only have strikers’.
“When I moved to another city I introduced myself as a striker. Luckily enough I scored 40 goals that season and that’s where everything started.
“Before joining Le Mans in 1998 I was writing letters to first division teams for a trial and I would never get a positive answer but I never gave up. When I had the chance to go to Le Mans I jumped on it.
“Moving to Marseille was part of my dream – I used to say to my friends when I was at Le Mans ‘you will see one day I will play with this team’. In 2003 I moved to Marseille so my dream became a reality. It was the best dream I ever had in my life.”
‘He changed my life’ – finding Jose
In 2004, Drogba was signed by Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho for £24m.
“When someone gives you the chance to buy one of the best payers in the world and he says ‘no, this is the guy I want’ it makes you feel special. I always tried to give it back to him.
“He changed my life, he changed the story of my family. He told me if you want to be the best you have to come and play with one of the best teams in the world and one of the best managers in the world… no, the best manager in the world. Everyone was saying £24m was a lot of money. People doubted. When I left I think the way everyone reacted, I think I covered the investment.
From hospital to Champions League hero
In August 2011, Drogba was knocked unconscious in a game against Norwich and taken to hospital. Nine months later he would score the decisive penalty to secure Chelsea’s first ever Champions League title.
“If it was a movie, I don’t know if you could have written the scenario better. The last Chelsea game for me, last chance to play in the Champions League final.
“The season was not going so well for me, I had quite a few injuries and months before that I was at the hospital. To have the chance to be in the most important day of this club after this big incident that really scared me, that was the best moment as a player with a Chelsea shirt.”
‘I would imagine fans celebrating’ – coping in the big moments
“When I was in big games I was always reminding myself that when I was outside my parents’ house, putting the ball on the ground and thinking about scoring a penalty in the last minute of a game – I was in a world where I would imagine fans celebrating. These dreams were so powerful that when I had a chance to realise them, I knew being in a final was a lucky part of my career.”
Bringing peace to a nation
Moments after helping the Ivory Coast secure World Cup qualification in 2005, Drogba sent an impassioned message for peace to his civil war-torn nation. Within a week there was a ceasefire.
“Before being a footballer, I’m a human being, I’m a man. I have a life to lead, I want to live in a peaceful country. My country was at war and tensions were there. I care for my country and I did what I had to do for my country. The country is divided and the only thing that unites us is football.
“When I decided to play for Ivory Coast I didn’t know I would one day captain the team and lead them to three World Cups tournaments. I never imagined that, that I would play such an important role in the country’s history. I had the opportunity to play for France, but what I achieved with Ivory Coast – and as a man – I don’t think I could have done that for France.”
Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha is a surprise omission from Ivory Coast’s squad for their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Rwanda on 9 September.
The in-form 25-year-old winger missed the Elephants friendlies in March this year due to injury.
Coach Kamara Ibrahim has not explained Zaha’s absence from the 23-man squad.
Hoever a source close to the team has told : “Wilfried Zaha has been left out for personal reasons, I can’t say more than that.”
Zaha was part of the Ivory Coast squad at the 2017 Nations Cup and played in their final 2018 World Cup qualifier in November last year, which was a 2-0 loss to visiting Morocco.
Elsewhere, clubless Yaya Toure and new Parma signing Gervinho are both left out, while Swansea City striker Wilfried Bony is, as expected, omitted through injury.
Giovanni Sio has been overlooked and another notable omission is new Girona signing Seydou Doumbia, who scored both goals in the team’s 3-2 home defeat to Guinea in the opening Group H qualifier in June 2017.
But influential quartet of Manchester United’s Eric Bailly, Tottenham defender Serge Aurier, FC Basel’s Serey Dié and former Bournemouth winger Max-Alain Gradel are all included.
There is a recall for fit-again Aston Villa striker Jonathan Kodjia, whose last appearance was the 0-0 away draw to Mali in their 2018 World Cup qualifier back in October.
Veteran Salomon Kalou has retired from international football, while former France youth international Joris Gnagnon has returned to the French set up by playing for the under-21’s in a friendly against Italy in May.
Central African Republic are the other side in Group H of the qualifiers, with the top two qualifying for the expanded finals in Cameroon next year.
Ivory Coast 23-man squad:
Goalkeepers: Sayouba Mandé (Odense BK, Denmark), Badra Ali Sangare (Free State, South Africa), Sylvain Gbohouo (TP Mazembe, DR Congo)
Defenders: Eric Bailly (Manchester United, England), Serge Aurier (Tottenham Hotspur, England), Mamadou Bagayoko (KV Mechelen, Belgium), Ghislain Konan (Reims, France), Adama Traore (Göztepe, Turkey),Kouadio-Yves Dabila (Lille, France), Lamine Kone (Strasbourg, France), Wilfried Kanon (Ado Den Haag, Holland)
Midfielders: Jean Michaël Seri (Fulham, England), Serey Dié (Basel, Switzerland), Jean-Eudes Aholou (Monaco, France), Franck Kessié (AC Milan, Italy), Cheick Doukouré (Levante, Spain), Serge N’Guessan (Nancy, France)
Forwards: Jonathan Kodjia (Aston Villa, England), Roger Assalé (Young Boys, Switzerland), Nicolas Pépé (Lille, France), Max-Alain Gradel (Toulouse, France), Vakoun Issouf Bayo (Dunajská Streda, Slovakia), Maxwell Cornet (Lyon, France)