IFFHS NEWS AND STATISTICS OF THE WEEK 50
Picture : Paolo Rossi with Italy against Brazil and Socrates in 1982 World Cup.
RIP PAOLO ROSSI !
Paolo Rossi, former striker of the Italian national team, world champion 1982 and winner of the Ballon d'Or 1982, has died at the age 64 on December 9.
Rossi has played 48 matches for “Scuadra Azzurra” and scored 20 goals; 6 of them in the victorious 1982 World Cup where Paolo became the top scorer. His hat-trick in the game vs Brazil (3-2) was one of brightest episodes in the whole history of football.
His achievement was really amazing given that before the World Cup Rossi had not played for two years and even served several months in prison following Totonero 1980 corruption scandal.
As part of Juventus Turin, Rossi became the winner of European Champions Cup, Cup Winners' Cup, also the champion of Italy (twice) and the winner of Italian Cup. In 1982, the striker won the Golden Ball award.
Throughout his career, Rossi played also for Como, Vicenza, Perugia, Milan and Verona (total 338 matches and 134 goals at club level). He is still the record holder of Italia for the number of goals at World Cup (9), later equalled by Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri.
During last years of his life, Rossi worked as a television expert on the channel RAI Sport. He had a wife and three children.
ALL TIME AFRICA GOLDEN BALL
The CAF-sponsored annual Africa Golden Ball Award pioneered in 1970 by Malian legend, Salif Keita (PICTURE down) has since then been celebrated 45 more times with Cameroonian footballers setting a record, prevailing 11 times through the cumulative achievements of Roger Milla(twice), Thomas Nkono(twice), Manga Onguene, Théophile Abega, Patrick Mboma and Samuel Eto’o Fils(4 times).
The starting 11 include: Goalkeeper: Thomas Nkono(Cameroon); Defenders: Paul Moukila(Congo), Tshimen Bwanga(Congo), Yaya Touré(Ivory Coast); Midfielders: Salif Keita(Mali), Chérif Souleymane(Guinea), Rabah Madjer(Algeria); El Hadj Diouf(Senegal); Attackers: Samuel Eto’o(Cameroon), Didier Drogba(Ivory Coast), George Weah(Liberia).
The reserve bench include: Badou Zaki(Morocco), Abedi Pelé(Ghana), Mohamed Salah(Egypt), Nwankwo Kanu(Nigeria), Emmanuel Adébayor(Togo) and Sadio Mané(Senegal).
However, after the names were published on the Orange Football Club website, a major comment has hinged on the absence of one of the widely regarded as the African Player of the Century, Ambassador Albert Roger Milla of Cameroon. He took the second place at the IFFHS Century Ranking in 2000 , just behind George Weah.
NCHOUT NJOYA AJARA GOAL SCORER !
27-year-old Nchout Njoya Ajara is bathing in the glory of a double win tonight as her professional club side, Valerenga Fotbal Damer of Norway has won the 2020 professional league as the Cameroonian makes away with the highest scorer award with 10 goals to her credit. They hit Arna-Bjornar tonight 4-0 on Day-18 which closes the season leaving Rosenborg on the second spot with a 38-point par but with a slight technical advantage for Valerenga.
Nchout Ajara who was last year a nominee for the CAF Women’s Footballer of the Year Award and currently gunning for a spot on the newly instituted annual IFFHS Africa Women’s Football Team of the Year is seeing her football career soar as her club gets set to tackle the 1st leg match of the Round of 32 of the UEFA Women’s Champions League this week.
Her fellow countrymen have been expressing joy and satisfaction with the famous No. 3 shirt of their national women’s football squad, The Lionesses of Cameroon.
NAPOLI STADIUM = STADIO DIEGO ARMANDO MARADONA
From now on, Napoli will be playing in Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. The Serie A club's stadium was renamed by the Naples City Council last week, moving on from Stadio San Paolo to honor the memory of the late Argentine icon.Maradona died before two weeks from a heart attack at age 60.
Maradona is a Legend in Napoli, where he spent part of his playing career and led Napoli to its greatest heights. Napoli won its only two Serie A titles while he was at the club, and it also claimed the 1989 UEFA Cup title with Maradona. Napoli is the second club to have its stadium named after Maradona, following his first club in his native Argentina, Argentinos Juniors.
MOUKOKO YOUNGEST EVER !
By being fielded for Borussia Dortmund in the second half of last night’s game with Zenit St. Petersburg, Germano-Cameroonian, Youssoufa Moukoko has become the youngest player ever to play in the UEFA Champions League. At 16 years and 18 days yesterday, he laid to rest the 26-year-old record kept by former Nigerian player, Celestine Babayaro who was 16 years and 87 days when he played for Anderlecht against Steaua Bucharest in 1994.
Already, the Cameroonian-born German national, while sporting the colors of the Borussia Youth team set a new goal scoring record in the Bundesliga U-19 after tallying 20 goals in 34 matches last season. His pace, guile, and enigmatic showing prompted coach Lucien Favre of the senior team to include him in his training camps with the possibility, by DFB Statutes, of a compulsory match participation in the Bundesliga during the 2020/21 season. It recently came to pass and so he became the youngest-ever player in the Budesliga.
Born on November 20, 2004 in the Muslim Briqueterie neighborhood of Cameroon’s capital city of Yaounde, Youssoufa who grew up with his grandparents was taken at 10 to Hamburg in Germany where his father has been a German citizen since the 90s. Upon arrival there, he was immediately recruited in the FC St Pauli U-13 scoring 23 goals in 13 matches from 2014-2016 before moving to Borussia Dortmund. At 13, he made his debut in the U-17 Bundesliga scoring 6 goals in their 9-2 defeat of Wuppertaler SV. He became the youngest player to play in UEFA Youth league when he played against Barcelona on September 17, 2019. And when he scored against Inter Milan in their 1-0 win on October 23 same year, he became the youngest scorer in the Youth League.
RIP ALEJANDRO SABELLA
Former Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella tragically passed away last Tuesday aged 66, following a battle with cancer and heart problems. Sabella, who managed in his national team for three years until 2014, was rushed to a specialist hospital nearly a fortnight ago after suffering fluid retention in his legs. Sabella, ex-Argentina coach, who led his country to the 2014 World Cup final. Argentina, however, fell short at the final hurdle and suffered a 1-0 defeat against Joachim Low's Germany. RIP .
CORINTHIANS CHAMPIONS
Corinthians Women were crowned last week 2020 Brazilian champions after a 4-2 win against Avaí/Kindermann. Gabi Nunes (Picture right), Victória and a Gabi Nunes' brace secured the title to the Timão.
After the winning of the Championship 2018 and the Copa Libertadores 2019, SC Corinthians Paulista became the Best woman club in Brazil !