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Biggest achievement of any FA is to qualify for World Cup – Kurt Okraku

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Ghana Football Association (GFA) President Kurt Okraku believes very few achievements of any football association supersede qualifying for the FIFA World Cup.

According to him, the World Cup brings so much exposure to a country, even beyond football, than any other football event.

Ghana qualified for three straight World Cup tournaments in 2006, 2010 and 2014, but missed out on the 2018 edition after failing to qualify.

However, the Black Stars will be returning to the Mundial later this year, having booking their place in Qatar via a playoff victory over rivals Nigeria.

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Speaking at the GFA Congress on Tuesday, Okraku said the biggest achievement of any FA is ensuring its national team qualifies for the World Cup.

“This is the biggest achievement any member association can talk about. You can qualify for the u15, u17, u23 and the women but if you are absent at the Mundial believe me, you are nothing,” he stated.

“We shouldn’t take it for granted that we’ve qualified because this marks the beginning of a new era for Ghanaian football.

“When you qualify for the world cup, you are treated differently, for my colleagues who have been to Qatar, you’ve had a feel of it and you belong to the big boys.”

The Black Stars are paired in the tricky World Cup group, alongside Portugal, South Korea and Uruguay.

 

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2024 WAFCON qualifier: Super Falcons arrive Praia for Cape Verde clash

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Ahead of Tuesday’s second leg of the 2024 Women’s African Cup of Nations qualifier, Nigeria’s Super Falcons have landed in Praia for the game.

The Nigerian side dominated and won the first leg 5-0 at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja on Thursday and the result gave them hope to scaling the hurdle to the competition.

Super Falcons departed the shore of the country on Saturday and safely arrived at the Praia, the capital city of Cape Verde in the early hours of Sunday.

Falcons are willing to qualify and do better in the competition next year after they finished in the 4th position in the last edition that was held in Morocco.

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The game against the Blue Shark of Cape Verde is scheduled to take place on Tuesday with the winner over the two legs reaching the competition slated for Morocco.

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Osimhen won’t renew Napoli contract

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Nigeria international Victor Osimhen’s departure from Napoli is almost looking certain after Italian football transfer expert Fabrizio Romano said the striker was unlikely to renew his contract with the Italian champions,

Osimhen has been linked with several European clubs with English Premier League duo, Chelsea and Arsenal, leading the race for the Nigerians.

Napoli president, Aurelio De Laurentiis, had on several occasions said that the club’s most prized asset would not be sold this summer even if their valuation of €200m was met.

“Osimhen will stay here. He won’t leave,” he told Sky in August.

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Super Eagles drop two places in latest FIFA rankings

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The Super Eagles of Nigeria have dropped by two spots in the latest FIFA ranking to place 42nd in the world.

In the ranking table on the website of the world football governing body, on Thursday, the Eagles dropped 16.04 points to rank 1474.44 points as against 1490.48 in October.

However, the drop did not affect the team’s placement on the continent, as it still remained the 6th team on the continent, behind Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt, respectively.

The drop in ranking comes after the Super Eagles were held to a 1-1 draw in their two 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Lesotho on Nov. 16 and Zimbabwe on Nov. 19.

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Although Argentina (1st) still leads the way ahead of France (2nd), England (3rd, up 1) is now in the trio of teams at the front of the pack, followed by Belgium (4th, up 1), who have also climbed one place.

Although Brazil (5th, down 2) have lost ground following back-to-back defeats by Colombia and Argentina, they have clung on to their place in the top 5.

The Netherlands (6th, up 1) and Portugal (7th, down 1) have traded places in the top 10, which is once again completed by Spain (8th), Italy (9th) and Croatia (10th).

Uruguay (11th, up 4) have made solid progress, but they have to be content with a place just outside the top 10.

The Comoros Islands (119th, up 9), meanwhile, enjoyed an even better month with wins against the Central African Republic and Ghana, and have two reasons to celebrate as they are now in 119th place, their highest-ever position.

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Kosovo (101st, up 4) may not have climbed as many positions as the Comorans, but the Kosovans are also now higher in the ranking than ever before.

Guinea-Bissau (103rd, up 7), Azerbaijan (114th, up 6), Libya (120th, up 6), Malaysia (130th, up 7) and Rwanda (133rd, up 7) are the other big movers in the November ranking.

The ranking also had the re-entry of Samoa (187th), American Samoa (188th) and Tonga (196th), who were all playing international football again following months of inactivity.

The ranking took into consideration FIFA World Cup qualifiers that took place in African countries as well as in Asia and South America.

The other confederations’ schedules considered included UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying matches, Concacaf Nations League 2023-24 encounters and the Pacific Games 2023.

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These matches all had a significant effect on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, including on the make-up of the podium.

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