No Can action on SBC TV-Football |15 January 2013

This is because the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) has said it will not be in a position to screen live action of the 29th African Nations Cup slated from January 19 to February 10 in South Africa.

Speaking to Sports Nation, SBC’s head of programming Maryse Legaie said it is “too expensive” for the local broadcasting station to beam live images of the competition to local houses.

“Once again we cannot bring our viewers the African Nations Cup.

 It’s too expensive for us to buy broadcast rights for the competition,” said Ms Legaie.

“But if we get a good deal between now and the start of the competition, we might see what we can do,” she added.

The 16 best teams from Africa will fight out for the trophy won by surprise team Zambia for the first time on a penalty shootout – 8-7 – against favourites Ivory Coast, boasting star players like Didier Drogba, Kolo Touré, Yaya Touré and Gervinho, in last year’s final.

The tournament was scheduled to be hosted by Libya, but the Confederation of African Football (Caf) decided to move the competition to South Africa.

Libya won the right to host the tournament after defeating a Nigerian bid along with three other bid winning nations – Angola, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Bids from Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Senegal were rejected and did not reach the shortlist.

The winners of the tournament will qualify for the 2013 Fifa Confederations Cup in Brazil as the representatives from Caf in group B with Spain, Uruguay and Tahiti.

Matches of the 34th African Nations Cup will take place at five venues – National Stadium, Mbombela Stadium, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Royal Bafokeng Stadium and Moses Mabhida Stadium.

The 16 teams who have qualified for the competition have been drawn into four groups of four.

 Group A comprises South Africa, Angola, Morocco and Cape Verde, group B is made up of Ghana, Mali, Niger and DR Congo, group C comprises Zambia, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia, and group D is made up of Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Algeria and Togo.

The opening match between the Bafana Bafana of host country South Africa and tournament debutants Cape Verde will take place on Saturday January 19 at the National Stadium. The opening day’s other match of the group A double-header is between Angola and Morocco.

The organisers have said that to date 359,543 tickets have been sold or allocated, which represents about 42% of the total capacity of the stadia. 

The Caf and the organising committee remain optimistic that the numbers will continue to increase, with a specific focus made on matches of group B in Port Elizabeth and of group D in Rustenburg, both having the lowest figures of tickets sold so far.

Last week, Caf picked the song 'Sela-Sela' (Dance Together) by international artists Wes Madiko and Zahra Universe as the official song of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Meanwhile, a number of top European clubs will have their squads affected by the competition as a number of African players, who have been the driving force behind their squads’ success, will be joining their national teams for the competition.

Seychelles will be represented at the competition by referee Bernard Camille who will be making his maiden appearance at the Can and speaking to Sports Nation earlier this month he said he will be looking forward to make an impact and beef up his international career.

A Fédération internationale de Football Association (Fifa) referee for only two years, Camille, 37, is one of 18 referees from the continent selected for the 29th African Cup of Nations.

 The others are Néant Alioum (Cameroon), Daniel Bennett (South Africa), Mohamed Benouza (Algeria), Koman Coulibaly (Mali), Badara Diatta (Senegal), Noumandiez Doue (Ivory Coast), Bouchaib El Ahrach (Morocco), Bakary Papa Gassama (Gambia), Gehad Grisha (Egypt), Djamel Haimoudi (Algeria), Nampiandraza Hamada (Madagascar), Sylvester Kirwa (Kenya), Slim Jedidi (Tunisia), Ali Ould Lemghaifry (Mauritania), Eric Otogo-Castane  (Gabon), Rajindraparsad Seechurn (Mauritius) and Janny Sikazwe (Zambia).

The assistant referees are Abdelhak Etchiali (Algeria), Djibril Camara (Senegal), El Hadj Malick Simba, (Senegal), Aden Marwa (Kenya), Theophile Vinga (Gabon), Bechir Hassani (Tunisia), Anouar Hmila (Tunisia), Waleed Ahmed Ali (Sudan) and Malik Alidu Salifu (Ghana).

Compiled by G. G.