BY NATNAEL YEBIO
Somalia played against Sudan in match day #7 of the CECAFA under-15 tournament that is underway in Asmara. Both teams sat in the bottom of their group after having lost both of their last two matches. Continue reading CECAFA U15: Match Day 7 Recap
By Helen B.,
As we remembered all in 2015, ten of the Eritrean national soccer team deserted after [deliberately] losing the game to team Botswana. Their desertion made short lived headlines indented to undermine the government and the people of Eritrea.
Hence the government and Interior Minister of Botswana valiantly denied them political asylum, convinced that the Eritrean stars were not fearful for their lives and they should return. These players like all other Eritrean national sport stars are exempted from any military services. Botswana government officials saw no legitimate ground to grant them political asylum but allowed them to temporarily stay in the country after appeal was made by the so-called human right group. Continue reading Absconded for Headlines, A Shattered Dream!
By Mike Seium | Eri-International Sports,
It is so disgusting to see certain media outlets and news services like AP so obsessed with why Eritrea is not attending the 2015 CECAFA (Central and Eastern Confederation of African Football) tournament being held in Ethiopia. Al Jazeera’s football section and Fox sports, both opposite side of the American political arena, when it comes to politics write “Ethiopia bars Eritrea from African football tournament” or “Host Ethiopia won’t allow Eritrea at East African tournament.”
Has it ever occurred to them that Ethiopia is currently occupying sovereign Eritrean territories? Are they that crazy to think that Eritrea, even if its players were to leave, would send its team into Ethiopian territory with a regime in place that has abused the power of its own people and still occupies an internationally arbitrated border town? Continue reading CECAFA in Ethiopia and Why Eritrea is not Participating
By APA,
Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has dismissed reports by Al Jazeera that the country has barred Eritrean footballers from playing in the 2015 Council for East and Central African Football Associations (CECAFA) tournament scheduled to be held in Ethiopia.
Spokesperson of the Ministry, Tewolde Mulugeta, said Thursday that the information dispatched by the media institution is “baseless”. Continue reading Ethiopia Dismisses Reports it Barred Eritrea from CECAFA Games
By AP,
Eritrea has been excluded from East Africa’s main soccer tournament this month because of political tensions with host Ethiopia.
Nicholas Musonye, secretary general of the Council for East and Central African Football Associations, says the regional soccer body ”must respect” Ethiopia’s position not to allow the Eritrea team into the country to play at the CECAFA Cup from Nov. 21-Dec. 6. Continue reading Eritrea Won’t Send Players to CECAFA Tournament
By Reuters,
Botswana wants 10 Eritrean soccer players it granted asylum to to be resettled in another country by the United Nations, as under Bostwana’s law they must stay in a refugee camp for 10 years.
A government official said the southern African nation was not withdrawing asylum for the players but giving them a chance to seek refuge in a country where the resettlement process was faster.
The players claimed asylum on Oct. 13 after playing the match against Botswana, becoming the latest in a series of defections by players from a country that the United Nations for human rights council accuse of violations. Continue reading Botswana Asks UNHCR to Resettle Eritrean Soccer Players
By Mike Seium | Eri-international sports,
Before we get upset or before we try to analyze and re-analyze why some players on the Eritrean national team that traveled to Botswana decided to remain and ask for political asylum, let us take a deep breath and not get caught up with the enemy tactics to defame Eritrea through sports for purely a political reason.
Let us look at the facts. Eritrea was back to FIFA international play for the first time in almost four years. Ranked at number 202 as a result of past defections, in a two week span of time utilizing Eritrean players from overseas the team competed well. Continue reading The Defection of Members of the Eritrean National Soccer Players in Botswana
News coming in from Francistown is that only 14 Eritrean players will be taking their flight home from Gaborone this evening while the other ten have refused and opted to remain in the custody of Kutlwano Police in Francistown.
The visiting national team which was supposed to have jetted out from Francistown International Airport early this morning, only left by bus with 14 players and officials under heavy police escort to Gaborone, after missing their flight. Continue reading 10 Eritrean Football Players Request Asylum in Botswana
