Seven Burkinabe players refused UK visas for Nigeria friendly in London

Seven Burkinabe players failed to secure British visas ahead of an international friendly with Nigeria. the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) announced the development on Saturday.

As a result Nigeria's friendly against Burkina Faso in north London next week is cancelled because of the visa issues affecting travelling players.

The Super Eagles were using the match as part of preparations for their remaining qualifiers for the World Cup 2018 and Africa Cup of Nations 2019.
NFF official Chris Green said the cancellation was "no fault of either the organisers or the Nigeria Football Federation".

"We will announce further plans for the Super Eagles' preparation for these two important qualifying campaigns in due course," he added.

Burkina Faso officials were told of the visa issues late on Friday.

On Thursday, Nigeria drew 1-1 with Senegal in the first of its two scheduled friendly matches in the British capital.

Morocco beat Burkina 2-0 in a friendly in Marrakech on Friday.

US embassy assures Nigerians they are welcome to travel

The US embassy in Nigeria said on Wednesday that Nigerians were welcome to travel to the United States following confusion over President Donald Trump's new immigration rules.

A foreign affairs adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abike Dabiri on Monday warned citizens against non-essential travel to the United States, as some Nigerians had been denied entry at the border.

"The US embassy in Abuja wishes to clarify that there is no reason for Nigerians with valid visas to postpone or cancel their travel to the United States," said the embassy in a statement.

"There is no prohibition against Nigerian lawful permanent residents or persons with a valid visa or other US government authorisation from entering the United States."

Trump signed a revised ban on refugees and on travellers from six Muslim-majority nations on Monday. Nigeria, which has a majority Muslim north and predominantly Christian south, is not on the list.

Nigeria's foreign minister Geoffrey Onyeama told a news conference it was "business as usual" with the United States, despite the earlier advisory from a presidential adviser.

Of the 2.1 million African immigrants living in the United States in 2015, 327,000 were born in Nigeria, according to data from the Pew Research Center, published in February.

AFP

FIFA struggling to regain fan confidence, Transparency says

FIFA is still struggling to regain the trust of soccer fans, with more than half those interviewed saying they had no confidence in the sport's governing body, according to a survey published on Thursday.

Corruption watchdog Transparency International, which conducted the survey jointly with Swedish-based Forza Football, added that FIFA's image may have been hurt by its attempts to increase revenue.
Fifty-three percent of 25,000 fans interviewed from 50 countries said they had no confidence in FIFA, which is trying to regain credibility after a corruption crisis in 2015 that saw dozens of officials indicted in the United States. Even so, that was an improvement over 69 percent last year, the survey said.

"For any organisation that relies so much on the fans -- without the fans football is dead, it's commercially dead, its passion is dead -- that is a rather serious situation," Transparency head Cobus de Swardt told Reuters.

"We don't underestimate the toughness of the job, but in that sense so far the news has been only moderately good."

Only 34 percent of those interviewed thought FIFA was actively fighting corruption. Sixty-six percent said that match-fixing was the type of corruption which most worried them.
Meanwhile, 43 percent said they disapproved of next year's flagship World Cup being staged in Russia.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino, elected one year ago to replace the disgraced Sepp Blatter, said the body has taken steps to make officials more accountable. But de Swardt said the public did not see it that way.

"FIFA puts out 50-page brochures talking of reform, but to the average fan, when I talk to them about what has changed in FIFA, they shake their heads," he said. "They have no idea what has really changed."
Shortly after Infantino took over, FIFA said it had revised its projected revenue for the 2015-2018 cycle upwards from $5 billion to $5.65 billion, with projected investments amounting to $5.55 billion.
However, de Swardt said this might have been perceived negatively.
"For the average fan, the problem is not that there is too little money in football, but there is too much, and fans see this in what they have to pay for tickets, merchandise, etc," he said.
He added that FIFA's struggle to attract new sponsors was another symptom of its troubles.
FIFA has signed only one top-tier partner, China's Wanda Group, since Infantino took over. Russia's Alfa Bank has agreed to be a regional sponsor.

"FIFA hasn't been really rebuilt to the extent where sponsors are falling over their feet to be associated with the FIFA name," said de Swardt. "I've had sponsors telling me that the would love to be associated with football but not with FIFA."

Players (Nigerians) warned to avoid two Maltese clubs

FIFPro, the World Footballers' Association have advised Nigerian  footballers against joining two clubs in Malta's 12-team Premier League after evidence emerged of poor treatment of foreign players, including players from the United States.

FIFPro, said in a statement 

that players who recently signed contracts with Mosta FC and Pembroke Athleta were "housed in cramped conditions, and were ignored or even threatened when they complained about not getting paid on time".

FIFPro said dozens of young players from outside the European Union had signed contracts with clubs in Malta, where they can field seven foreign players per match, with a view to launching a career in Europe and because it is relatively easy to secure a working visa.

"However, most players on the Mediterranean island earn less than $2,000 per month and, according to the recently-released 2016 FIFPro Global Employment Report, 79% are not paid on time. Almost half (49%) are not satisfied with medical support," FIFPro said.

The body quoted an American teenager at Pembroke who claimed his complaints about not receiving his salary of 700 euros per month on time were ignored.

FIFPro said it had also spoken to several Nigerians who said they were among 15 foreign players squeezed into a four-bedroom house after signing to play for Mosta. Some complained of the cold because the home had no central heating.

"They can bring African players at any time, they just get rid of the old ones," one of the Nigerians said. "Nigerian players are better off in Africa."