The president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Thursday rejected accusations of corruption by the Senegalese government after the body’s shock decision to strip Senegal of its AFCON title and award it to Morocco.

“If anybody wants to initiate legal action alleging that there is corruption in CAF I don’t only welcome that, I encourage them,” said Patrice Motsepe, speaking in Morocco.

“There’s nothing to hide. We respect enormously the judicial and legal sovereignty of every single one of our 54 nations on the African continent.

“I’m confident that whatever the decision of CAS will say, we will respect it and we will implement it,” he added, referring to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Motsepe’s visit comes at a particularly tense time for CAF following its surprise decision to overturn Senegal’s 1-0 win over hosts Morocco in the Cup of Nations final on January 18.

CAF cited regulations about leaving the field as it recorded a 3-0 victory in Morocco’s favour on March 17.

During the match Senegalese players, head coach Pape Thiaw and his staff walked off the pitch in Rabat after Morocco were awarded an added-time penalty, which forward Brahim Diaz ultimately missed.

The Senegalese Football Federation has appealed CAF’s decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The decision has sparked a strong response by Senegal, whose government has called for an international investigation into suspected corruption within the institution.

Tyson Fury insisted “I’ve still got it” as the former world heavyweight champion vowed to focus on the task at hand in his latest return to the ring.

Fury is up against Russian-born heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov in a bout at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday following a 15-month absence.

The pair spoke during a pre-fight press conference in London on Thursday, just hours after the chief executive of Croke Park said the 80,000-capacity Dublin venue wanted to stage the long-awaited ‘Battle of Britain’ super-fight between Fury and fellow former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.

Fury and Joshua have almost fought on several occasions, only for contract disputes, fitness issues, and losses elsewhere to derail previous attempts to get them into the same ring.

Their camps had reportedly been close to an agreement before Joshua decided to take time out from boxing following a car crash, which led to the death of two close friends in December.

The 36-year-old Joshua, however, is now back in training and was present for Derek Chisora’s defeat by Deontay Wilder last Saturday.

Fury, however, insisted Thursday: “I don’t want to mention names when I’ve got a dangerous fighter in front of me. The rest can get a hiding, but I need to give Makhmudov a hiding first.”

He added: “Like I said when Daniel Dubois was fighting Anthony Joshua (in 2024), everybody said and all the boxing brains said, ‘AJ will knock him out inside three rounds,’ and they were overlooking him. ‘Are you going to fight Tyson next?’

“And I said you better put some respect on Dubois’ name because he’s going to chin him, and that’s what happened. So, I won’t fall down that same hurdle and trap.”

Nevertheless, he did hint at future plans for 2026 when he spoke on Ring’s YouTube channel later on Thursday.

“As far as I am concerned, I will focus on this big Russian fella, then Anthony Joshua and maybe a third fight (with Oleksandr Usyk),” Fury said.

The 37-year-old Fury retired after his second successive loss to world champion Usyk at the end of 2024 and went a calendar year without a fight before revealing his latest comeback on January 4.

“People always question retirement for me,” said Fury, who on Thursday reiterated the inspiration for this return was the death of Joshua’s friends because “you have got to live every day like it is your last”.

“I’ve retired five times before and meant it wholeheartedly. I’ve come back four times successfully, and we’ll see if it’s five.

“Make no mistake, when I retire, I have zero intention of returning, but I miss the game. However, after a few months, I am bored of the normal life. Dropping the kids off at school, taking the dogs for a walk, that kind of stuff. I miss everything that comes with big fights,” he added.

John Fury, Tyson’s father and long a familiar figure in the corner as his son rose through the boxing ranks, said last month a trio of gruelling fights against Deontay Wilder meant the ‘Gypsy King’ is “past his best”.

“Tyson has been gone since the Deontay Wilder fights, they finished him…Makhmudov is a problem for Tyson, said John Fury.

But Tyson said Thursday: “I’ve never lost my speed of reactions. I’ve still got it. 100 percent.”

And Makhmudov played down suggestions that Fury, “a great boxer”, would be hampered by a recent lack of competitive ring time.

“It’s not a problem for him because of his experience,” said Makhmudov, 36, who briefly grabbed Fury in a playful bear hug.

“Maybe it’s the opposite because he can recover from hard fights in the past.”




AFP

FIFA on Thursday unveiled its list of match officials for the June 11-July 19 World Cup, including 52 referees, six of whom are women.

Football’s governing body will also take 88 assistant referees and 30 video match officials, who hail from all six confederations and 50 member associations.

“The selected match officials are the very best in the world,” said Pierluigi Collina, FIFA’s chief refereeing officer.

“They were part of a wider pool of officials that was identified and monitored over the past three years. They have attended seminars and officiated at FIFA tournaments.

“In addition, their performances in domestic and international matches were regularly assessed.”

The World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico will be the biggest in history, with a 48-team line-up and 104 matches to be played.

There are 41 more match officials than at Qatar four years ago, where 32 teams played 64 matches.

“The fact that six women match officials have been selected continues a trend that was started four years ago in Qatar as we aim to further develop women’s refereeing,” Collina said with six women having already refereed in 2022.