Aqua-Tots Swim School’s Post

The colonization of African Football. When did we start selling African games to the highest bidder? Now we have foreign countries hosting complete African championships instead of the continent of 54 Nations, that the championship is supposed to belongs too? Why are African games being hosted in foreign countries? Why are foreign countries being allowed to host African games? We never see the championship finals or any games that belong to Saudi Arabia or any other foreign country being held in Africa, so why is this an option for us? It's a worrisome concern that CAF, the body supposed to handle African football, would give a foreign country the right to hold an African championship. Again, I stress an African championship, where Saudi Arabia has all the game rights and not Africa. Make it make sense! By the way who has the broadcasting and advertising rights to Saudi Arabia sorry Maybe Africa Champions league, is it an Africa or Saudi Arabia? who is playing in this league is it Saudi Arabian teams or African teams? Imagine being a Kenyan, South African, Ugandan, Nigerian, Egyptian, etc., and having to travel to Saudi Arabia to watch your home team play against another African country. Does this make sense to anyone? Book a visa most likely get your visa denied, book flights that are expensive, book stadium tickets, book hotels in another country and continent just to watch our African teams play against each other. Math isn't Mathing here!! How was this ever suggested, debated upon, thought to be a good idea, and eventually passed? It seems the president and deputy of CAF have lost all hope of having African games in Africa if they can quickly sell all our football rights to a foreign country. It's time we consider replacing them with people who want to develop African football in Africa. This is utterly ridiculous. Soon AFCON will be in Saudi Arabia or some country that pays them the highest, if this is the direction they are taking African football, with CAF leadership acting like Africa is incapable of hosting its own games, it's time to find new leadership. Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) This is BS, not exciting news.

If your looking for a hybrid system SIS is the way to go.

🇸🇦"𝗦𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 Advances it's 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 to 𝟲𝟭𝘁𝗵 Among over 𝟮𝟬𝟬 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀"✈️📗 ✅"Stay tuned with 𝗔𝗹𝗵𝘂𝗱𝗮 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 for updates" 🧳 #passport #newsupdates #countries #saudiarabia #global #ranking #saudipassport #alhuda #alhudagroup #AlhudaInternational

According to what I did yesterday regarding the analysis of the deals (sell and loans) of Saudi Professional League clubs, today I worked to clarify in another graphic visualization form the number of deals (sell and loan) made by the Top 4 clubs that are constantly active in contracts and deals with a huge amount of budgets (Al-Hilal, Al-Ahli- Ittihad and Al-Nassr) and their deals always cause uproar in the sports street inside and outside the country. As we see, the numbers are high, and this explains that during the twenty seasons there were many players arriving and departing, and so many deals, and also what made the numbers become this large is that the season is divided into two years due to their overlap in January. Jeddah clubs Ittihad and Al-Ahli have the largest number of deals, especially since the 2018/2019 season they have a significant increase in deals, and this reflects the results of the two teams on the field. We also know that Ittihad was close to relegation to the second division league but he returned to the competition again and won the League title after that, and Al-Ahli was actually relegated after that but he has now returned to the ranks of the big clubs as he was, and this explains that the large number of deals were A strong factor in the deterioration of the level of both teams and the lack of continuity in the team to win. On the other hand, in the Riyadh clubs Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr, especially Al-Hilal, it was a perfect model in the deals and it was the club that made the smallest number of deals in the past twenty seasons with 549 deals, and Al-Nassr comes next with 570 deals, and this reflects Al-Hilal’s great level and his control over the competition in the country and tightened his control over the League title and the AFC Champions League title for several seasons, and also It reflects the level of Al-Nassr and its great competition with Al-Hilal in recent years and he achieved Cups trophies and competed for the League title and the AFC Champions League title. I hope all of you enjoy this simple work, and I wish success to all clubs, and that sports in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be pioneers for all the world and reflect our culture, which we are proud of, and our love for football and sports in general!

This week, our special Olympic edition of the Ma'refa Brief looked into GCC's history in the Games and how sport is viewed in the region. Here’s a snapshot of some of the key data:   🏅 The UAE is participating in its 11th Summer Olympics, sending a team of 14 athletes to compete in five sports.   🏆 Sheikh Ahmed bin Hasher Al Maktoum won the UAE's first Olympic gold medal in double trap shooting at the 2004 Athens Olympics.   🥉 Saudi Arabia has competed in every Olympics since 1972, with its equestrian team winning bronze at the 2012 London Games.   ⚽ Football remains the most widely followed and participated sport in the Gulf, with around 30% of school-aged children engaging in football activities.   🏋️ Youth sports participation is on the rise in the UAE, with 72% of school-aged children involved in sports programs.   🌍 Both Qatar and Saudi Arabia have announced their intentions to bid for the 2036 Olympics, following a strong track record of hosting mega-sporting events.   If you’d like more in-depth analysis or other insights like this, subscribe to The Ma’refa Brief on our website at https://lnkd.in/eZVzMRDQ.   #Olympics #ParisOlympics2024 #Sports #UAE #Saudi #Qatar #GCC #GulfCountries #Summer

Recently the EGF released the rounds report for 2023 and the Dubai / UAE Golf Market continues to show it’s buoyancy, with some interesting stats noted below:   Total rounds played in Dubai in 2023 = 558,334 (up 1% YOY).   * Member rounds up 7% or 20,643 * Local rounds down 2% or 3,339 * Overseas rounds up 10% or 3,553 * Total rounds up 1% or 7,597   Total rounds played in UAE in 2023 = 808,473 (up 1% YOY). Rounds played in Dubai peaked in 2021 at 562,937. Rounds played in UAE also peaked in 2021 at 830,083. Rounds played in Dubai in 2023 vs. 2019: up 31% or 130,742 Rounds played across Dubai Hills Golf Club, Arabian Ranches Golf Club and Montgomerie Golf Club accounted for 30% of the total rounds played in Dubai in 2023 (up 1% vs. 2022). The main drivers… Covid? Topgolf? Accessibility? Increase in number of tour events? #dubaihillsgolfclub #arabianranchesgolfclub #montgomeriegolfclub

The CAF Super Cup will be played…..outside of Africa?? Net positive or net negative?? #playbookafrica #playbookmiddleeast The match, which will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on September 27, 2024, will feature two Egyptian squads: Al Ahly, the current African Champion League holders, and Zamalek, the reigning African Confederation champions. The announcement of Riyadh as the host city highlights the growing partnership between the Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) and Saudi Arabia, as this is not the first collaboration: Last year, Visit Saudi, the Saudi Arabian tourism authority, confirmed league sponsorship of the African Football League (AFL), and both CAF and Visit Saudi have expressed openness to extending their collaboration for future editions. And it certainly won’t be the last collaboration. ↓ So this begs the question, what does it mean to have one of the most prominent African football matches being played outside of Africa?? Well, this isn't the first time... The first time the CAF Super Cup was played outside Africa was on March 29, 2019, in Doha, Qatar. This match featured Raja Casablanca of Morocco against Tunisia's Esperance. As the 2022 World Cup host nation, Qatar used this event to train its staff and test its facilities in preparation for the World Cup. In addition, this upcoming Super Cup match is a bit of a “deja vu” case as these two teams already faced each other in Riyadh during the Egypt Cup in March 2024, where Al Ahly emerged victorious with a 2-0 win, another uniquely African game. I see the potential of these matches to engage a broader and more international audience, but I also see lost economic value for an African host city and its local businesses. Is this new trend a net positive or a net negative for African football?? For more news and analysis on the emerging sports economies of Africa and the Middle East, check out Playbook - Sports Business for Emerging Markets. __________ #linkedinsports  #sportsbusiness

Alhamdullah yesterday I closed another successful Mercato ⚽️✅ This Mercato, as difficult as it was, is considered the most successful and enjoyable Mercato for me since I entered the field of #scouting 🔍 The beginning was with preparing for the Mercato, which I started very early in March before Ramadan, meaning my work season is considered 7 months of work, effort, meetings, communications and continuous attempts. My talk will be divided into 4 parts: 1) Part about my work outside Egypt with the players with whom we had tangible work. 2) The second part will be about my network, which is growing every day and I was thinking of selling it, especially with the traditional agents, but everything has its time. 3) The third part is about the deals that were achieved with the players I worked with. 4) The fourth part is about my work in Egypt. 1) This Mercato, thank God, I was able to sign 3 players on mandates for clubs in Portugal, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Qatar. The first player is the Nigerian Wale Musa Alli, who signed a mandate for two clubs in the Portuguese Premier League with a Portuguese agent. The second is Mikael, who signed a mandate with a Dutch agency for Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The third is Henrique Devens, who signed a mandate with a Qatari agency for a club in Saudi Arabia. 2) This Mercato, thank God, I was able to reach the players and agents of class A in football and talk to them directly, which is of course not an easy thing at all. As for the players, I spoke to Sammie Szmodics, the top scorer in the Championship with Blackburn Rovers, and Ignatius Ganago, the Nantes striker and Mostafa Mohamed's teammate. As for the agents, there are a lot, but the most prominent ones are Saka's agent and Vinicius Junior's agent. When I say I reached them, it's not just that I got their number, it means that we talked or met about work. 3) Maybe the deals that happened this transfer market are from players we worked on years ago or this summer. • Sammie Szmodics I was working on him to Saudi Arabia, and that was his desire, but his agent complicated the matter with the agency we were working with on his transfer, and in the end he moved to Ipswich Town to be a teammate of Sam Morsy in the English Premier League. • Wale Musa Alli He moved to Algerian club Ittihad El-Djazair from his club in the Czech second division. • Mikael He moved on a free transfer to Emirates Club in the UAE. • Frederick Kesse Captain of the Ghana U-20 national team, we were working on his transfer to the Emirates or Qatar, and in the end he moved to Modern Sport Club. • Ifeanyi Nweke A Nigerian defender whom I offered to an agent at Enppi in January last year, and I offered him to the Suez national team last summer, but the opinion of one coach makes a difference, and this year he moved to the Suez national team in the professional league. #ARAFA_SCOUTING

Ruthless Egypt Namibia 10-3 to regain top spot in Group B - CAFOnline.com: Ruthless Egypt Namibia 10-3 to regain top spot in Group B  CAFOnline.com

Labour and the LNP want us to believe that a new stadium is not viable for the Olympics in the interest of housing and cost of living. Let’s deal with facts. SEQ by 2035 is estimated to have almost a million extra residents. It needs a 75,000 seat stadium as a minimum (preferably 90,000) to attract major events away from Sydney and Melbourne (who today have 85,000 and 95,000 seat stadiums respectively) New stadium cost $3.4b = too expensive according to Labour and LNP. Alternative involves $1.6b to upgrade QSAC but $500m is needed to upgrade the Gabba before 2030 and an additional $1b required by 2035. $500m to upgrade transport to QSAC (although BCC think it is more like $800m = $3.6b - $3.9b. Alternative cost they say is more responsible is at least $3.6b and we end up with two stadiums that can seat circa 40,000. Why did Taylor Swift avoid Brisbane? No stadium big enough. Why has Cricket Australia taken the first test of the season away from Brisbane? Stadium not up to standard. What is the ultimate cost of not building a large, world class stadium in Australia’s third biggest, city and fastest growing region? The Olympic Games will have a showpiece and Qld will have generational infrastructure for decades to come.