IFFHS CONTINENTAL NEWS
Picture : Damir Skomina, IFFHS World Referee 2019, retires.
Ashlyn Harris Breaks Record !
Orlando Pride goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris entered the match against Gotham FC with 466 saves in NWSL which was two behind former Kansas City goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart for the most in league history. In the 68th minute, Harris made her third and final save of the match, taking over the record with 469 saves. Obviously, Harris is nowhere near done and will continue to add to her total. The record-breaking save came on a shot by fellow United States Women’s National Team teammate Carli Lloyd.
205 clean sheets and counting – Bundesliga record
While his team-mates were able to set off some attacking fireworks in the win against Hertha Berlin,Manuel Neuer was once again the safe pair of hands at the back for the record champions. The Bayern keeper saved all three shots he faced in the match against the men from Berlin and thus kept another clean sheet. It was the 205th of the 35-year-old's Bundesliga career, and with that he finally left a German legend behind him.Until this Saturday,Oliver Kahn, the former goalkeeping Titan and current FC Bayern CEO, was on a par with Neuer in the all-time number of clean sheets in the Bundesliga, with 204. Now the current Bayern captain is the outright record holder. It does seem that the world's best goalkeeper (5 IFFHS Annual World Awards) is not quite ready to leave his clean sheet record at 205.
DAMIR SKOMINA RETIREMENT
The most successful Slovenian football referee Damir Skomina officially announced the end of his career at Monday's press conference at Brdo pri Kranju. He stated that he wanted to stay in football, revealing that he would run for the presidency of the third division team Izola. At 45, he is one of the most experienced referees ! He became one time THE WORLD’S BEST REFEREE in 2019 and was many times in the Top 5, he was official at Euros and World Cups, with his great moment : the UEFA Champions League Final 2019 !
DOUBLE CONTINENTAL CHAMPION DEMOTED
Cameroon’s Union Sportive of Douala, twice winners of African club titles have been demoted to the second tier of the local league for the first time in 63 years of their membership in the domestic top flight league. The truncated season ended yesterday with the club on the tenth spot in the 11-team pool-A ahead of Yafoot, the only other pool mate to sink into the second tier league. Although the results of the season have not yet been officially homologated, tearful fans of the club have been streaming into their headquarters in the New Bell neighborhood in the country’s economic capital, Douala, to express frustration over a demise they blame chiefly on what they describe as erratic management of club affairs.
Founded in 1955, Union Sportive got promoted into the elite league in 1958 which they have won five times so far(1969, 1976, 1978, 1990 and 2012). They also won the national football trophy six times(1961, 1969, 1980, 1985, 1997 and 2006). By virtue of their domestic performances, they qualified for continental campaigns where they won the African Club Champions Cup in 1979, and the African Cup Winners Cup in 1981, the last time a Cameroonian club won a continental title. Some known internationals of yesteryears to have sported the green-and-white colors of the club include: Joseph Antoine Bell, François Ndoumbe Lea, Roger Feutmba, René Ndjeya, Emile Mbouh, William Andem, Eugène Ekoule, Joseph Kamga…By losing 0-1 to PWD Bamenda on the last day of the championship that had been rendered passive for eight months by covid-19, and delay in obtaining government-funded subventions, Union Sportive, fondly called Kamakai-Nassaras and one of Cameroon’s four mythical clubs finally slumped like the others before them. The question now is: will they be able to bounce back within the shortest possible time like their mates of the endangered species?