Africa Sports roundup: Lifetime ban of Ghanaian official cut to 15 years

Johannesburg. Former CAF senior vice-president Kwesi Nyantakyi has had a lifetime ban from football for breaking FIFA bribery and corruption rules reduced to 15 years.

The lighter sentence was announced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after the Ghanaian banker and lawyer appealed against the FIFA ruling.

An initial fine of $550,000 (465,000 euros) has been cut to S110,000, according to Ghanaian media reports.

Here, AFP Sport rounds up football news from around the continent:

Ghana

Nyantakyi quit as number two to CAF president Ahmad Ahmad and Ghana Football Association president two years ago after being trapped in a media sting.

He was secretly filmed accepting a $65,000 bribe from journalists posing as businessmen who wanted to invest in Ghanaian football.

The official also agreed to a sponsorship deal created by reporters, which would have seen millions of dollars designed for Ghanaian football deflected to a Nyantakyi company.

Egypt

New Al Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane has added three fellow South Africans to his staff, including co-assistant coach Cavin Johnson.

"Pitso likes to attack and I like to attack. Pitso likes to keep the ball on the floor and so do I," said Johnson, who has been in charge of four South African Premiership sides.

Mosimane succeed Rene Weiler two weeks ago when the Swiss could not agree terms for a renewal of his contract at the record eight-time African champions.

Rwanda

France-born Saint-Etienne attacker Kevin Monnet-Paguet could make his international debut next month at the age of 32 after being included in a provisional Rwanda squad.

He is eligible to play for the Wasps in back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Cape Verde because his mother was born in Rwanda.

The former France under-21 international has expressed an interest in playing for the nation ranked 36th in Africa and 132nd in the world.

Mali

Wolves winger Adama Traore came off the bench for Spain against Switzerland this weekend in the UEFA Nations League to officially end Malian hopes he would choose to play for them instead.   

The Barcelona-born attacker was also eligible to line up with Mali as his parents were born in the west African country.

Mali included Traore in the squad for friendlies against Ghana and Iran, and also France-born Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure, who has yet to decide where his loyalties lie.

South Africa

South African giants Mamelodi Sundowns have signed 13 players in a spending spree before kicking off their 2020/2021 season next Sunday.

Among those moving to the Pretoria club are two consistent scorers, Kermit Erasmus from Cape Town City and Namibian Peter Shalulile from now defunct Highlands Park.

Sundowns completed a Premiership-FA Cup-League Cup treble under coach Pitso Mosimane, who has since moved to African and Egyptian powerhouses Al Ahly.

Ethiopia

Johannesburg-based broadcasters SuperSport has obtained the exclusive rights to screen Ethiopian Premier League matches.

The pay-to-view multi-sports channel is available in every African country, making it the dominant English language sport broadcaster in the continent.

They also hold the rights to the South African Premiership and the Zambian Premier League and previously broadcast matches from Ghana and Kenya.

Zimbabwe

Former Zimbabwe defender-midfielder Norman Mapeza is returning to South Africa to coach new Premiership club Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM).

He spent six relatively successful months with struggling Chippa United last season before leaving after a fall-out with club officials.

TTM will compete in top-flight football for the first time when the 2020/2021 season kicks off this Saturday after buying the franchise of disbanded Bidvest Wits