Tunis- Tunisia (PANA) -- Tunisian striker Zied Jaziri who celebrates his 24th anniversary in July, has imposed himself as one of the key elements of the Tunisian football team currently preparing for the second consecutive participation in the FIFA World Cup finals. Full text...

Tokyo- Japan (PANA) -- Cameroon's prolific scorer Patrick Mboma, out of action since suffering an injury during the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Mali, resurfaced Sunday at a World Cup warm-up tie with England, in which the two countries drew 2-2. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- With five days to the start of the 2002 World Cup, Nigerian newspapers are devoting their entire sports pages to the global competition, being co-hosted by South Korea and Japan. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigerian forward Bartholomew Ogbeche, who will be 17 in October, will be the youngest player featuring in the 2002 World Cup when the competition kicks-off next Friday, according to a list released by International Association of Football Federations (FIFA). Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Cameroon Saturday nearly defeated England in a warm-up match in Japan before the World Cup tournament which begins on Friday in Seoul, South Korea. Full text...

Gaborone- Botswana (PANA) -- A Moswana woman has won an all expenses paid trip to South Korea to watch the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals kicking-off next Friday. Full text...

Kashihara- Japan (PANA) -- Tunisian national football players on Friday briefly interrupted their preparations the 2002 World Cup finals to vote in their country's constitutional referendum. Full text...

Nakatsue- Japan (PANA) -- Cameroon's striker Samuel Eto'o Fils scored his national soccer team's lone goal Friday as the 'Indomitable Lions' played a warm-up match at Nakatsue village in southern Japan. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- World Cup-bound Senegal and South Africa Thursday beat their counterparts from Ecuador and Turkey respectively, in warm-up matches ahead of the global soccer championship kicking off 31 May in Seoul, South Korea. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- Mauritania has declared its support for the candidature of Cameroon's Issa Hayatou, president of the African Football Confederation, who is gunning for the presidency of world football body FIFA, official sources affirmed in Nouakchott on Thursday. Full text...

London- UK (PANA) -- The Irish hopes for a remarkable performance at the World Cup this year have been dented by an announcement Thursday that Skipper Roy Keanne is out of the squad and is heading back for Ireland following a series of arguments with management and the coaches over training facilities. Full text...

Tunis- Tunisia (PANA) -- The Japanese first division team of Gamba Osaka Thursday whacked the Tunisian national football 0-3 in a friendly tie ahead of the World Cup finals starting next week in Japan and Korea. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The Mauritanian Football Association would be voting for the Confederation of African Football (CAF) President, Issa Hayatou at the FIFA presidential elections, CAF said in a release Thursday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Governor Lucky Igbinedion of Nigeria's midwestern state of Edo has been named to lead a 13-member federal government delegation to the 2002 World Cup to be co-hosted by South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya, (PANA) -- Gripped by the expected excitement that comes with each World Cup tournament, Kenyan fans are increasingly getting engrossed in intense lobbying, and betting their way on the performances of teams and players as curtains go up in this year's football extravaganza in Japan and South Korea, come 31 May. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- Cameroonian national soccer team players received each 30 million FCFA (about 41,000 USD) before accepting to board the plane in Paris Tuesday night for the World Cup finals in Japan, the state-owned daily 'Cameroon Tribune' reported Wednesday. Full text...

Nakatsue- Japan (PANA) -- Cameroon's 'Indomitable Lions,' the African soccer champions, will camp at a village in Oita Prefecture, southern Japan for their final preparations before the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals kicking off 31 May. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Raising the obsession with soccer in the country to a new height, a Nigerian businessman has promised the country's national team 100,000 pounds sterling, if it beats Argentina in their 2002 World Cup first match 2 June, the daily Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Ahead of the 2002 World Cup, Nigerian head coach Adegboye Onigbinde has put three players on standby to replace ailing defender Celestine Babayaro, according to Taiwo Ogunjobi, the secretary-general of the Nigeria Football Association in Lagos. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- Bafana Bafana defender Mathew Booth, has been de-camped in Hong Kong after sustaining a knee injury during the South African national football team's training session Tuesday, the press reported Wednesday. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- Visa International on Tuesday announced that it was renewing its highly successful Rugby World Cup sponsorship as an Official Worldwide Partner and official payment service. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigerian sports analysts, fans and players are divided over the country's 2002 soccer World Cup team, announced in London Sunday by head coach Adegboye Onigbinde. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- Cameroon has named a 23-member team for the 2002 World Cup, largely the same squad that won the last African Cup of Nations title in Mali. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- South Africa Monday found a boost ahead of the 2002 World Cup finals when it beat Scotland 2- 0 in its opening match at a four-nation warm-up tournament in Hong Kong that includes Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Many soccer fans believe the pilot who flew South Africa's World Cup football team to Hong Kong for final preparations ahead of the global soccer tournament, may hold Bafana Bafana's lucky charm. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- In addition to the national football team, Cameroon is also despatching a high-powered delegation of government officials to the World Cup finals. Full text...

Nakatsue- Japan (PANA) -- Locals and reporters were Monday disappointed when African champions, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, failed to show up at the Taio Sports Centre in Nakatsue, Japan where they are to camp for the World Cup finals kicking off 31 May. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- There were few surprises Sunday as Nigeria named its 23-man squad for the 2002 World Cup starting in South Korea and Japan next week. Full text...

Tunis- Tunisia (PANA) -- Tunisia's national team coaches have cancelled Wednesday's scheduled friendly preparatory match against Argentina, the country's news agency (TAP) reported Sunday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigerian newspapers Sunday hailed the country's 1-0 victory over Jamaica on Saturday in London, declaring the national team ready for the 2002 World Cup soccer finals scheduled to start on 31 May. Full text...

Saiki- Japan (PANA) -- Tunisian national football team are in Saiki, Japan since Friday to wind up preparations for the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Nigeria recorded its second straight win in as many matches in three days, beating Jamaica 1-0 Saturday in a 2002 World Cup warm-up tie in London. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- South African coach Jomo Sono said Tuesday that he had opted for experience when he named 31 players to go to camp ahead of the World Cup. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- The two rivals vying for the chair of the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA), Joseph Blatter and Issa Hayatou, are likely to meet at the jubilee of the Cameroonian football legend Roger Milla who has affirmed having invited both of them. Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- The presidents of 16 of the 23 African football federations have expressed commitment to support outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter in his search for a new mandate to head the world football governing body. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- A government panel that probed allegations of age falsification by a Nigerian player during the 2001 FIFA-organised Under-17 World Cup tournament has recommended that Nigeria return the silver medal it won at the championship. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- Cameroonian lawyer, Charles Nguini has set up "Tous Avec Hayatou" (all for Hayatou), a support committee for Issa Hayatou's bid to get elected president of FIFA. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- Newspapers in Cameroon this week wrote about the 23 June parliamentary and local government elections, the first round French presidential ballot and CAF president's bid to be elected as head of FIFA. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- Simplice Zinsou, former chairman of Ivorian football club Africa Sports and now an adviser to CAF president Issay Hayatou, is campaigning for the latter's bid for election as president of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA). Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Those who thought that the colour of the FIFA presidency aspirants would take centre stage during the 29 May elections in Seoul, South Korea, are greatly mistaken. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigerian head coach Adegboye Onigbinde has invited 30 players to camp for the Super Eagles' friendly against the Harambee Stars of Kenya on 4 May at the National Stadium in Lagos, the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) has said. Full text...

Kampala Uganda (PANA) -- Dennis Obua, President of the Federation of Ugandan Football Association (FUFA), says the Federation supports the bid of FIFA President Sepp Blatter for re-election 29 May. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- Cameroon's newspaper Le Messager had deplored the initiative taken by the vice president of the Libyan Football Federation to lead an African coalition opposed to the election of Issa Hayatou as FIFA president. Full text...

Algiers- Algeria (PANA) -- Issa Hayatou, president of the African Football Confederation (CAF) and candidate for the presidency of FIFA said Monday in Algiers that he was counting on a maximum of African votes to win the election. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar will lead the country's national team to the 2002 World Cup, in the clearest indication yet that the country's political leaders are putting their weight behind the team. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- The Federation of Uganda football Association (FUFA) has broken its silence over the upcoming FIFA presidential election, saying that incumbent Joseph Sepp Blatter was its choice for the topmost post in world football. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- An Assistant coach with Nigeria's national soccer team wants a friendly between the Super Eagles and the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, before the May-June 2002 World Cup. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- A Nigerian official has re-stated the country's support for Cameroonian Issa Hayatou in next month's election into the presidency of the world's soccer governing body, FIFA. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigerian soccer fans have commended the Super Eagles over their 2-1 victory against Scotland in an international soccer friendly played in Aberdeen, Scotland, Wednesday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigeria's daily Champion newspaper has asked the country's football authorities to tender "unreserved apology" to FIFA President Sepp Blatter for mishandling his recent visit to Lagos. Full text...