Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- French coach Christian Gourcuff, is to handle the "Elephants," Cote d'Ivoire's national football team, sources close to the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF), said in Abidjan Thursday. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwe Thursday appointed Sunday Marimo, as its new national soccer coach, replacing Polish trainer Wieslaw Grabowski, fired at the beginning of the month. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- After lunch most workers stopped working and turned their attention to their office television sets to watch Bafana Bafana beat Turkey 2-0 to win the four nations football tournament in Hong Kong Thursday. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- ZANACO Football Club, the bank sponsored outfit from Lusaka, has climbed to the top of the Zambian premier football league after they hammered Konkola Blades 2-1 in a mid- week fixture played on the Copperbelt Wednesday. 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...

Lobamba- Swaziland (PANA) -- A row has erupted between the Swaziland parliament and the government over the inclusion of many foreign athletes to represent the country at this year's Commonwealth Games beginning in July in Britain. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Defending champions Accra Hearts of Oak and arch rivals Kumasi Asante Kotoko won important away games during mid-week matches in the Ghanaian elite football championship. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- Stade Malien of Bamako shot into the lead in Mali's premier league championship Wednesday when it whacked Mamahira of Kati 7-0. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The Amateur Boxing Association of Kenya (ABA) has picked an eight-strong provisional team to July's Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The crisis within Kenya's football circles reached a head Thursday when the board of the senior national team resigned. 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...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Mauritian boxers preparing for this year's Commonwealth Games will camp in Nairobi before proceeding to Manchester, England, for the sporting event. 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...

Algiers- Algeria (PANA) -- The president of the Algerian Football Federation (FAF), Mohammed Raouraoua, has fired the coach of the national football team, Rabah Madjer, well-informed sources indicated Wednesday in Algiers. 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...

Paris- France (PANA) -- After three days of negotiations at a hotel close to Roissy Airport in Paris over advance cash payment of their World Cup participation bonuses, Cameroon's Indomitable Lions finally left France early Wednesday for Japan. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Morocco's 1,500m world champion, Hicham El-Guerrouj, is still perched atop the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) men's world rankings with 1,467 points. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The Kenyan government and the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) appear headed on a collision course over last week's dissolution of the Kenya Football Federation (KFF). 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...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- Since the 1960s, Libyan football has always dominated in Arab and African competitions, particularly in 1982 when the national football team narrowly lost in the final of the African Cup of Nations (CAN) to Ghana. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- Eight professional footballers of Niger, now plying their trade in Europe and Asia, have offered to be part of the national squad for the 2004 African Cup of Nations. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Zambia, which recently elevated assistant coach Patrick Phiri as national team coach, plans to arrange for friendly matches with local clubs in Libya as part of the programme for sharpening players' skills. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- More than 40,000 spectators watched Wydad stun Raja 2-0 at the Mohammed V stadium in Casablanca last weekend in a local derby counting for the 27th round of the Moroccan elite football championship. 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...

Algiers- Algeria (PANA) -- The 25th round of the Algerian national football championship turned out well for front-runner USM Alger who, although beaten, are still 6 points clear of second-placed JS Kabylie. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Mumias Sugar fought their way back to the top of the Kenyan Premier League Zone-A table after winning two matches over the weekend. 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...

Tunis- Tunisia (PANA) -- The coach of the Tunisian national team, Ammar Souayah, has named his 23-man squad for the World Cup finals starting in South Korea and Japan next week. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- France will host the 2003 World Athletics Championship in Paris, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has said. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- DR Congo is among the African countries that systematically call on professional players to wear the national jersey in international football competitions. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- Mauritius and South Africa have signed a draft agreement to exchange athletes, official sources said Monday in Port Louis. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- League leaders Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko recorded narrow wins in matches played at the weekend, as they continued to dictate the pace at the Ghanaian Premier Football League. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Kitwe United Football Club, a side that returned to Zambian top-flight football after three decades in the doldrums, has stunned critics by shooting to the top of the premier league after thumping City of Lusaka 3-1 at the weekend. 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...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- Stade Malien of Bamako has retained Mali's football Super Cup after piping Mamahira de Kati 1-0 Sunday. 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...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- Following are results of matches played at the weekend, in the 13th round of the Malian elite football championship: COB-ESD 4-1 AS Mande-Sigui Kayes 0-1 AS Real-US As 0-1 Commune II-ASB 1-0 Djoliba-CSK 1-1 AS Biton-Nianan 1-2 Djoliba AC of Bamako is in the lead with 32 points, followed by Stade Malien with 31 points and a match in hand. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- South Africa cannot afford to host a World Rally Championship, according to Diether Kok of the Pretoria Branch of the Sports Car Club of South Africa. 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...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwe's top soccer referee Felix Tangawarima has been selected to officiate at the ongoing European Under 21 Championships, the only match official from the African continent taking part in the tournament. 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...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwe crushed visitors Uganda 43-0 in a friendly international rugby match at the weekend, as the southern African country prepares to host Madagascar in a World Cup qualifying encounter next month. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Having accomplished almost all her dreams, world 800 metres champion, Maria Mutola, is contemplating retiring from track and field after the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. 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...