Izuchukwu Okosi
Former Super Eagles winger and 1994 African Footballer of the Year winner Emmanuel Amunike has been shortlisted by the Confederation of Africa Football, CAF to be part of the assistants during the draw for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON qualifiers on Friday reports Prime Business Africa.
The member of the CAF Executive Committee will be joined by former Cameroon Indomitable Lions’ captain Rigobert Song as both will be the draw assistants at the AFCON Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Preliminary Round Draw in Douala, Cameroon
The draw will be conducted at 4pm local time (5pm Nigerian time).
Friday’s draw will be the first step towards the 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, Cote d’Ivoire 2023.
Amunike, a former midfielder of Super Eagles won the AFCON in 1994 and was also part of the ‘golden generation’ team that claimed the Olympic gold medal in 1996 with Nigeria Dream Team.
Amunike was also coach if the Tanzanian national team at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
Song, a former Indomitable Lions defender and captain featured in eight Africa Cup of Nations finals (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010) winning the compettition twice in 2000 and 2002 with Cameroon.
The Preliminary Round will see the 12 least ranked teams divided into two levels. The six highest ranked teams (of the 12) will play against the six least ranked teams (the first leg will be played at home of the lower ranked teams).
The six aggregate winners will join the 42 highest ranked teams into the Group Stage of the qualifiers.
Level 1: Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana, Gambia, South Sudan, Mauritius
Level 2: Chad, Sao Tome & Principe, Djibouti, Somalia, Seychelles, Eritrea.
After the draw on Friday, CAF is expected to announce the dates for the qualifications
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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