Okocha and Ammunike named in Fifa technical advisory group supervised by Wenger

GLOBAL footballing body Fifa has named Nigerian legends Austin Okocha and Emmanuel Ammunike in a newly-constituted technical advisory group supervised by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

Put together to consult for Fifa on the future of men’s football, the new group is comprised of 38 legendary players and coaches from the world’s six continents. Okocha and Amuneke headline six African greats that also include Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba and Yaya Touré, Morocco’s Mustapha Hadji and Cameroon’s Geremi Njitap.

Other prominent former footballers who make up the panel include Brazil’s Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Lima, Denmark's Peter Schmeichel, German icon Jürgen Klinsmann, Englishmen Michael Owen and John Terry, Dutch hero Marco van Basten, Oman’s Ali Al-Habsi and Australia’s Tim Cahill. Later this week, the advisory group will meet with Mr Wenger, Fifa's director of world football development, in Doha, Qatar, for a two-day consultation.

Its mission is to assess potential alternatives to the current organisation of men’s football through a double prism. These include the desire to make football truly global and the need to give every talent and every region a chance.

Meanwhile, Super Eagles centreback Chigozie Awaziem has agreed to join Turkish Alanyaspor on a season-long loan. In Turkey, the transfer window does not close until September 11, so the defender has just arrived from Portugal where he was playing for Boavista.

Awaziem, 24, who joins Alanyaspor as a full Nigerian international with 12 caps to his name, has  just returned from international duty, where he featured for Nigeria in a 2-1 victory over Cape Verde in a World Cup qualifier. Awaziem’s loan spell with Alanyaspor will be his second stint in Turkey, having played for Caykur Rizespor during the 2018/19 season.