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Cameroon joins FIFA Series line-up

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Cameroon Team Picture during the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations AFCON quarter final match between Cameroon and Morocco at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco on 09 January 2025 ©Majt Esseddik/BackpagePix

by
Staff Reporter

Wednesday Jan 21, 2026. 15:00

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Cameroon is set to participate in the upcoming 2026 FIFA Series, FIFA has announced.

The FIFA Series is an invitational tournament featuring international friendlies between teams from all six FIFA confederations.

The friendly competition involves teams from across a large range of the FIFA rankings and allows associations to face opposition from outside their own continental confederations, a rarity for those not amongst the world’s best.

The competition’s pilot edition was hosted in March 2024 and had grown significantly since, with 48 teams set to compete in the 2026 edition; 36 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams.

The series will have 11 host nations, eight for the men’s section and three for the women’s, each welcoming three other teams to form a group of four aside from Rwanda, which will host two different groups in the men’s competition. The first is composed of Estonia, Granada, Kenya and the hosts, while the second contains Aruba, Liechtenstein, Macau and Tanzania.

In addition to Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda, five other African nations will participate in the competition. Gabon will play in Uzbekistan, Cabo Verde will compete in New Zealand, Sierra Leone will play in Azerbaijan, and the Comoros and Namibia will both compete in Kazakhstan.

On the women’s side, Côte d’Ivoire are one of three host nations while Mauritania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia will participate.

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Cameroon joins the FIFA Series line-up after falling short at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in January, losing to hosts Morocco 2-0 in the quarterfinals.

After climbing 12 places on the FIFA Men’s Rankings thanks to its performance at the tournament, Cameroon is the second highest-ranked men’s team to participate in the FIFA Series. Australia is the highest, ranked 27th. The two are in the same group to be hosted down under.

The friendly competition will be played in the international window between March and April.

By Nic Gleeson

CK Updates

Stephen Fleming: England appoint former New Zealand captain as Test coach, with Joe Root captain

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Stephen Fleming

Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming has been appointed as England Test coach, with Joe Root returning as captain.

Fleming, 53, has never previously worked as head coach of a national team but he led Chennai Super Kings to a record five Indian Premier League titles during his 17-year tenure as head coach.

Previous Test coach Brendon McCullum was fired earlier this month following a string of poor results and several off-field incidents, but remains in charge of England’s white-ball sides.

Root, 35, whose first spell as Test captain was between 2017 and 2022, captained England to a record 27 Test wins in 65 matches.

Fleming said he was “incredibly excited” to be taking on the role as Test coach.

“It’s one of the most prestigious coaching positions in world cricket and I am honoured to be appointed,” he added.

Fleming will not be in charge for the Test series against Pakistan, which begins on 19 August. Assistant coach Marcus Trescothick will be the interim head coach.

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Fleming will spend time with his family in New Zealand before flying to the UK later this summer to begin preparations for the South Africa Test tour in December.

Root said taking on the captain’s role alongside Fleming was a “huge motivator”.

He added: “[Fleming] has proved over a long period of time that he is an exceptional leader with a great knowledge of the game, and I am looking forward to working with him and helping to build a winning environment.”

Fleming called Root a “generational talent who has achieved so much already”, adding: “I’m excited to support him so he can enjoy and thrive in the role in what is a different context to his first stint.”

Fleming, who retired as a player in 2009, has a wealth of experience in Test cricket as a player, making 111 appearances for New Zealand, scoring 7,172 runs at 40.06, and remains the Black Caps’ most successful captain with 28 wins from 80 matches.

He also spent time in England in the county game, playing for Middlesex, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire – where he won the County Championship in 2005.

“Of course, the ambition is always to win now. But equally, it’s about ensuring the team is well placed for the medium and long-term future,” said Fleming.

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“There is a lot of young talent in and around the team and our aim is to help them fulfil their potential as world-class cricketers.”

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Commonwealth Games 2026: Aziz Abdul, grandson of Idi Amin, disqualified for headbutt in Glasgow

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Aziz Abdul reacts after being disqualified for a headbutt during fight against England's Damar Thomas

Before the super-heavyweight bout Abdul told the BBC he wanted to become the new ‘King of Scotland’ – in reference to Amin declaring himself that name in 1976.

After taking power in a coup in 1971, Amin ran a brutal regime during which an estimated half a million people were killed. He was also known as the Butcher of Uganda.

Abdul, who never met his grandfather, was chasing Uganda’s first Commonwealth boxing medal since Auckland in 1990 – something which would have been guaranteed had he beaten Thomas.

Instead, he was given warnings in the previous two rounds and was trailing on all of the judges’ scorecards.

“All I can say about this is the decision is not right, I am not happy,” he said.

“He elbowed me. He caught me with the elbow.

“It [the head movement] was not intentional. I was trying to come back.

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“How can I headbutt someone? I would not.

“He was the person they wanted to win. He was the winner before.

“I knew if I did not get knockout I could not win the fight.”

BBC Sport has contacted Commonwealth Games organisers and World Boxing for a response to Abdul’s comments.

Thomas, who is now guaranteed at least a bronze medal, said it was “not the way” he wanted to win.

“I can’t change what happened today but I can control how I box on Friday,” he said.

Amin, himself a boxer, harboured a fascination with Scotland after serving in the King’s African Rifles in his 20s.

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At the height of the regime, he was fond of wearing a kilt and playing the bagpipes – and even declared himself “King of Scotland” in 1976.

Some years later, those predilections even spawned an Oscar-winning film, The Last King of Scotland, starring Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy.

In a previous interview, Abdul said he was “inspired” by Amin, although it was not entirely clear whether he was talking about his boxing feats or not.

Speaking to the BBC, he refused to answer when asked if he was proud to be the dictator’s grandson, but he did address the question of how he feels when he is linked to someone with such a sinister reputation.

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Commonwealth Games 2026: Scotland claim eight medals in five chaotic hours as Games hit halfway

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Melanie Woods, Keanna MacInnes, Angharad Evans, Owen McCormack

After a relatively quiet day, the first medal was claimed by the men’s 3×3 basketball team just before 17:00 BST.

A couple of hours later, three more followed in the space of five minutes.

The women’s wheelchair 3×3 basketball team took silver; Evans added her second gold – and third medal – of the Games in the 200m breaststroke; then Woods claimed gold in the women’s T54 1500m.

Shaw then joined in with bronze in the women’s S9 100m freestyle before MacInnes was edged into second place in the women’s 200m butterfly to take her second individual silver of the meet.

Around the same time, MacKenzie was leaping to long jump bronze, before the haul was completed in the pool when Evans and MacInnes teamed up with Katie Shanahan and Evie Davis to take silver in the women’s 4x100m medley.

Three more further medals are guaranteed in boxing – with fighters in semi-final action on Friday – while further prospects remain in athletics, bowls, cycling, judo and weightlifting.

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