Liverpool stay perfect in Champions League and Raphinha scores hat trick for Barcelona

JOHANNESBURG: A civil war in Sudan has not prevented clubs competing to be national champions and qualify for the 2025/26 Confederation of African Football (CAF) competitions.

Here, AFP Sport also reports on why the Libyan championship play-offs will be staged in Europe, and a huge boost for Burkina Faso as they seek a maiden World Cup appearance.

An eight-club mini-league is being held in Sudan amid a civil war, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives and trigged a massive hunger and displacement crisis, according to the United Nations.

Matches are being staged at two stadiums in a northeastern area controlled by the Sudanese army, who have been battling the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023.

The top two finishers, currently Al Hilal and Al Merrikh after three rounds, qualify for the Champions League while those coming third and fourth go into the second-tier Confederation Cup.

Al Hilal, winners of the Sudanese championship a record 30 times, have lost Democratic Republic of Congo-born coach Florent Ibenge to Tanzanian club Azam.

Ibenge joined the Omdurman outfit in 2022 and guided them to the Champions League quarter-finals last season despite being unable to play at home due to the civil war.

The 63-year-old Congolese inherits a club that finished third in the last Tanzanian title race behind Young Africans and Simba and will compete in the Confederation Cup.

Libya will stage the six-club national championship play-offs in Italian city Milan from July 15-31 instead of in the north African country owing to the political situation there.

The west of the nation, including the capital Tripoli, is run by a United Nations-recognized government, but a rival administration controls the east.

Leagues based in the west and east preceded the play-offs, which will feature the top three clubs in each — Al Ahly Tripoli, Asswehly, Al Ittihad, Al Ahly Benghazi, Al Hilal and Al Akhdar.

Yannick Ferrera has been named coach of five-time African champions Zamalek of Egypt in succession to Portuguese Jose Peseiro, who took Nigeria to the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations final.

The 44-year-old Belgian has coached in his homeland, Saudi Arabia and Cyprus and takes over a club that finished behind Al Ahly and reigning African champions Pyramids in the Egyptian league.

Coming third means the White Knights will miss out on the lucrative and prestigious Champions League, and must attempt to win the Confederation Cup a third time instead.

Burkina Faso will end years of homelessness by hosting Egypt during September in a 2026 World Cup Group A qualifier.

Renovations to the national August 4 Stadium in the capital Ouagadougou have been completed and approved for international fixtures by CAF inspectors.

The clash is critical for the Burkinabe Stallions as they trail the Pharaohs by five points with four rounds remaining and only the group winners are guaranteed a place at the global tournament.

LONDON: Jannik Sinner crushed Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon semifinals to set up the latest instalment of his gripping rivalry with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday’s final.

The world number one is through to his fourth successive Grand Slam title match — and his first at the All England Club — after a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 demolition on Center Court on Friday.

The 23-year-old will be desperate to avenge his painful French Open defeat against world number two Alcaraz after squandering three championship points in last month’s epic Roland Garros final.

Sinner and Alcaraz are the undisputed new kings of men’s tennis, claiming the past six majors between them.

Defeat on a baking Center Court means seven-time champion Djokovic, who was apparently not 100 percent fit, must wait for another shot at a record 25th Grand Slam title.

It is the first time he has failed to reach the Wimbledon final since 2017 and he has come up short in his bid to equal Roger Federer’s men’s record of eight Wimbledon titles.

“It’s a tournament I always watched when I was young on the television and I would have never imagined that I can play here, you know in the finals, so it was amazing,” said Sinner.

“From my side, I served very well today, I felt great on court, I was moving really well today.

“We saw in the third set that he was a bit injured. He’s been in a very difficult situation but I tried to stay calm, to play the best tennis I can.”

Italy’s Sinner was still wearing a white protective sleeve after injuring his elbow in a nasty fall against Grigor Dimitrov in his fourth-round match.

Djokovic also came into the contest, watched by Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio, with questions over his fitness after tumbling to the turf late in his quarter-final victory against Flavio Cobolli.

Top seed Sinner broke Djokovic in the third game, unleashing a barrage of relentlessly accurate groundstrokes to wear the sixth seed down.

The Serb, 38, wilted under the onslaught in the ninth game as Sinner converted his third set point.

Sinner did not let up at the start of the second set, breaking for a 2-0 lead to tighten his grip on the match.

Djokovic was struggling to gain a foothold but held for 3-1 to roars from the crowd, desperate to witness a classic battle.

Chants of “Nole” rang around the stadium as fans tried to lift Djokovic but he was powerless to prevent Sinner opening up a 5-2 lead.

He saved a set point on his own serve but that merely delayed the inevitable as Sinner wrapped up the set with only 69 minutes on the clock.

Djokovic received treatment from the trainer between sets on the upper part of his left leg, apparently on the area he hurt in the match against Cobolli.

He broke for the first time in the match as he suddenly found a new gear, but was pegged back to 3-2 and roared in frustration at the changeover.

Struggling physically, Djokovic was broken again as Sinner sealed victory with his fourth match point.

Sinner, the reigning US Open and Australian Open champion, returned from a doping ban in May, losing the Italian Open final to Alcaraz before his collapse in the Roland Garros showpiece.

Now he has chance for revenge against the man who has won the past two Wimbledon titles and is the current top dog on grass.

“It is a huge honor for me to share the court once again with Carlos,” he said. “We try to push ourselves to the limit, he is for sure one of the players I look up to.

“I love watching him, I think you all guys agree on that, what kind of talent he is but hopefully it’s going to be a good match like the last one.”

Sinner trails 8-4 in their head to head meetings, losing the past five matches.

The Italian can take heart from beating Alcaraz in the Wimbledon fourth round in 2022, his rival’s last defeat at the All England Club.