After four clubs were banned for life from the fourth tier of South African football after fixing games in a bid to win the league, authorities have lined up a series of workshops to educate coaches, officials and referees.

For as table-topping rivals Matiyasi FC and Shivulani Dangerous Tigers battled for the title last month, so some extraordinary scorelines emerged.

The Tigers beat Kotoko Happy Boys 33-1 in late May, only for Matiyasi to improve on this with an eye-popping 59-1 victory over third-placed Nsami Mighty Birds.

Officials from the clubs have received suspensions of between five and eight seasons for their roles in fixing the games on 22 May, while the respective match officials have been given ten-season bans.

“These people don’t have respect for football, and we cannot allow it to happen again,” Vincent Ramphago, president of the Mopani region, told BBC Sport Africa.

“What is sad is there are young players involved because the competition rules stipulate that each team has to field at least five players under 21.

“Our main aim in organising leagues is to make sure we groom the young footballers into potential future Bafana Bafana players.”

Despite their efforts, the goals ultimately counted for little however, as Gawula Classic – who finished fourth in the league – were declared winners of South Africa’s Mopani region.

These came after the bans handed out to the three teams above them, with Shivulani having led by three points, not to mention being 16 goals ahead on goal difference, prior to kick-off of the final day.

“Our investigation found that Matiyasi and Nsami wanted to stop Shivulani from topping the log so they agreed on fixing the match to prevent this from happening,” stated Ramphago.

“After hearing that Matiyasi were leading 22-0 at half-time, Shivulani colluded to remove Kotoko Happy Boys players from the field. The players who came off said they were tired leaving their team with only seven players.

“In the Matiyasi game meanwhile, the referee gave players red cards so that Nsami ended up with seven players.”

When the teams had previously met in March, the scorelines were considerably more sober, with Matiyasi beating Nsami Mighty Birds 2-1 while Shivulani Dangerous Tigers drew 2-2 with Kotoko Happy Boys.

The disciplinary committee has already found evidence of collusion between the respective teams and the match officials to contrive the results.

Players from the four teams in South Africa’s northern Limpopo province will learn their fate in the next few days.

Heavy sanctions are expected after Kotoko Happys Boys’ players simply left the field in their 33-1 thrashing, while it emerged that Nsami Mighty Birds had scored 41 own goals during their 59-1 mauling – despite finishing the game with only seven players.

“When we investigated we discovered that some of the Matiyasi goals were not even [properly registered] because the referee was unable to interpret his report,” said Ramphago.

“We found the referee was just writing – ‘player number 2 scored 10 goals, player number 5 scored 20 goals’ and so on – but there were 41 own goals so how were they recording these?” added Ramphago, who is also the chairman of the region’s competitions committee.

Angry Birds

Nsami Mighty Birds coach Neil Thwala told a national radio station his players were angry going into the Matiyasi game.

“In the previous match we played, we were told the referee is part of Shivulane Dangerous Tigers,” the Nsami coach said.

“We scored four goals but all of them were disallowed by the referee but then they hit a side net and the referee said it’s a goal. When we reported the matter to Safa, we were told that the referee’s decision is final.

“The players’ minds were not on the game because even if they won, they knew it wasn’t going to help them in any way. I tried as a coach to push them but it was difficult – there was nothing I could do.”

Unlikely scorelines are nothing new in African football, with two Nigerian promotion rivals  hundred 10 years ban in 2013 after recording wins of 79-0 and 67-0.

Yet nothing beats the 149-0 win recorded by Madagascar’s AS Adema after their rivals SO l’Emyrne repeatedly scored into their own net after a disagreement between their coach and the match referee.

While Nigeria struggled to beat Sierra Leone 2-1 at home, one of their Group A opponents made a mince meat out of Sao Tome & Principe in their corresponding match.

Guinea Bissau, the last team Nigeria defeated this year before a run of five no-win streak beat Sao Tome 5-1 in their own home game.

Like Nigeria, they came from a goal back to win. Though having the same three points like Nigeria, they are superior on goal aggregate.

Sao Tome shot into the lead after 21 minutes through Edmilson Viegas. But Guinea Bissau fought back as Alfa Samendo levelled up in the 40^th minute.

Half time scores stood at 1-1. In the 50^th minute Zinho Gano scored the first of his two goals that shot the home team ahead. He doubled the lead in the 58^th minute. In the 80^th minute, Zidane Banjaqui made it 3-1 before Jorginho, a 69^th minute substitute made it 5-1 in the 87^th minute.

Sierra Leone, currently third on the log, will host Guinea Bissau on Monday in Conakry, Guinea where the Leone Stars play their home games.

Nigeria will be away to bottom placed Sao Tome at Agadir, Morocco also on Monday.

The 62-year-old tactician praised the Super Eagles’ display and defends his selection after downing the Leone Stars in Group A opener

Nigeria coach Jose Peseiro has expressed his satisfaction with how the Super Eagles rallied from a goal down to beat Sierra Leone 2-1 in their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations group opener on Thursday.

The Super Eagles found themselves trailing with only 11 minutes played at Abuja National Stadium when Jonathan Morsay put the Leone Stars ahead but Alex Iwobi put them level in the 16th minute before Victor Osimhen, scored what turned out to be the winner in the 41st minute.

The outcome of the fixture handed Peseiro his first victory in charge of the Super Eagles from three matches since he joined the side to replace German Gernot Rohr. The first two matches for the Portuguese tactician came in the recent Fifa international break when they lost 2-1 against Mexico and 1-0 against Ecuador in friendly matches in the USA.

The 62-year-old Peseiro believes his side were much better from the onset adding their opponents only created some good moments in the game in the closing stages.

“We are better than Sierra Leone in this game, we deserve to win,” Peseiro told reporters after the game as quoted by Musa. “We changed the setup in the second half, I think it was only the last 10 minutes our opponent had some good moments.

“We created a lot of scoring chances, we could have won with a bigger margin, but the team needs more time and we must work.”

Peseiro also defended his decision to start two natural midfielders in Iwobi and Joe Aribo, insisting he picks his starting XI according to the game plan.

“I can play any player, I make the final decision. If I ask you, to give me your XI, it will be different from others,” Peseiro continued. “I believe in my players, it’s my responsibility to select the players according to our plans.”

The victory saw the Super Eagles stay second in Group A with three points, the same as leaders Guinea-Bissau, who hammered Sao Tome Principe 5-1 in another fixture at Stade Adrar also on Thursday.

Nigeria will travel to face Sao Tome in their matchday two fixture at Stade Adrar on June 13.

Nigeria overcame a stunning early goal to turn the screw on Sierra Leone and eventually win 2-1 to pick all three points in a Day 1 encounter of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification series at the MKO Abiola Stadium on Thursday. 

The fleet-footed Leone Stars, who famously came back from four goals down to tie the match 4-4 in an AFCON qualifier against Nigeria in Benin City in November 2021, had knocked hard at the Super Eagles’ door as early as the 4th minute, when a rasping shot from Mohamed Turay was tipped over the bar by Francis Uzoho. 

Two minutes later, a good pass by Aribo was followed by a teasing cross from Calvin Bassey but Victor Osimhen’s header failed to find target. In the 10th minute, a brilliant pass from Sadiq Umar found Osimhen, whose shot drifted away.

At the other end, just a minute after, Jonathan Morsay scored a stunning goal with a diving header from a pin-point pull-out from Alhassan Koroma. 

Four minutes later, the advantage could have been stretched for the visitors when they hit the upright on another counter-attack.

However, in the 16th minute, Nigeria were level when an exchange of passes between Alex Iwobi and Moses Simon ended with the former emphatically finding the far corner of goalkeeper Mohamed Kamara’s post.

Three minutes later, Kamara saved a strong Moses Simon header, and in the 35th minute, Musa Kamara came close with a stinging grounder as the visitors swarmed forward once more.

Four minutes before half time, Osimhen scored Nigeria’s second when he drove the ball into the roof of the net from a Simon header off Ola Aina’s cross from the right.

In the second half, the game flowed from one end to the other, but Nigeria should have made it 3-1 in the 58th minute when Iwobi ansd Osimhen carved open the visitors’ defence, only for Samuel Chukwueze to get too much purchase on his shot and drag it wide.

Aribo, Osimhen and substitute Ademola Lookman all missed chances as Nigeria pushed for another goal, but in added time, it took Aribo’s last-second intervention to deny the Leone Stars. 

The Eagles pocket three points and are top of Group A, as they head to Agadir, Morocco for their Day 2 encounter against the ‘The Falcons and True Parrots’of São Tomé and Príncipe on Monday evening.