August 23, (THEWILL) – The government of Benin is now considering a proposal to rename the men’s national team from the Squirrels to the Cheetahs.
Following the victory of Mathurin de Chacus to a second term as president of the Benin Football Federation (FBF) over the weekend, the returning football chief initiated the move.
The term “Les Ecureuils,” which translates to “The Squirrels,” was first used in the 1960s, allegedly to describe a young, aspirational nation. Now, De Chacus, a member of the FIFA Council, claims that the FBF board chose the more evocative name Guepards (Cheetahs) to reflect the team’s objectives.
The FBF is sure that Oswald Homeky, the minister of sports, would receive consent from the government prior to the nation’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Rwanda in March of next year. Making his stance obvious, De Chacus exclaimed: “From this day on, there will be no more squirrels in Benin at the football level. From now, our footballers will be called cheetahs.”
Benin has previously considered changing the team’s moniker to something that will make their opponents shudder. A similar proposal was made in 2008 but was rejected, and in October 2018, a new attempt to get rid of the squirrels was made via an online survey. The 91st-ranked nation of Benin has only participated in the Nations Cup finals four times—in 2004, 2008, 2010, and 2019—and has never made it to the World Cup.
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
