Michael Essien executive, Zainuri Hasyim said that Persib have now released Essien because the club already filling their maximum quota of foreign players based on the PSSI's regulation. Essien's international career started with the Ghana under-17 national team, the "Black Starlets", when he played in the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship in New Zealand and won the bronze medal. In 2001, despite being one of the youngest players in the tournament, Essien participated in the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship with the "Black Satellites" in Argentina, where the nation finished runners-up to Argentina. His exceptional performances captured the attention of many and
African Cross Country Championships IAAF have had their own regional cross country championships on an annual or biennial basis, Africa did not have a regular competition in this mould for a long period. This may have been due to a number of factors including: the high status of annual cross country meetings such as the Kenya National Cross Country Championships and the Jan Meda International Cross Country (which doubles as the Ethiopian championships), the size of the region, the prominence of smaller regional championships, and the comparative lack of resources available to the Confederation of African Athletics. The fact that the majority of the