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A proposal to change the nickname of Benin’s men’s national team from the Squirrels to the Cheetahs is awaiting government approval in the West African country.<\/span><\/p>\n Mathurin de Chacus announced the plan after he was re-elected unopposed for a second term as president of the Benin Football Federation (FBF) over the weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Les Ecureuils, which translates into English as The Squirrels, was coined in the 1960s – apparently to reflect a small nation aiming to climb high.<\/span><\/p>\n But De Chacus, a Fifa council member, says the FBF board decided to pick a more evocative name in Guepards (Cheetahs) to reflect the team’s ambitions.<\/span><\/p>\n The FBF is confident that sports minister Oswald Homeky will gain the government’s approval before the country’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Rwanda in March next year.<\/span><\/p>\n “From this day on, there will be no more squirrels in Benin at the football level. From now, our footballers will be called cheetahs,” De Chacus declared.<\/span><\/p>\n Benin, ranked 91st in the world, have never qualified for the World Cup and have only played at the Nations Cup finals four times; in 2004, 2008, 2010 and 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n It is not the first time Benin have looked to change the team’s nickname for something that will strike fear into the heart of their opponents.<\/span><\/p>\n A similar move was <\/span>mooted in 2008<\/span><\/a> but was aborted, while another attempt to ditch the Squirrels was <\/span>launched via an online survey<\/span><\/a> in October 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n Benin international Steve Mounie, then playing for Huddersfield Town, backed the country’s plan by <\/span>offering his own suggestion of the Pythons.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n The Squirrels reached a maiden Nations Cup quarter-final on their last tournament appearance in 2019 after a shock win on penalties over Morocco, but failed to qualify for this year’s finals in Cameroon.<\/span><\/p>\nSquirrels survived previous attempts<\/h3>\n