President Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday, rewarded the Super Eagles of Nigeria with a national award (Member of the Order of the Niger, MON) flats in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and piece of land.

President Tinubu made the pronouncement when he received the players and officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The delegation is led by the Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh.

The Super Eagles finished as runners-up in the just concluded Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), hosted by Côte d’Ivoire. 

All the team members, clad in green attire, and officials were in attendance, including Alex Iwobi, who had faced cyber attacks following Nigeria’s loss to Cote d’Ivoire at the final of the just concluded African Cup of Nations.

In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, President Tinubu commended the team, the coach, the crew, and the entire management team for their hard work, assiduity, and sacrifice to come this far in the tournament, acknowledging the hurdles they consistently surpassed with steadily improving performance as they pulled through to the finals.

The President had urged Nigerians to be of good cheer, emphasising that we won a great victory in the hearts of Africa and the world with our grit, rigour, and determination in the field of play.
 
“Let this passing event not dispirit us but bring us together to work harder. We are a great nation bound as one by the green-white-green banner of resilience, joy, hope, duty, and untiring love.

“To those cherished Nigerian youths expressing their gifts in communities, drawing lines in the sand as they play football in their humble rectangles of play, you can be our heroes tomorrow, do not relent in your pursuit. My administration is here to make dreams come true,” the president said.

By

Ayobami Adedeji Sports 2024-02-13

Manchester City won the first Champions League in their history on Saturday and secured a treble of trophies by beating Inter Milan 1-0.

In a far closer match than many pundits had predicted, Rodri's sweetly-struck goal proved the difference for Abu Dhabi-backed City, who have already won the Premier League and FA Cup this season.

By

Ayobami Adedeji Sports 2023-06-11

Manchester City earned a crucial 3-1 win against title rivals Arsenal as the resurgent champions knocked the Gunners off the top of the Premier League on Wednesday.

Pep Guardiola’s side showed they are not ready to surrender the title with a ruthless display of finishing that lifted them above Arsenal on goal difference.

Kevin De Bruyne put City ahead in the first half at the Emirates Stadium and, although Bukayo Saka equalised with a controversial penalty, Jack Grealish landed the vital blow in the second half when he restored the visitors’ lead.

Erling Haaland’s 26th goal in 22 league appearances for City killed off Arsenal in the closing stages.

In the most eagerly anticipated Premier League clash this season, City seized the momentum in the title race.

Although Arsenal have a game in hand that could tip the balance back in their favour, City headed home with renewed belief they can win their fight for a fifth title in six seasons.

Having trailed Arsenal by eight points a month ago, Guardiola’s men have won four of their last five league games, while Arsenal have stumbled.

By

Ayobami Adedeji Sports 2023-02-15

The Super Eagles have progressed to the next round of 16,in the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) after defeating Guinea-Bissau 1-0 on Monday.

The Eagles took the lead on the 36th minute after Guinea-Bissau’s Sangante kicked the ball into the net.

Both sides had goals ruled out in the second half for offside, while Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen also had an effort disallowed for handball.

Jose Peseiro's side finished second in Group A behind Equatorial Guinea, who beat hosts Ivory Coast 4-0.

The Super Eagles will face the second-placed side from Group C, which will be Senegal, Guinea or Cameroon, in the last 16 on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Bouchra Karboubi became the second woman to referee an Afcon finals game, following in the footsteps of Salima Mukansanga in Cameroon two years ago, with the Moroccan also making history by heading the first all-female officiating team at the finals.

Osimhen misfires but Nigeria ease through

Guinea-Bissau had no chance of progressing to the knockout stages, but played their part in an entertaining match at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium.

In some respects it was a game to forgot for African footballer of the year Osimhen, who failed to bury any of the opportunities he had to score.

However, the Napoli striker played his part in the only goal after Simon launched a darting run down the left.

The winger drilled a low ball into the path of Osimhen which Sangante had to deal with some seven yards out, but the centre-back ended up smashing the ball into his own net.

Osimhen closed the first half by missing a good chance as he headed wide after meeting a cross from the left wing, and the story of the second half was once again one of Nigeria pushing forward while Guinea-Bissau sat back and lacked spark in attack.

Minutes after Osimhen headed a cross from Ola Aina wide, Baciro Cande's side counter-attacked and Dalcio forced Stanley Nwabali into a low save.

Osimhen thought he had finally scored to double Nigeria's lead in the 59th minute when he turned Bright Osayi-Samuel's cross into the net from close range, but the officials spotted he had clearly handled the ball prior to putting it into the net.

Alex Iwobi side-footed wide for the Super Eagles before Nwabali had to claw away Fali Cande's dipping free-kick and Nito Gomes diverted wide from the resulting corner.

Guinea-Bissau forward Franculino rifled in a rising shot in the 83rd minute after a run through the middle, but that goal was ruled out for offside and a minute later Nigeria saw another effort chalked off.

Osimhen's low shot across goal was saved by Jonas Mendes before substitute Zaidu Sanusi converted the rebound, but the flag went up for an offside earlier in the move.

Ivory Coast's surprising collapse in the other Group A game meant a point would have been enough for Nigeria to progress, but Jose Peseiro will be aware that his side will need to be more clinical in attack if the West Africans are to go deep at the finals.

By

Ayobami Adedeji Sports 2024-01-22

Israel Adesanya has reclaimed the UFC middleweight title from Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 287 at the FTX Arena in Miami, Florida on Sunday morning.

The knockout came from nowhere as Pereira was initially on the offense.

Pereira was unleashing body hooks and a knee to the ribs, with Adesanya backed against the cage, when the challenger threw a right hook out of nowhere!!

It froze Pereira, so similar to the end of the first round in their last fight, but this time there was no buzzer to save Pereira; the next punch dropped him, and he was out cold after the fist.

Adesanya then celebrated by imitating firing arrows at his rival.

Adesanya suffered a controversial points loss to Pereira in their first fight, a kickboxing match. In their rematch, also in kickboxing, Adesanya was leading but was knocked out. In November, in their first MMA clash, again Adesanya was ahead, but he was beaten in the final round.

After seven years in which they have fought four times, ‘The Last Stylebender’ finally gets his win over Pereira, and in stunning fashion.

By

Ayobami Adedeji Sports 2023-04-09

Saudi Arabia is reportedly set to bend its marriage law to allow Al Nassr new star signing  Cristiano Ronaldo to live with his partner, Georgina Rodriguez.

Saudi Arabia marriage law forbids couples that are not married from living together.

However, Spanish news outlet, Sport, revealed that Ronaldo and Rodriguez will be living together in Saudi Arabia and are most likely not going to be punished for breaking the law.

Ronaldo joined Al Nassr from Manchester United after his contract with the club was terminated by mutual agreement following an explosive interview the Portuguese star had in November with British presenter, Piers Morgan.

By

Ayobami Adedeji Sports 2023-01-08

Nigeria’s Super Eagles on Thursday evening defeated host nation Ivory Coast at the ongoing 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

The match was played at the Olympic Stadium in Ebimpé.

Both Nigeria and Ivory Coast failed to score in the first half.

Victor Osimhen missed a good chance to give Jose Peseiro’s side the lead in the first half as he kicked the ball over the bar following a fine through pass from Samuel Chukwueze.

However, in the second half, Super Eagles captain William Troost-Ekong gave Nigeria the lead via a powerful penalty.

The match eventually ended 1-0 in favour of the Super Eagles.

The result moved Peseiro’s side to second position in Group A with four points from two games.

Ivory Coast are in third position with 3 points from the same number of games.

Meanwhile, Equatorial Guinea are on top of the group with goals difference ahead of Nigeria, while Guinea-Bissau are in fourth position with no point.

Nigeria will now face Guinea-Bissau in their last group game in the coming days.

By

Ayobami Adedeji Sports 2024-01-19

English premiership side Chelsea have sacked coach Graham Potter.He was sacked after the club lost 2-0 to Aston Villa in a season shadowed by massive defeats.

Chelsea’s season has descended into chaos after they fired Graham Potter and began looking for their third manager since being bought by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital last summer.

Julian Nagelsmann is prominent in Chelsea’s thoughts after the ruthless dismissal of Potter, who was informed of his fate at 2.45pm on Sunday, but the former Bayern Munich manager is believed to be reluctant to take the job until the summer. A full-time appointment is not imminent. Chelsea have installed Bruno Saltor, who was part of Potter’s backroom staff, as interim head coach and want to think carefully before making their next move.

Chelsea have drawn up a shortlist of candidates, including Mauricio Pochettino, and would like someone in place before pre-season. Nagelsmann is the early favourite but Luis Enrique could come under consideration. Chelsea have been linked with the Eintracht Frankfurt manager, Oliver Glasner, while Rúben Amorim is building a strong reputation at Sporting Lisbon.

However, eyebrows will be raised at the new regime’s behaviour. Much has been made of Boehly and Clearlake, which is owned by Behdad Eghbali and Jose Feliciano, trying to move away from Roman Abramovich’s sacking culture.

Yet Chelsea, who are 11th in the Premier League despite spending close to £600m on signings since last summer, have fired two managers in seven months. Potter was hired after the departure of Thomas Tuchel in September. Chelsea paid £21.5m in compensation to Brighton & Hove Albion to bring the 47-year-old and his coaching staff to Stamford Bridge.

Boehly and Eghbali said: “On behalf of everyone at the club, we want to thank Graham sincerely for his contribution to Chelsea. We have the highest degree of respect for Graham as a coach and as a person. He has always conducted himself with professionalism and integrity and we are all disappointed in this outcome.

“Along with our incredible fans, we will all be getting behind Bruno and the team as we focus on the rest of the season. We have 10 Premier League games remaining and a Champions League quarter-final ahead. We will put every effort and commitment into every one of those games so that we can end the season on a high.”

By

Ayobami Adedeji Sports 2023-04-03

It was a night of accolades for Nigerian football,at the just held 2023 CAF Awards,in the awe-striking city of Marrakech, Morocco,on Monday, 11 December 2023.The event which took place at Movenpick Hotel saw striker, Victor Osimhen has winning the CAF 2023 Men’s Player of The Year award.

He saw off competition from Senegal’s Sadio Mane, and Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, among others.Osimhen becomes the first Nigerian to win the coveted prize since Nwankwo Kanu won it in 1999. 

In the same vein,Nigeria’s female striker, Asisat Oshoala,also  won the 2023 CAF Women’s Player of The Year at the Confederation of African Football awards.It was her 6th title.

By

Ayobami Adedeji Sports 2023-12-12

Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua got back to winning ways on Saturday night at the 02 Arena in London when he claimed a unanimous decision win over American Jermaine Franklin.After a painful loss in his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk last year, former champion Joshua was looking for his first victory since 2020 against Jermaine Franklin in London.

He had to win against the tough American and took a clear unanimous decision, 118-111 and 117-111 twice.Franklin is a tough American heavyweight who had only lost once in 22 professional bouts and that was a close-fought majority decision defeat to Dillian Whyte in November.

By

Ayobami Adedeji Sports 2023-04-02

It is a season of windfall for World Champion,Tobi Amusan.Days after she was endorsed as Globacom ambassador,the governor of her home state,Ogun,Prince Dapo Abiodun,announced a cash reward of N5m  and  a house to world, Commonwealth and African 100m hurdles champion.This is coming weeks after President Buhari,splashed N200million on Team Nigeria,which include Amusan.

The Governor also named Amusan an Ogun State Sports Ambassador.

Abiodun, in a  statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, stated, “So, you (Amusan) will be our Sports Ambassador; I am happy that you said you are not from any other state. You are from Ogun and not from Lagos and you want to come back home. We also want to ensure that you come back home. We want to  assure you that as you come back home, you have a home here in the state.  So, in view of that, we are also going to be presenting to you a home in Ijebu-Ode. On top of that, we will be giving you a small token, we will be donating to you the sum of N5m.”

He added that the call by Amusan, the women’s 100m hurdles world record holder, to train at the stadium whenever she was in the country, would further prompt his administration to fast track the renovation of the stadium.

“We are in the process of rehabilitating a few of our sport facilities, I have spoken to the Minister of Sports and a few other people. But now that we have one of our own, who is saying that ‘I want to train in that stadium,’ that puts us under a lot of pressure to ensure we prioritise the Ijebu-Ode stadium because we want you (Amusan) to come and train at that stadium,” the Governor added.

Abiodun also said his administration considered the role of women very important in all spheres of human endeavour, adding that the passing of a law to ensure the full emancipation of women in the state, would usher in an era where women would get more responsibilities.

The Governor stressed that his administration viewed Amusan as a point of contact for other youths in the country that had lost faith in hard work, persistence and diligence. He noted that the Ogun-born athlete’s story would educate those who still viewed the combination of sports and education as a waste of time.

In her remarks, Amusan, while acknowledging the support of Abiodun towards her success, called on the Federal Government to do more for athletes.

“All thanks to my Governor for supporting me and I feel the Federal Government can do the same when it comes to supporting athletes financially,” she said.

By

Ayobami Adedeji Sports 2022-10-05