Sport

By Joseph Aigbonosumua   Nigeria U-20 female football team Falconets on Monday played 1-1 with China in their final group match to reach the quarterfinals of the 2018 U-20 FIFA World Cup in France. Nigeria qualified on superior goals aggregate having rounded up their group matches on four points with China. The Falconets had lost 0-1 to Germany and bounced …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua   Nigeria’s Falconets will today continue their quest for glory at the ongoing 2018 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup holding in France when they face China in a make or mar encounter later today with both teams standing a chance of making it to the quarterfinals stage. You will recall that the Falconet went down in their …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua   Spanish great Andres Iniesta scored a sublime first goal for Japanese side Vissel Kobe on Saturday, helping them to a 2-1 win over J-League rivals Jubilo Iwata. The former Barcelona playmaker, who completed a surprise move to Japan over the summer after a glittering career with his boyhood club, produced a moment of outrageous skill to …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua   The factional President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Chris Giwa,  has lauded the Falconets for their gallantry in winning their second Group D game at the ongoing FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in France. The battle for the second group ticket will be on Monday, when Nigeria takes on China with the country having a slight …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua Manchester City are now exploring a development pathway for Australian teenager and midfielder Daniel Arzani who is expected joined  England champions Manchester City from sister club Melbourne City on loan. Further announcement regarding the transfer will be made in the coming days,” said the club in a statement. The 19 year-old Iranian born player was hailed as one …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua   Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, said Federal Government spent one million dollars to evacuate 355 Nigerian football fans stranded in Russia after the 2018 World Cup. Onyeama made this known on Monday in Abuja while fielding questions from newsmen, and said that the evacuation was done in two batches of 155 persons and 200 persons. …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua   Nigeria’s U-20 women team, the Super Falconets lost 1-0 to the three time World Champions, Germany in their opening Group C game at the 2018 FIFA Women’s World Cup ongoing in France. This is the third defeat suffered by the Nigerian U-20 side in the hands of the German Womens U-20 team. They had lost in …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua   Asaba 2018 is one tournament African Senior Athletics would not forget in a hurry as it was characterized with various ugly incidents, tragedy was also averted when a poorly installed water tank crashed right inside the venue where the event was holding. Apart from participating delegations being stranded at the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos while …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua   A Saudi Arabia football club, Al-Nassr  has entered into a Four year contract with Super Eagles forward, Ahmed Musa. Musa was before this transfer deal with English Premier League side, Leicester City. The 25-year-old speedster, who scored two goals for Nigeria at Russia 2018, joined Leicester from CSKA Moscow in 2016 but found it hard to …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua   All 32 matches of the 2018 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup holding in France are to be broadcast live on DStv and GOtv and across SuperSport’s online and digital platforms. The biannual tournament kicks off on 5 August, giving hosts France an opportunity to celebrate a second world football title in the space of two months, …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua   After the initial travel glitches that saw some teams stranded at the Lagos Airport for some days, the stage is now set for action at the 21st African Senior Athletics Championships in Asaba, Delta State. The opening ceremony of the CAA Asaba 2018 will be taking place inside the newly-completed Stephen Keshi stadium with a record …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua   Nigerian representatives at the just concluded African Youth Games (AYG) in Algiers, Algeria on Saturday, have ended their campaign with a total number of 105 medals won from 19 sports. The African Youth Games was held from July 18 to July 28. With weightlifting accounting for the the largest chunk of the medals gotten, with a total of 18, comprising …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua   France midfielder Thomas Lemar wants to lift the Champions League trophy in his debut season at Atletico Madrid with the Spanish club set to host next year’s final. “I’m going to give everything possible to go the furthest and win this Champions League,” Lemar said Monday as he was unveiled by Atletico following his arrival from …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua   Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, the Lagos State Governor on Thursday evening visited the popular Maracana football stadium in Ajegunle, assuring that the plan to transform the facility to a world class multi-purpose sports complex, that would help teeming youths harness their natural talents in a positive way would commence soon. Ambode, who spoke to scores of residents, …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua   Super Eagles and Wolves goalkeeper, Carl Ikeme, has announced his retirement from playing professional football. According to a statement by the English club on Friday, Ikeme disclosed his retirement to his teammates before a training session at Compton three days ago. He took the decision after consultation with medical experts following his 12-month battle with acute …

Joseph Aigbonosumua   Ahmed Musa, the Super Eagles forward who score Nigeria’s two goals in the only victory the country recorded in the just concluded Russia 2018 world cup welcomed a baby boy on Thursday. He shared the news on his Instagram page alongside a picture of the little fingers of his newborn baby. He captioned the photo: “I would like …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua   The Nigeria Football Federation has finally reacted to the bribery scandal involving Super Eagles coach, Salisu Yusuf. Yusuf, who is an assistant to Coach Gernot Rohr in the main Eagles team, was filmed collecting a bribe from an undercover Ghanaian journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, who posed as a football agent. The video was published by the …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua   The Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has sued the federal government over its failure to disclose the list of Nigerian footballers and coaches, supporters, government officials and their aides who travelled to Russia last month for the 2018 World Cup and whose travel expenses were covered through public funds as well as the total cost to the …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua   Construction delays at two key Olympic venues could force Tokyo Games organisers into a reshuffle of test event schedules, the organising committee said. The Olympics Aquatics Centre, which will host swimming and diving events, are two months behind schedule, according to organisers. Also, the Sea Forest Waterway, venue for the rowing and canoeing events in 2020, …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua Defending Spanish champions Barcelona will host Real Madrid on October 28 in the first Clasico of the 2018/19 season, the Spanish football federation said Tuesday. Real Madrid, who finished third in the league, 17 points behind champions Barcelona, will host the second meeting of the two Spanish giants on March 3, the federation added as it unveiled …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua Chelsea’s new manager, Maurizio Sarri made a winning start as the new manager of Chelsea by defeating Perth Glory 1-0 in a friendly on Monday. The Italian, who replaced countryman Antonio Conte earlier this month, was without his team’s World Cup stars in front of a sell-out crowd of 60,000 at the new Perth Stadium. The Blues …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua Cristiano Ronaldo was expected to return to Madrid to meet his former team-mates and salute them before the beginning of his training with Juventus. According to Il Corriere dello Sport, however, the former Real Madrid and Manchester United star won’t make return to the Spanish capital as he doesn’t want to run the risk of meeting his …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has concluded plans to relocate to its permanent building popularly known as “Sunday Dankaro House”, this week. President of NFF Chris Giwa, told newsmen last week Thursday after inspecting the building located at the package B of the National Stadium Abuja that his administration would not sit and watch such edifice rot …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua Mansur Abdullahi, the Falconets’ assistant coach, on Friday in Abuja said the team has been working towards winning the 2018 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in France. The national under-20 women team’s best outing at the mundial is the runners-up position in 2010 and 2014, losing both times to Germany. “Our predecessors played in the finals but …

By Joseph Aigbonosumua After an emphatic 5-0 win over Mauritania in last Saturday’s CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, the Flying Eagles on Saturday affirmed their superiority over their Mauritanian counterparts by defeating them 5-0 to qualify 6-1 aggregate for the 2019 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in the match …

Arsene Wenger has compared the life of George Weah to a film script following his former player’s election as president of Liberia. Weah, who played for Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan during a glittering career, last week secured a stunning run-off victory in the West African country’s first democratic transfer of power in decades. Idolised in Liberia as “Mister …

Arsenal FC manager, Arsene Wenger has been handed a three-match touchline ban and fined by the Football Association over comments he made about the refereeing of Sunday’s Premier League game against West Brom. In a separate case, the Arsenal boss has also been asked by English football’s governing body to provide his observations on what he said about penalty decisions that went …

Tyson Fury called out Anthony Joshua to fight minutes after the UK Anti-Doping Agency revealed he is free to fight again, The Independent reports. Fury accepted a backdated two-year suspension from boxing after he tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone in February 2015. He has not fought since his stunning world title triumph over Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015, …

Nigeria’s Super Eagles have drawn Argentina once again in the World Cup, the fifth time since 1994. In the draw held for the 32 competing nations  in Moscow today, Nigeria and Argentina were drawn together in Group D. The two countries first met in 1994 World Cup. They met again at the group stage three other times in 2002, 2010, 2014. …

Britain’s Anthony Joshua retained his IBF and WBA world heavyweight titles when he stopped bloodied challenger Carlos Takam in the 10th round in Cardiff on Saturday. Unbeaten champion Joshua, who has Nigerian parents,  opened up a dreadful cut above 36-year Takam’s right eye in the fourth round and although the durable France-based Cameroonian battled on, the fight was halted after …