THE result of a scan to determine the extent of a hamstring injury Victor Osimhen suffered in Friday’s friendly against Saudi Arabia will be known on Sunday (today), Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro has revealed. The Napoli striker walked out of the game in the 55th minute without any help after he suffered an hamstring injury in his right leg. Peseiro expressed his disappointment at Osimhen’s injury and is contemplating sending Osimhen back to Napoli for further evaluation of the injury, stating the importance of the player to both club and country. “He wasn’t at his best, we’ll evaluate whether…
Author: Peter Noah KC
NIGERIA have been drawn against hosts Cote d’Ivoire in Group A of the 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON). The draw was held at the Parc Des Expositions in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire on Thursday. Other teams in the Super Eagles group for the competition are Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea. Nigeria were placed in Pot 2 ahead of the draw event attended by representatives of the participating teams including the continent’s football legends like Mikel Obi, Taribo West, and Yaya Toure. The Super Eagles had lost to Guinea-Bissau in the qualification race for the competition but topped the group standing. They…
THE Handball Federation Of Nigeria (HFN) has confirmed that the second phase of the Ardova Premier League for 2023 will hold next month in Lagos. The Secretary General of the federation, Umar Lambu, said the second phase of the elite division is scheduled for November 13th-26th. He added that the indoor hall of the National Institute of Sports in Surulere and Mobolaji Johnson Sports Complex, Rowe park in Yaba, will stage the competition. The overall winners of the Ardova Premier League would be decided at the conclusion of the second phase. Niger United currently lead the men’s category while Safety…
THE Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, has called on President Bola Tinubu to unveil himself to Nigerians. He is speaking in light of what has transpired recently where a US court ordered the Chicago State University (CSU) to release the President’s academic records at the request of the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Obi asked President Tinubu to again, tell Nigerians the schools he attended, if he participated in the one-year National Youth Service Corps scheme. He also asked him to clarify…
THE Super Eagles camp for the international friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique will open in Portugal on Tuesday (today), PUNCH Sports Extra reports. Jose Peseiro’s side will take on the Green Falcons of Saudi Arabia in the city of Portimão, Portugal on Friday, before dueling with the Mambas of Mozambique in the same city three days later. The Eagles go into the Saudi Arabia game with a winning streak of three games after qualifying for the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast. Peseiro had earlier named a 25-man squad for the encounter, recalling defenders Kenneth Omeruo and…
ACCORDING to Spanish media outlet, Fichajes, Manchester United are seriously pondering a January move for Nigeria international, Umar Sadiq, as they hope to get their 2023/24 season back on track. It has not been the best of time for the English Premier League giants who find themselves occupying the 10th position on the log despite their hard-fought win over Brentford on Saturday. The Red Devils have had a challenging start to the 2023/24 season, with four defeats in their first eight Premier League matches and no wins in the UEFA Champions League campaign. In a bid to regain their form…
TAIWO Awoniyi will miss Nigeria’s international friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique next week in Portugal due to a groin injury, PUNCH Sports Extra reports. The three-time African champions are billed to face Saudi Arabia next Friday before battling Mozambique three days later. The Nigerian striker was not included in Nottingham Forest’s matchday squad against Crystal Palace on Saturday. Speaking prior to the encounter at Selhurst Park, Forest head coach, Steve Cooper revealed that the Tricky Trees’ top scorer in the EPL will likely be out for a month. “It will be different,” Cooper said explaining Awoniyi’s absence. “He has…
THE intense football rivalry between Nigeria and Ghana will continue in the CAF Confederation Cup this season after Rivers United and Dreams were drawn together in Group C on Friday. Former African champions Club Africain of Tunisia and newcomers Academica Lobito of Angola complete the mini-league after a draw made in a Johannesburg TV studio. The first matches are scheduled for November 26 with the sixth and final round being staged on March 3. Group winners and runners-up qualify for the quarter-finals. Rivers left it late to eliminate Etoile Filante of Burkina Faso in the final qualifying round with Alex…
TEENAGE sensation, Lamine Yamal has broken Celestine Babayaro’s longstanding record of being the youngest player to start in the UEFA Champions League as Barcelona secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Porto in Portugal on Wednesday. The Spain youth international of Moroccan father and an Equatorial Guinean mother, was handed a start by Xavi Hernandez as the Spanish giants maintained their 100 per cent win in this season competition at the Estadio do Dragao. In featuring against the Portuguese champions, Yamal made history as the youngest ever player to start in the Champions League aged 16 years and 83 days, breaking…
MEDICAL experts have raised concerns over the introduction of “random doping” in the Nigeria Professional Football League by the Interim Management Committee, the organisers of the league, this newspaper reports. The NPFL announced on Wednesday that they had acquired test kits for doping from the United Kingdom, while also giving the clubs and players a two-week notice. “We are committed to joining the NFF, CAF, FIFA and the global campaign for eradication of illicit substance use in sports and this will commence soon with random tests of our players”, IMC chairman, Gbenga Elegbeleye, told npfl.com.ng. On Wednesday, the league body…
BAHRAIN’s Kemi Adekoya, who was stripped of the 2018 title for doping, won Asian Games 400m hurdles gold on Tuesday while Olympic champion Liu Shiyang crashed in the javelin in a shock. On a bumper night in Hangzhou, 10 titles were decided with six nations tasting victory, including Chinese Olympic silver medallist Zhu Yaming in the men’s triple jump. But veteran Svetlana Radzivil was dethroned in the women’s high jump, with her Uzbek teammate Safina Sadullayeva denying her a fourth straight title. Adekoya thrust herself back into the spotlight by crossing first in a Games-record 54.45sec to consolidate her strong…
THE third edition of the Nigeria National Chess Championship has kicked off in Lagos with the opening ceremony at the Orchid Lekki Hotel. This year’s edition has been extended to 12 top chess players from the previous 10 in the past two editions for battle for the national title in a round rubin format. Eight players with direct qualification, including defending champion, top five rated players, the best junior player and the wildcard player selected by the president of the Nigeria Chess Federation. The other four are selected from the winners of a qualification tournament. The championship will be concluded…
THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has obtained an arrest warrant as it begins the extradition process of former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, from the United Kingdom back to Nigeria, to face the 13-count charges bordering on money laundering levelled against her by the anti-graft agency. The commission further revealed that the money laundering charges for which Alison-Madueke is answerable to the EFCC cover jurisdictions in Dubai – the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Nigeria. News Point Nigeria had reported that the former minister appeared before the Westminster Magistrates Court in…
THE United States President, Joe Biden, has appointed two professionals who are of Nigerian descent as special advisers. Both Osagie Imasogie and Chineye Ogwumike were part of the 12 members of the President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement in the United States. The appointment was contained in a statement released by the State House on Wednesday. The members include Silvester Scott Beaman who will chair the council, Mimi E. Alemayehou, Rosalind Brewer, Viola Davis, Helene D. Gayle, Patrick Hubert Gaspard, C.D. Glin, Osagie Imasogie, Almaz Negash, Chinenye Joy Ogwumike, Ham K. Serunjogi, and Kevin Young. The members of the…
NIGERIA on Wednesday lost out in the joint bid with Benin Republic to host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, with the joint bid by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania clinching the hosting right. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) also announced that Morocco will stage the 2025 edition. Morocco last hosted the AFCON in 1988 and was chosen in 2015 but asked for the tournament to be postponed because of the Ebola virus, although CAF later decided to strip the north African nation of the hosting rights. While Morocco were hot favourites to host the 2025 edition of the premier…
THE 20 clubs in the Nigeria Premier Football League will get a take-off grant of N10m each as the organisers announced that the 2023/24 season will begin Saturday September 30 after double postponements, just as the prize money for the season has been increased from N100m to N150m. This comes almost three weeks after its last postponement, which was indefinite. In a circular sent to all the clubs and signed by the Chief Operating Officer of the league, Davidson Owumi, which was obtained by our correspondent, the NPFL board said the league was commencing with the hope of securing the…
THREE years ago, Peacemaker Azuegbulam lost his left leg when his Nigerian army unit came under fire from Boko Haram jihadists in the north of the country. Now Azuegbulam is an African champion. Last month, Azuegbulam won gold in the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf, Germany — the first Nigerian and the first African to secure the top prize in the games. “I feel great to become the first champion in Invictus Games from Africa,” he told AFP in Abuja. “Invictus means unconquered, we are still unconquered because we are still alive.” Started in 2014, the Invictus Games were founded by…
NIGERIA emerged as the overall champion of the 2023 ITTF African Para Championships which ended on Saturday, September 23, 2023, in Giza, Egypt. The three-day tournament had hosts – Egypt – Algeria, Nigeria, Mauritius, Cameroon, South Africa, Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire competing in the singles, doubles and mixed doubles events. Nigeria carted home 12 gold medals to dethrone Egypt as the new para table tennis champion in Africa. The Nigerians asserted themselves as the new heavyweights in the continent’s para table tennis by dominating the singles event to pick up most of the tickets to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.…
THE Nigeria Curling Federation has inducted Mrs Patience Jonathan, the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, as the first Grand Matron of the federation in the country. Giving her acceptance speech at her Abuja residence on Tuesday, Mrs Jonathan said she was honoured to be installed as the first Grand Matron of the association. The former First Lady expressed her willingness to throw her weight behind the team for global recognition as she pledged support in the upcoming games in South Korea. Played on ice, curling is typically an indoor sport. It involves two teams of four players each, who…
THE presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has filed 51 grounds of appeal before the Supreme Court seeking the nullification of Judgment of the Presidential Election Petition court and the election of President Bola Tinubu. In his notice of appeal, Obi said the Presidential Election Petitions Court erred in law and thereby reached a wrong conclusion when it dismissed the petition he lodged to challenge the outcome of the presidential election. He maintained that the five-member panel of the Tribunal led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, carried out a miscarriage of justice against him, when it held that he…