GLOBAL ASSOCIATION NEWS

Fatma Samoura is to step down after seven years as Fifa’s secretary general to spend more time with her family.

Appointed in 2016, the sixty-year-old will oversee this year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand before leaving at the end of the year.

Samoura, the first female and non-European in the role, was a surprise choice after the election of Gianni Infantino as Fifa president.

=====================================

The South African Football Association, has condemned “hooliganism and thuggery” following a play-off match where gun shots were fired in Pietermaritzburg.

Orbit College secured promotion to the second tier of South African football with a one-nil win against Umsinga United in their ABC Motsepe play-offs semi-final on Friday.

The association’s President, Danny Jordaan said the punishment must fit the crime.

======================================

NIGERIA

Lobi Stars have concluded plans to fortify the team ahead of the Naija Super Eight competition.

The team will take on City FC in the playoff of the money-spinning competition, as the zonal playoff will take place at the Eket Stadium Uyo.

The winner of the single header match will qualify for the Naija Super Eight finals to be held between seventh and sixteenth July at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos.

========================================

Nigerian international, Victor Osimhen’s agent, Roberto Calenda is not willing to discuss a new deal with Napoli for the striker.

Calenda is pushing for an exit for Osimhen this summer.

Napoli’s president, Aurelio De Laurentiis, is seeking talks with the Nigerian’s representatives to discuss a new lucrative contract.

======================================

Despite missing several key players for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Nigeria, Sierra Leone head coach John Keister is optimistic of a positive result against the Super Eagles.

The Leone Stars battle the Eagles on match-day five of the AFCON qualifiers at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Stadium in Liberia eighteenth June.

The Eagles won the last encounter between the two sides two-one at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, nineth June, 2022.

======================================

A 55th-minute goal by Belgium-based forward Zinho Gano was enough for Guinea-Bissau to secure a 1-0 win over Sao Tome and Principe and also take a temporary lead ahead of Nigeria in Group A of the 2023 AFCON qualifier.

After a goalless first half, Gano scored the only goal of the game 10 minutes into the second half as the Djurtus completed a comprehensive double over the bottom-placed team in the group.

Baciro Cande’s side are now a point above Nigeria in the qualifiers with 10 points from five matches and are on course for their fourth appearance at the AFCON.

======================================

All eyes will be on the men’s 400m final, today, at the AFN Golden League holding in Benin City, with Samson Nathaniel and Samuel Ogazi expected to clash for the top spot.

Events at the Samuel Ogemudia Stadium went on smoothly, on Wednesday, despite the mid morning rains, but athletes, who wanted to be in Golden League had to push harder to qualify.

But the race everyone is eager to watch is the men’s 400m, where Ogazi, Nathaniel, Nnamani Chidera and Sikiru Adeyemi are all lined up.

======================================

Former boxer Anthony Ogogo believes Tyson Fury must take on Anthony Joshua rather than Oleksandr Usyk as it would be a far better fight to watch for fans.

Fury claimed on Instagram that he had sent a draft contract to Joshua’s camp to secure a potential fight between the two heavyweights following a failed attempt towards the end of last year.

The WBC heavyweight champion called out Joshua last year for failing to sign a contract before a September deadline and ended up fighting Derek Chisora instead last December.

======================================

ENGLAND

Croatia are one win from their first major title after beating hosts the Netherlands in a dramatic Uefa Nations League semi-final.

Substitute Bruno Petkovic struck from distance in extra-time before Luka Modric’s penalty settled a remarkable game in Rotterdam.

A 96th-minute Dutch equaliser from Noa Lang had denied Croatia in normal time.

But Zlatko Dalic’s side will now play Italy or Spain in Sunday’s final, while the Dutch face a third-place play-off.

==========================================

The Premier League established itself as the leader in the European football market in the 2021-22 season, an annual financial report by Deloitte has shown.

The English top tier’s aggregate revenue of £5.5bn in 2021-22 was nearly double that of Spain’s La Liga.

The return of crowds to stadiums after the Covid-19 pandemic helped to grow revenues by 10% across Europe.

========================================

Manchester United have had a £40m bid for Chelsea’s Mason Mount turned down.

United manager Erik ten Hag has identified Mount, 24, as someone who can bolster his attacking options.

However, given the England international has only a year left on his contract, United do not feel Chelsea’s £70m valuation is realistic.

=========================================

Premier League clubs have unanimously agreed a series of new measures to tackle anti-social behaviour including tragedy-related chanting, gestures, graffiti and online abuse.

The clubs decided at their Annual General Meeting to adopt measures focusing on prosecution, the regulatory environment, law enforcement, education and communications.

An inter-football working group was set up in December to explore the options available to challenge the normalisation of such behaviour and incidents.

=====================================

Manchester City will resist loan offers for midfielder James McAtee as Pep Guardiola wants him to be part of his treble-winning squad next season.

Meetings have already taken place involving first-team and academy staff and the plan is for the player to start the campaign with the senior side.

McAtee enjoyed a brilliant season at Sheffield United and was named their young player of the year following promotion to the Premier League, scoring nine times from forty-two appearances.

=======================================

Fans were left questioning Manchester City striker, Erling Haaland’s incredible body transformation, as pictures emerged of the Norwegian flexing his muscles with the Champions League trophy.

Channelling his inner Viking, the record-breaking striker proudly flaunted the trophy and his shredded figure during Manchester City’s Treble celebrations this week.

Supporters could not believe how much Haaland had changed in just two months, looking back at a picture of him appearing lean next to Noel Gallagher at the Etihad in April.

=======================================

Tottenham star, Son Heung-min has admitted he ‘struggled significantly’ at the team last season because he was forced to play with pain for nine months.

The player, who lifted the Premier League Golden Boot award last summer, scored thirteen fewer goals during the 2022-23 season and struggled for form, as Tottenham capped off a disappointing campaign with an eighth-placed finish.

Son sported an eye mask during the 2022 World Cup after fracturing his eye socket in the build-up to the tournament, and it has now been revealed that the South Korean was also suffering from an entirely separate injury all season.

========================================

Brighton have confirmed the signing of James Milner on a one-year deal with an option to extend when his Liverpool contract expires thirtieth June.

The midfielder enjoyed a fruitful eight-year spell at Anfield, chalking up three hundred and twenty-eight appearances with Liverpool.

During the time he won a Champions League, Premier League, Club World Cup, FA Cup and League Cup with the club.

=========================================

Liverpool defender, Virgil van Dijk is keen to see more ‘quality’ arrive at Anfield during the summer transfer window after the club endured a disappointing campaign last season.

Van Dijk was part of a Liverpool team that failed to qualify for the Champions League and limped to a fifth-placed finish in the English top-flight.

A lack of squad investment was further highlighted by the club’s prolonged injury crisis that extended throughout large periods of the season.

=======================================

Liverpool are no longer considering a move for Mason Mount during the summer’s transfer window after being deterred by Chelsea’s high asking price.

Mount has long been one of the midfielders tracked by the Anfield club as they prepare for a wholesale revamp in the position.

Signing World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton for a mere thirty-five million pounds kicked off their summer spending, but Jurgen Klopp will look to lure additional recruits during the window.

==========================================

Chelsea have announced that club legend John Hollins has died at the age of seventy-six.

Hollins started out at the west London club at the age of fifteen and went on to make more than five hundred appearances as a player before taking over as manager for three years in 1985.

Meanwhile, former Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich is laying low in a twenty million pounds Istanbul mansion that he is renting for forty thousand million pounds a month.

===================================

Former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur manager, Antonio Conte, has singled out Romelu Lukaku for praise, saying the striker had the most chances and made the difference during Inter Milan’s Champions League final one-nil defeat to Manchester City.

Conte believes Lukaku, who was a key part of his title-winning Inter side in 2021, still has the quality to make an impact in matches for the Serie A giants.

Lukaku faced criticism after Inter Milan’s defeat to Manchester City in the Champions League final in Turkey as he missed an excellent chance to equalise in the closing stages of the encounter.

=================================

Arsenal are interested in pursuing a move for Chelsea star, Kai Havertz this summer and will turn their attention to the German after luring Declan Rice to the Emirates.

The Gunners, who plan to finalise a deal with the West Ham captain by the end of this week, are preparing for another busy summer of transfer business having taken great strides in their pursuit of the Premier League title last season.

Also, Arsenal midfielder, Emile Smith Rowe is set to stay at Arsenal this summer, having been told he is a part of their plans for the next season despite interest from their Premier League rivals.

========================================

Newcastle United midfielder, Matty Longstaff who scored the winner on his Premier League debut against Manchester United is among the eight players Newcastle United have released following the end of the 2022-23 season, while they have offered new deals to Paul Dummett and Loris Karius.

It was a memorable campaign for Eddie Howe’s side as they finished in fourth place to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in twenty years.

The club has been reinvigorated under the former Bournemouth boss who arrived shortly after a Saudi-backed group took over the club in October 2021.

======================================

Aston Villa agreed a deal to sign Tammy Abraham for twenty-five point six million pounds before the player picked up an injury for Roma.

The Giallorossi forward has been linked with a move away from the Italian capital this summer, with interest from the Premier League believed to be high for the former Chelsea star.

After suffering an ACL injury in his side’s final game of the season, he looks set to be out for a while, making an exit this summer far more unlikely.

==================================

OTHER SPORTS

In Tennis; Former world number one Victoria Azarenka suffered a shock defeat by American teenager Ashlyn Krueger at the Libema Open in the Netherlands.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Azarenka was stunned 6-3 6-2 by the 19-year-old.

Victory at the grass-court tournament in s’Hertogenbosch marks unseeded Krueger’s first win over a top-20 player and a maiden WTA quarter-final.

In the men’s draw, Italian second seed Jannik Sinner beat Kazakh Alexander Bublik to reach the last eight.

===================================

Britain’s Heather Watson and George Loffhagen gained superb wins to reach the Nottingham Open quarter-finals.

Watson, 31, is ranked 195th in the world but won 6-4 6-4 against Germany’s Tatjana Maria, the world number 66.

Twenty-two-year-old Loffhagen, 414th in the rankings, caused a shock to defeat China’s Shang Juncheng 6-4 5-7 6-3.

===================================

In Golf; The third men’s major of the season gets under way on Thursday with the 123rd US Open taking place on the north course of the exclusive Los Angeles Country Club in California.

World number one Scottie Scheffler, US PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy are among the headline acts as the event returns to the home of Hollywood for the first time in 75 years.

===================================

In Rugby; England head coach Steve Borthwick hopes stakeholders in the domestic game can come together to move English rugby to the “top of the world”.

Borthwick has also reiterated his wish to see “England players in England”, after some of his players chose to move abroad on lucrative deals.

===================================

In Cricket, England have made their big Ashes selection call when they named Stuart Broad to face Australia at Edgbaston on Friday and left out Mark Wood.

Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum had faced a major dilemma between the veteran who always rises to the big occasion in Broad and the all-important point of difference that Wood brings with his extra pace.

Once England had confirmed that Jimmy Anderson and Ollie Robinson had recovered from minor injuries and were fit to play they made the call to go with the experience and sense of occasion that Broad brings.

==============================

OTHER LEAGUES

Real Madrid have completed the signing of England midfielder, Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund on a six-year deal.

The Spanish giants will pay eighty-eight point five million pounds for Bellingham, in addition to various potential add-ons.

If those add-ons are achieved, the deal could reach one hundred and fifteen million pounds.

Bellingham, who started his career at Birmingham City, will be presented as a Real Madrid player at a ceremony on Thursday.

===============================

Toni Kroos has taken a brutal swipe at his former Real Madrid team-mate Eden Hazard, claiming that the four hundred, thousand pounds per-week star ‘let his career die’ at the Bernabeu.

Real Madrid, which signed Hazard for eighty-eight million pounds from Chelsea in 2019, called an end to the Belgian’s woeful four-year spell in Madrid and opted to rip up his contract early last week.

==================================

Tickets to see Lionel Messi’s potential debut for Inter Miami have been listed online for an eye-watering twenty thousand dollars, as prices continue to skyrocket, while the MLS club’s chiefs try to add three thousand seats to their home stadium.

The cheapest resale price for Miami’s Leagues Cup match against Cruz Azul twenty-first July, predicted to be Messi’s first match.

===============================

Celtic are in advanced talks with Brendan Rodgers over the possibility of the Northern Irishman returning as manager.

No deal has been done at this point and, while Celtic have sounded out other potential candidates, Rodgers is their priority.

The Scottish champions are seeking a replacement for Ange Postecoglou, who joined Tottenham Hotspur this summer.

===============================

Paris Saint-Germain felt betrayed by Kylian Mbappe after the Frenchman announced his desire to leave the Parc de Princes next summer.

Mbappe made it clear to the club that he will not exercise his one-year extension at the end of next season, outlining his plans in a letter to the Ligue 1 giants.

The 2018 World Cup winner wants to stay in Paris next season and ultimately leave the club at the end of the campaign, embarking on a new chapter in his career.