NIGERIA

President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Ibrahim Gusau, has rallied the Super Falcons to carry the mantle of Africa’s pride and “keep Africa’s hope alive”.

His comment comes as the Super Falcons gear up to face co-hosts Australia in their crucial second match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup finals on Thursday.

Having witnessed the conclusion of the first round of matches on Tuesday, Nigeria stands as the only African flag-bearer yet to endure defeat.

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Super Falcons captain, Onome Ebi says it is important for the team to get a win in their next game against Australia.

Ebi reckoned that it is important for the Super Falcons to beat the Australians as it would put the team in good position to secure a place in the next round.

The nine-time African champions will come up against the Matildas in their second Group B game at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup on Thursday.

The encounter is slated for the Brisbane Stadium.

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Super Falcons midfielder, Toni Payne, says the team will be more adventurous in their next game against Australia.

Payne reckoned they need to adopt an attacking style against the co-hosts.

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Nigerian champions, Enyimba will face Ahli Benghazi of Libya in the first round of the CAF Champions League.

The draw ceremony for the 2023/24 edition of Africa’s biggest club competition took place at the CAF headquarters.

Enyimba will travel away for the first leg which is scheduled for eighteenth to twentieth August, as the winner of the contest would face either Coton Sport Garoua of Cameroon or Cote d’Ivoire’s ASEC Mimosa in the next round.

Nigeria’s other representatives in the competition, Remo Stars, are drawn against Ghana’s Medeama FC in the first round.

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Rivers United have been drawn in the first preliminary round of the CAF Confederation Cup.

The Port Harcourt club earned the slot following their impressive performance in Africa’s second tier club competition last season.

Rivers United were eliminated at the quarter-final stage by Tanzania’s Simba SC last term.

Stanley Eguma’s side would face the winner of the tie between Etoile Filante of Burkina Faso and Senegal ‘s Ziguinchor for a slot in the group stage.

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The Nigeria National League NNL, has announced the date and venue for the 2022/23 relegation playoffs.

The relegation playoffs will be staged at the Sani Abacha Stadium, Kano, as the competition will run from six to ten August.

Eight teams will battle to secure their positions in the league.

Adamawa United, ABS FC, FWC Champions and Sokoto United would slug it out in the Northern Conference.

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Head coach of Rangers, Fidelis Ilechukwu has highlighted the importance of the team playing at Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu.

The newly appointed tactician opined that playing in front of home fans would encourage the players to achieve success.

Ilechukwu also pleaded with the state government to hasten up the renovation work on the ground ahead of the upcoming Nigeria Professional Football League season.

The Flying Antelopes adopted Awka City Stadium as their home ground for the 2022–23 NPFL season.

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Confederation of African Football CAF, has announced that it will hold its 2023 awards eleventh December in Morocco.

The continent’s football body who made this known, said the prestigious CAF Awards would make a welcome return to celebrate the stars of African football.

The awards would recognise the standout performers from club and country over the past year, with the highlight being the crowning of the CAF African Player of the Year in both the men’s and women’s categories.

CAF disclosed that several more honours would also be at stake, include the Interclub Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year, National Team of the Year, Coach of the Year, Club of the Year and Goal of the Year.

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MMA analyst Chael Sonnen has made a bold claim, asserting that Israel Adesanya has surpassed his fellow UFC champion, Jon Jones, to become the best UFC fighter in history.

Both Adesanya and Jones have established illustrious legacies as successful world champions in the UFC, overcoming significant challenges along their respective journeys.

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Aviation outfit, ValueJet, has agreed in principle to support Nigeria Rugby Football Federation in all their activities ahead of the 2024 Olympics qualifiers in September.

The partnership is coming on the heels of Nigeria’s success in securing a spot in the final phase of the Paris 2024 Olympics qualifiers sixteenth and seventeenth September at Harare Sports Club, Zimbabwe.

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The Police swimmers, PC Collins Obi and W/PC Dorcas Eworo, along with two other swimmers, are Nigeria’s representatives to the 2023 World Aquatics Championship currently underway at Fukuoka – Japan.

The Police swimmers have put up an exceptional performance for Nigeria at the 2022 edition of the African Aquatics Championship, winning a combined Sixteen (16) Medals for Nigeria, a feat which resulted in Nigeria emerging 2nd overall at the Continental Event.

Equally, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi said the police swimmers were the only athletes to represent Nigeria at the 2022 World Aquatics Championship in Budapest – Hungary, where they had narrow misses of podium finish.

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IN WOMEN’S WORLD CUP

FIFA President, Gianni Infantino is a ‘happy man’ as he saluted the ‘great success’ of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, which has already set record attendances despite the tournament being less than a week old.

More than one point five million match tickets have been sold, which has already exceeded FIFA’s original target for twentieth July to twentieth August tournament being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

The total attendance after the first sixteen matches was four hundred and fifty-nine thousand, five hundred and forty-seven, a fifty-four per cent increase from the first sixteen games of the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France.

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Philippines boss, Alen Stajcic, says the Philippines’ first Women’s World Cup victory has to be one of the biggest wins in the history of sport in the country.

Sarina Bolden’s early header shocked co-hosts New Zealand, who missed a golden opportunity to edge closer to the knockout stages in Wellington, but it was a brilliant result for debutants the Philippines.

The Philippines players celebrated passionately at full-time as substitutes and staff sprinted onto the pitch with many holding their heads in their hands in disbelief.

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Spain and Japan can secure their places in the last 16 of the Women’s World Cup on Wednesday.

Spain beat Costa Rica 3-0 and Japan thrashed Zambia 5-0 to put themselves in a strong position before the second round of Group C fixtures.

The Republic of Ireland take on Canada looking for their first win in Group B.

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Colombia defeated South Korea in Sydney to win the opening match of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The South Americans took the lead after Catalina Usme converted a penalty kick, and then teenager Linda.

Caicedo, 18, doubled the advantage after Korean goalkeeper Yoon Young-geul made a mistake. That was sufficient for Colombia to secure their second victory in the competition.

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Norway’s chances of making the World Cup are in jeopardy after they were held to a scoreless draw by Switzerland in Group A.

Ada Hegerberg, Norway’s star forward, had to be replaced by Sophie Haug due to injury moments before kickoff, dealing another blow to the team that had been shocked by tournament co-hosts New Zealand in the opening game.

With one game remaining, Swiss goalkeeper, Gaelle Thalmann made a number of outstanding saves to keep the score tied and ensure that her team retained first place in the group.

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ENGLAND

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Fulham have signed Mexico striker Raul Jimenez from fellow Premier League side Wolves for a fee of about £5m.

The 32-year-old has signed a two-year deal with Fulham, with the club having the option for a third year.

Jimenez scored 57 goals in 166 games during his five seasons at Molineux following a club record £30m move from Benfica.

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Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola says the Premier League champions will not let England defender, Kyle Walker, leave this summer without a fight.

Walker said he was hurt after losing his spot in Guardiola’s starting eleven towards the end of 2022-23.

Manchester City are preparing to face Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich in a pre-season friendly at Japan National Stadium in Tokyo on Wednesday.

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Chelsea have rejected a bid from West Ham for England midfielder Conor Gallagher worth a reported forty million pounds.

Gallagher, has two years left on his contract and is currently on the club’s pre-season tour of the USA.

The Chelsea academy graduate enjoyed a successful loan spell at Crystal Palace in 2021-22, winning player of the season and making his England debut.

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Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag, says the team have made progress in their striker search.

United privately ruled out making approaches for Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe and Tottenham’s Harry Kane, who both have uncertain futures.

Atalanta’s Denmark international, Rasmus Hojlund, remains their most obvious target, but United are reluctant to meet the Serie A club’s sixty million pounds valuation.

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Manchester United are close to agreeing a deal to sign Fiorentina midfielder, Sofyan Amrabat.

The Red Devils were keen to sign the Moroccan during the January transfer window but the Serie A side were reluctant to sell him.

The team instead opted to sign Marcel Sabitzer on loan from Bayern Munich but their strong interest in Amrabat has remained.

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Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford has named the toughest opponent of his career to date.

Rashford had his best goalscoring season at Old Trafford last term, netting thirty goals to fire United back into the Champions League.

But he admits that getting the upper hand over opponents was not always easy, with Manchester City full back and England team-mate, Kyle Walker proving his biggest challenge.

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West Ham have reportedly held talks with Manchester United over the signing of Scott McTominay.

The Hammers are looking to strengthen their midfield following the big money departure of captain Declan Rice to Arsenal earlier this month.

They have formally approached Manchester United to enquire over a price for the Scottish international.

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Tottenham manager, Ange Postecoglou has hailed the leadership qualities of Son Heung-min, hinting that he will be among the leading candidates for a future Tottenham captain.

Postecolgou will be looking to identify a new skipper this summer if both Hugo Lloris and Harry Kane leave the club before the end of next month.

Lloris is not on the preseason tour of Australia and South-East Asia because he is working on a transfer and Kane, into the final year of his contract.

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Nottingham Forest have signed Sweden forward Anthony Elanga from Manchester United on a five year deal.

Elanga joins Steve Cooper’s side despite interest from clubs in Germany and Everton with Forest believed to have paid a fee of fifteen pounds.

Elanga had been with United since he was twelve and achieved a first-team breakthrough in 2021, reaching fifty-five appearances before Forest stepped in.

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Southampton have rejected an opening offer from Liverpool for Romeo Lavia.

The developments in the pursuit of midfielder Lavia were imminent and Liverpool have now firmed up their interest.

Liverpool’s offer, understood to be in the region of thirty-five million pounds plus-add ons, has been knocked back by Southampton.

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OTHER SPORTS

In Tennis; Emma Raducanu’s agent has defended the player’s approach after criticism of her turnover of coaches.

The 20-year-old, who won the US Open aged 18 in 2021, has worked with five coaches in the past two years.

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Britons Jodie Burrage and Heather Watson both reached the last 16 of the Poland Open on Tuesday.

British number two Burrage came from a set down to beat India’s Ankita Raina 4-6 6-4 7-6.

Later, Watson beat third seed and world number 36 Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 7-5 6-2 to advance in Warsaw.

Burrage will play Italy’s Lucrezia Stefanini next, whilst Watson faces Yuliya Hatouka of Belarus.

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In Cricket; Batter Harry Brook says he is open to signing a multi-year central contract with England.

Central contracts are currently awarded on a one-year basis, but multi-year deals could be introduced to ward off interest from franchises.

A three-format player like Brook, 24, would be a prime candidate to be offered a longer deal by England.

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In Swimming; Matt Richards and Tom Dean won 200m freestyle gold and silver to land Great Britain’s first swimming medals of the World Aquatics Championships in Japan.

Richards, 20, produced an outstanding finish to pip Olympic champion Dean to gold by 0.02 seconds and set a personal best of one minute and 44.30 seconds.

South Korea’s Hwang Sun-woo took the bronze as 2022 world champion David Popovici of Romania finished fourth.

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OTHER LEAGUES.

AZ Alkmaar have been fined sixty-eight thousand, six hundred and seventy pounds for the behaviour of their fans at their Europa Conference League semi-final second leg match against West Ham in May.

The Hammers, who won three-one on aggregate, went on to win the tournament.

During that game at the AFAS Stadion in the Netherlands, AZ fans attacked an area in which West Ham players’ friends and family were seated.

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Paris Saint-Germain have been slammed by the head of international players’ union Fifpro for their treatment of Kylian Mbappe as they attempt to force the Frenchman out the exit door.

Mbappe, regarded as one of the best players in the world, has been told by PSG that he must leave the club this summer as they look to avoid losing their most valuable star for free at the end of his contract.

The France World Cup winner stunningly signed a new three-year deal to commit his future to the Ligue 1 champions in May last year despite Real Madrid bidding for his services at the time.

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Bayern Munich have split their executive resources in a clear signal of intent to land both Harry Kane and Kyle Walker before the start of the season.

The Bundesliga champions face Manchester City in Tokyo on Wednesday and the two clubs are in contact over a deal for Walker.

Bayern president, Herbert Hainer and Michael Diederich, the chief financial officer, are holding those talks.

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AC Milan forward, Rafael Leao has called his team contract extension an ‘act of love’ but wondered if it is ‘impossible to see himself wearing the same shirt for a lifetime’ as he hinted at a future exit.

The winger recently penned a five-year renewal with I Rossoneri which, if fulfilled, would bring him to almost a decade with the club.

In a 2021/22 season when he won Serie A’s footballer of the year, the Portugal international attracted widespread admiration.

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TODAY’S THOUGHT

The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning….Words from Pele.