IN NIGERIA
Super Eagles have arrived in Nigeria after their ordeal in Libya for a 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, qualifier.
Players and officials were stranded for about thirteen hours at a Libyan airport ahead of the game which was supposed to take place on Tuesday.
The Super Eagles resolved not to play the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matchday four encounter because of the ill treatment they were subjected to by the Libyan authorities.
Super Eagles captain, William Troost-Ekong has praised his teammates following their difficult ordeal in Libya.
Troost-Ekong took to the social media to eulogise his teammates for enduring the horrific ordeal in the North African country.
The Federal Government has summoned the Libyan Chargé d’Affaires over the maltreatment of Super Eagles at Al Abraq International Airport, Libya.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, said this while addressing State House correspondents after a meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima.
Tuggar said staff of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Nigerian mission in Libya had been detailed to represent the nation on the matter.
He said the decision to return to Nigeria without honouring the match was due to the hostile reception given the team by the Libya Football Federation, a situation he said was unacceptable.
Tuggar decried the ill treatment of the Nigerian delegates, saying the Federal Government would not allow the team to proceed with the game.
The Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh, has condemned the actions of Libyan authorities, who held the Super Eagles and their officials hostage at Al Abaq Airport.
Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, condemned the treatment meted out to the Super Eagles team by Libya authorities ahead of its second leg match slated for Tuesday in the country.
A statement by the Director of Media, Public Relations and Protocols, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, said Dabiri-Erewa called on the Confederation of African Football, CAF, to address the matter with the seriousness it deserves.
The Confederation of African Football, CAF, has expressed deep concern over the troubling ordeal faced by Nigeria’s national football team, the Super Eagles, at a Libyan airport.
The federation highlighted immediate steps to engage both Libyan and Nigerian authorities following reports that the team and the staff were left stranded under distressing conditions for several hours.
A statement obtained from the CAF website on Monday said the incident is now under investigation by its disciplinary board.
The Libya Football Federation, LFF, has responded to claims that it intentionally delayed the Super Eagles of Nigeria at the Al Abraq International Airport.
The federation stated that they have been good hosts to the Super Eagles and have not engaged in any underhanded actions against the visiting team.
The Libyan federation emphasised that they respect Nigeria and had no intention of causing difficulties for the Super Eagles, who have been stranded at the airport for over twelve hours.
Super Eagles star, Ademola Lookman has described the year 2024 as the best of his career.
Lookman inspired Atalanta’s UEFA Europa League final win against Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen in May.
The talented winger scored a historic hat-trick in La Dea’s three-nil victory.
Lobi Stars technical adviser, Daniel Amokachi has insisted his side will improve with more games in the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) this season.
Amokachi’s first game in charge of the Makurdi club against Niger Tornadoes ended in a one-all draw.
Amokachi stated that he was pleased with the players’ performance in the game.
Lobi Stars will host El-kanemi Warriors in a matchday seven game at the Lafia City Stadium.
IN ENGLAND
Manchester City goalkeeper, Ederson says the team’s manager, Pep Guardiola convinced him to turn down a mouth-watering offer from clubs in the Saudi Pro League.
The Brazil international was heavily linked with a move to Al Nassr, where wages worth one million pounds-a-year were mentioned.
Ederson stated that his countless conversations with Guardiola played a big role.
The top European leagues and players’ union Fifpro have filed a legal complaint against Fifa with the European Commission over what they claim is an abuse of dominance by world football’s governing body.
The European Leagues, which represents thirty-nine leagues – including the Premier League – and one thousand, one hundred and thirty clubs across thirty-three countries, claim, along with the European branch of Fifpro, that Fifa has abused its role under European competition law when it comes to the international fixture calendar.
The Spanish La Liga is not a member of the European Leagues but is joining the action.
The director of policy at Fifpro, Alexander Bielefeld, said the different parties had submitted a legal complaint to the European Commission and called it unprecedented.
Fifa will hold a global consultation over potential changes to the transfer system after a court ruled some of its transfer rules break European Union laws.
Earlier this month the European Court of Justice found in favour of former Chelsea and Arsenal midfielder Lassana Diarra, who sued Fifa for damages.
The rules state that, when signing a free agent, clubs are jointly liable to pay compensation to a player’s former team if their contract was terminated without just cause.
Diarra argued that the rules restricted his freedom of movement after the termination of his contract with Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow in 2014, breaching competition law.
OTHER LEAGUES
Portuguese footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo may not start at Hampden on Tuesday but wants to put his feet up altogether in Glasgow.
Head coach Roberto Martinez withdrew Ronaldo after sixty-three minutes in Saturday’s three-one win away to Poland, but explained after the match the 39-year-old was perfect and the switch was about managing minutes.
The veteran striker scored his one hundred and thirty-three Portugal goal in Warsaw and has found the net in all three wins in this campaign, including a late prod in Lisbon to break Scottish hearts.
Scotland manager, Steve Clarke says nobody should doubt his Scotland players despite a torrid run of form that stretches for more than a year without a competitive victory.
As his side prepares to take on Portugal at Hampden on Tuesday, the head coach insisted his belief in his players remains absolute.
Clarke stated that his team will need to elevate their performance to defeat the superstars of Portugal.
Northern Ireland’s latest captain, Conor Bradley says he can take inspiration from his Liverpool skipper Virgil van Dijk when leading his country.
After Jonny Evans retired from international football in August, manager Michael O’Neill said he will rotate the armband around his squad and it was Bradley who led the side in the goalless draw against Belarus and will do so again when Bulgaria visit Windsor Park on Tuesday.
Bradley is aiming to lead by example and cites Van Dijk’s approach with Liverpool as something he seeks to emulate.
OTHER SPORTS
In Cricket, New Zealand have booked their place in the semi-finals of the Women’s T20 World Cup with a comprehensive 54-run win over Pakistan in Dubai.
Pakistan needed to chase their target of 111 within 10.4 overs to keep themselves in knockout contention via net run-rate, but paid the price for their aggressive intent by slumping to 56 all out in 11.4 overs.
Despite collapsing to 28-5 after the six-over powerplay, the Pakistan batters kept attacking to keep their hopes alive rather than simply settle for a comfortable chase of less than a run-a-ball.
They will face the winner of Group B which will be either South Africa, England or West Indies, with the latter two teams playing on Tuesday.
In Formula one, boss Mattia Binotto says Audi has an enormous task on its hands to turn its Sauber team into Formula 1 winners.
Audi will enter F1 officially in 2026, but has been in control of Switzerland-based Sauber since earlier this year.
Binotto, a former Ferrari team principal, was installed as chief operating officer and chief technical officer in August.
In Rugby, the French Rugby Federation, National Rugby League and Provale have expressed firm opposition to the proposed 20-minute red card, saying it is an unacceptable step backwards by World Rugby.
In 2024, the Rugby Championship and World Rugby’s Under-20 Championship in South Africa trialled the new law for the first time, meaning a team is able to replace a red-carded player after 20 minutes in the sin-bin.
In a joint statement, the three French governing bodies say the data collected remains insufficient to go through with the proposal.
TODAY’S FIXTURES
IN CAF AFRICA CUP OF NATION QUALIFIERS.
Comoros vs Tunisia
Lesotho vs Gabon
Central African Republic vs Morocco
Mauritania vs Egypt
Rwanda vs Benin
Sudan vs Ghana
Sierra Leone vs Ivory Coast
Tanzania vs Congo
Ethiopia vs Guinea
Guinea-Bissau vs Mali
Congo vs South Africa
Malawi vs Senegal
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IN UEFA NATION LEAGUE.
Poland vs Croatia
Scotland vs Portugal
Spain vs Serbia
Switzerland vs Denmark
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
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