IN UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUES
Arsenal star Bukayo Saka scored twice as the team beat Monaco three-nil to strengthen its position as one of the sides likely to progress to the knockout stages of the Champions League.
The Gunners was well on top in the first half, but missed a number of chances to make the outcome even more comfortable.
Arsenal’s third goal was scored by Kai Havertz
Arsenal moved up to third in the table on thirteen points and in a strong position going into their final two group stage games.
The team host Dinamo Zagreb next before visiting Girona at the end of January.
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Manchester City’s current malaise continued as the team loss two-nil to Juventus and to deal a big blow to its hopes of reaching the Champions League knockout stage.
Dusan Vlahovic’s header and Weston McKennie’s volley in the second half secured all three points for Juventus, boosting its own hopes of progressing automatically to the next stage as one of the top eight sides in the league phase of the competition.
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Manchester City Manager, Pep Guardiola, says the club will be his final managerial job in club’s football before he coached a national team.
Guardiola, who spoke in an interview, has won fifteen major trophies since taking charge of City in 2016.
The fifty three-year-old Spaniard was approached in the summer about the possibility of becoming England Manager, but last month signed a two-year contract extension with City until 2027.
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Barcelona star Ferran Torres scored twice to help the team win at Borussia Dortmund and move up to second in the Champions League table.
In an end-to-end second half Raphinha gave Barcelona the lead, latching on to a ball in behind and drilling a shot into the far corner.
Dortmund’s two goals were scored by Serhou Guirassy
A top-eight finish means teams skip the knockout play-off round and guarantees a spot in the last sixteen.
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A stunning strike from Julian Alvarez and an Antoine Griezmann double helped Atletico Madrid to a comfortable three-one win over Slovan Bratislava.
Slovan’s only goal was scored by David Strelec.
Simeone’s side, who have won 10 games in a row in all competitions, have risen to ninth in the League Phase but just a point behind Bayer Leverkusen in second.
Slovakian side Slovan are bottom of the table as they remain without a point after six matches.
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AC Milan star Tammy Abraham scored a late winner as the team overcame a dogged Red Star Belgrade at San Siro.
Rafael Leao’s opener and sixth goal of the season, a ruthless finish that followed a beautiful first touch was somewhat overshadowed by injuries suffered by the Italian side in the opening stages.
Red Star’s only goal was scored by Nemanja Radonjic
Victory leaves Milan 12th in the standings with twelve points, all but securing their place in the Champions League knockouts.
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Lille star Hakon Haraldsson scored a late winner as the team ended off a Sturm Graz comeback to move closer to the Champions League knockouts.
Osame Sahraoui, Mitchel Bakker scored a goal each for Lille, while Sturm’s two goals were scored by Otar Kiteishvili and Mika Biereth.
Victory means Lille has thirteen points after six games and are all but guaranteed a place in the Champions League knockouts.
A fifth defeat in six games leaves Sturm Graz 29th in the standings and facing elimination.
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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca says it is not normal for a player to make the sixteen hour round trip to Kazakhstan for Thursday’s Conference League match and then play on Sunday against Brentford.
The Blues will land back in London on Friday, before preparing to face Brentford in the Premier League on Sunday, with the Blues currently second place, four points behind Liverpool.
The Italian confirmed a number of first-team players will be rested for the trip, including England winger Noni Madueke, with Portugal winger Pedro Neto suspended for Sunday’s match against Brentford.
Youth players Ato Ampah, Shumaira Mheuka, Harrison McMahon, Kaiden Wilson, Richard Olise and Harrison Murray-Campbell are in the travelling squad.
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The world governing body Fifa has confirmed that the 2034 men’s football World Cup will be held in Saudi Arabia, while Spain, Portugal and Morocco will be joint hosts for the 2030 tournament.
Three matches in the 2030 tournament will also be held in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay to mark one hundred years of the competition.
The hosts for both World Cups were confirmed at Wednesday’s Extraordinary Fifa Congress meeting following a vote.
All two hundred and eleven of Fifa’s member nations were represented at the meeting over a video link.
The hosts for both tournaments, and of the 2030 centenary celebrations, were conducted via two separate votes.
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UEFA’s head of women’s football Nadine Kessler says Uefa is not worried that some Women’s Euro 2025 matches will clash with the Fifa men’s Club World Cup.
Fifa’s new expanded men’s tournament takes place in the United States from 15th June to 13th July and involves 32 teams, including Chelsea and Manchester City.
Switzerland is hosting Euro 2025 from 2nd-27th July, meaning five or six matches are likely to be played at the same time as some in the men’s competition.
Fifa rejected claims that Fifpro and the World Leagues Association were not consulted over its plans for the Club World Cup.
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Robert de Pauw has left Aston Villa women after just a six-month spell in charge.
Villa are ninth in the Women’s Super League after Sunday’s four-nil defeat by Arsenal, and sit just one point above the relegation zone.
The Dutchman, was appointed in June after Carla Ward stepped down from her role at the end of last season.
The club confirmed assistant head coach Shaun Goater will take interim charge until a new manager is appointed.
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Burnley manager, Scott Parker says an anxious atmosphere around Turf Moor during its goalless Championship draw against Derby County was caused by poor decision-making.
The Clarets had a frustrating setback in its automatic promotion aspirations after the team failed to breach the Rams’ defence in a game short of attacking quality.
Despite the result, Parker’s side third in the table, was unbeaten in seven games and only two points off leaders Leeds United.
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Norwich City head coach, Johannes Hoff Thorup has criticised the timing of Kenny McLean’s latest four-match ban, after hearing the news hours before the start of Tuesday’s Championship game at Portsmouth.
Thorup said the club was told their captain was out of the game on Tuesday after the Football Association confirmed the 32-year-old had been given a retrospective suspension following Saturday’s defeat by Queens Park Rangers.
The Canaries captain was given a violent conduct charge for an incident that was not reported by the match officials at the time, which was then upheld by an independent commission.
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The National Football Leagues, NFL, will play its first regular-season game in Berlin in 2025, making it five confirmed international games for next season.
The game will be staged at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium and will be the fifth to be played in Germany since the NFL’s international series expanded from the UK to mainland Europe in 2022.
The NFL’s initial commitment to Germany included games in Munich and Frankfurt – one game was held in Munich in 2022 and 2024, with two in Frankfurt in 2023.
The league has now made a multi-year commitment to playing games in the German capital.
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IN NIGERIA
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) successfully held its 2024 Match Commissioners’ Seminar for the Northern Conference at the Asaa Pyramids Hotel in Kaduna.
Secretary of the NFF Match Commissioners’ Appointment Committee, Danlami Alanana, stated that the seminar was part of the NFF’s commitment to professionalising football administration and ensuring high standards in the domestic game.
Alanana explained that the seminar’s primary goal was to re-acquaint match commissioners in the Nigeria National League (NNL), Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL), and Nationwide League One (NLO) with essential aspects of match reporting.
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Former Nigerian international Friday Ekpo has encouraged the home-based Super Eagles to make the most of every goal-scoring opportunity in their upcoming two-legged African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifying clash against Ghana.
Ekpo stated that the home-based Super Eagles has the quality to get a positive result against Ghana.
The two-legged encounter will determine which team secures a ticket to the tournament, which Nigeria has failed to qualify for in the last two editions.
The CHAN Eagles lost the 2023 ticket to Ghana on penalties and was keen to make amends this time.
Coach Abubakar Bala, has been appointed new head coach of Nigeria Premier Football League club, Sunshine Stars.
The young tactician will take over the reign at the Akure club following Kennedy Boboye’s resignation from the post last month.
Boboye cited interference in his job by the club’s management as reason for his action.
Assistant coach, Bobola Akinfolarin has been in charge of the team since Boboye’s departure.
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Serie A club Udinese has announced that Super Eagles goalkeeper Maduka Okoye has successfully undergone surgery.
The Nigeria international sustained a wrist injury in the Zebras league clash against Genoa last week.
The operation, according to Udinese was conducted by Doctor Loris Pegoli at the La Madonnina clinic in Milan.
Okoye is now expected to start his rehabilitation and would be sidelined for weeks.
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Super Eagles star Ademola Lookman who plays for Atalanta, says he is disappointed with Victor Boniface’s omission from the list of nominees for the 2024 Africa Men’s Player of the Year.
Boniface played a crucial a role in Bayer Leverkusen’s successful campaign in the 2023/24 season.
The 23-year-old scored twenty-one goals in thirty-four appearances across all competitions for Bayer Leverkusen
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Paris Saint-Germain will move again for Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen when the transfer window reopens in January.
The Ligue 1 champions was linked with a move for the Nigeria international in the summer.
Osimhen instead joined Turkish Super Lig champions Galatasaray on a season long-loan deal.
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Nigeria has won her bid to host the next edition of the All Africa Challenge Trophy in 2026.
The competition is a biennial golf championship for ladies in Africa which started in 1992 in Zimbabwe.
Nigeria hosted the competition in 1996 at the Ikoyi Club, while in 2010, it was played at the IBB International Golf and Country Club in Abuja.
This would be the third time Nigeria will be hosting the championship.
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Nigeria Customs Service women’s volleyball team delivered a stunning performance to edge closer to the coveted 2024 Comptroller General of Customs Volleyball Premier League in Abuja title.
Customs defeated the defending champions, CNS Spikers, 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-19) in a thrilling encounter at Moshood Abiola Stadium’s indoor sports hall.
This victory was a significant moment for the Nigeria Customs Service, former champions of the prestigious league.
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Former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew has backed Anthony Joshua to return to the ring for a rematch with Daniel Dubois, even as Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk prepare for their highly anticipated December 21 heavyweight unification bout in Saudi Arabia.
Speaking to Spaceport Sweden, Bellew expressed confidence in Joshua’s ability to bounce back from his shocking September defeat to Dubois at Wembley Stadium, where he lost by knockout.
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Two-time UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is reportedly set to make his eagerly anticipated return to the octagon against France’s Nassourdine Imavov.
Brazilian middleweight contender Caio Barralho revealed that the Nigerian-New Zealander opted to face Imavov instead of him following discussions between both parties.
The bout, which will headline the UFC’s first-ever event in Saudi Arabia in February 2025, marks Adesanya’s first non-title fight since his victory over Anderson Silva in February 2019.
OTHER SPORTS
In Basketball; Olympiacos Piraeus have bolstered their frontcourt by signing Ghanaian center Nathan Mensah to a deal that runs until the end of the season, with an option for a one-year extension.
The 26-year-old big man, standing at 2.10 meters, arrives at a crucial time for the Greek club.
Olympiacos recently faced an injury crisis, losing Moses Wright for the season and seeing Moustapha Fall sidelined for a EuroLeague game against Paris Basketball.
With only one center available, the team urgently needed reinforcements.
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A former high school basketball coach accused of sexually assaulting a minor is taking a plea deal.
Clarence Moore is admitting to various sex crimes and pleading guilty. He was arrested 2023 after claims that he sexually assaulted a minor who he was giving private basketball lessons to.
He had previously been employed at Christian Academy of Louisville, but this happened about a year after that.
Moore had originally pleaded not guilty to 15 child sex crimes, including rape, sodomy and sexual abuse, but Wednesday, he changed his plea to guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence.
In Tennis, Jack Draper has cancelled his planned training week with Carlos Alcaraz because of a little bit of a niggle in his hip.
The British number one was due in Spain to train with the Wimbledon champion next week, but was limited to gym work at the moment.
Draper is in the Great Britain team which would contest the United Cup from 27th December, but was not yet sure whether he would be fit to play.
The Australian Open starts in Melbourne on 12th January.
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Still on Tennis, Transgender women will no longer be allowed to play in some female domestic tennis and padel tournaments in Britain, in changes to the Lawn Tennis Association’s rules.
The LTA is updating its transgender and non-binary participation policy, but this will not affect entry into Wimbledon or ITF, WTA or ATP tournaments staged in the UK.
The policy applies solely to British domestic inter-club competitions.
The rules for tour events will continue to be set by the relevant governing body.
From 25th January, transgender women, who were recorded male at birth, will not be eligible to compete in female events in higher graded competitions, which usually involve individuals taking on players from another club or county.
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In Formula one, Fernando Alonso is considering his past, present and future in Formula 1 – and most of all his thoughts on his prospects of winning a third world drivers’ title, even though he is 43 and its 18 years since his last.
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In Cricket, Harry Brook has moved above England team-mate Joe Root to become the number one Test batter in the world rankings.
The 25-year-old has overtaken Root after scoring one hundred and seventy-one in the first Test of England’s current tour of New Zealand and following it up with scores of 123 and 55 in the second Test in Wellington to give him a ranking score of 898.
Root, who replaced New Zealand’s Kane Williamson at the top of the International Cricket Council rankings in July, is just one point behind Brook on 897 and could take back his crown when the third Test starts in Hamilton on 14 December.
Following the victory in Wellington, Root was full of praise for his Yorkshire team-mate.
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The rugby community has rallied around the loved ones of former England rugby international Tom Voyce, who went missing in an area flooded by Storm Darragh.
Police fear Mr Voyce died after trying to cross Abberwick Ford, near Alnwick, Northumberland, in his car which was then pulled along by the current of the river.
Matt Dawson, who played alongside Voyce at Wasps between 2004 and 2006, said he could not express his sadness.
Premiership Rugby said it was devastated and thinking about Voyce’s loved ones.
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In Golf, Scottie Scheffler matched Tiger Woods by becoming the only second man to win the PGA Tour player of the year award in three consecutive seasons.
The American world number one collected his third Jack Nicklaus Award after winning ninety-one percent of the vote from his fellow players.
Scheffler won seven titles across the season, including a second Masters title at Augusta National in April.
While Rory McIlroy has won the award on three occasions, Scheffler and Woods are the only two players to have collected it three times in a row.
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TODAY’S FIXTURES
IN UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE
Hoffeheim vs FCSB
Malmo FF vs Galatasaray
Olympiakos Piraeus vs Twente
Roma vs Sporting Braga
Union Saint-Gilloise vs Nice
Viktoria plzen vs Manchester United
Ajax vs Lazio
Bodo /Glimt vs Besiktas
Lyon vs Eintracht Frankfurt
Rangers vs Tottenham
Porto vs Midtjylland
Real Sociedad vs Dynamo Kyiv
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IN UEFA CONFERENCE LEAGUE
Vikingur Reykjavik vs Djurgarden
Astana vs Chelsea
Dinamo Minsk vs Larne
Fiorentina vs LASK
HJK vs Molde
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
PERSISTENCE CAN CHANGE FAILURE INTO EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENTS……WORDS FROM MATT BIONDI.
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