Manchester United star Joshua Zirkzee scored his first goal in Europe for the team but the Red Devils were held to a draw by Real Sociedad to leave their Europa League last-16 tie in the balance.
Dutch forward Zirkzee deservedly put the visitors ahead in Spain twelve minutes into the second half with a low strike from the edge of the box that caught out home goalkeeper Alex Remiro.
Real Sociedad equalised through a Mikel Oyarzabal penalty, awarded after a review by the video assistant referee for a handball by Bruno Fernandes.
The second leg will take place at Old Trafford on Thursday, 13th March.
==============================
Three senior executives will leave Manchester United this summer, including the person responsible for delivering the latest round of redundancies.
People and transformation director Annie Hale will leave United once the second redundancy programme in as many years, which could see up to two hundred people lose their jobs, has been concluded.
Chief commercial development officer James Holroyd, who has been at United for more than fourteen years, and London-based commercial director Florence Lafaye, who is due to complete thirteen years at the club in June, will also leave.
==============================
Tottenham star Lucas Bergvall’s own goal led to a flat Tottenham losing the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie at AZ Alkmaar.
Ange Postecoglou’s side only had one late shot on target and only two inside AZ’s box all night.
The difference ended up inadvertently being teenager Bergvall, who shinned an attempted clearance from Troy Parrott’s cross into his own net.
Meanwhile, Tottenham captain Son Heung-min says the team must take its one-nil Europa League defeat by AZ Alkmaaras a wake-up call going into their biggest game of the season.
===============================
Rangers star Cyriel Dessers scored and also had an assist as the team beat Turkish giants Fenerbahce three-one in the Europa League first leg round of sixteen clash in Turkey.
The Nigeria international now has three goals, two assists in nine Europa League matches this season.
===============================
Conference League favourites Chelsea took control of their last-16 tie against Copenhagen with a narrow first-leg win in Denmark.
Reece James and Enzo Fernandez scored a goal each for Chelsea, while Copenhagen’s only goal was scored by Gabriel Pereira.
The second leg takes place at Stamford Bridge on Thursday, 13th March and the overall winners will play either Norwegian side Molde or Legia Warsaw from Poland in the last eight.
==============================
Football Association chief Mark Bullingham says Thomas Tuchel has already made an absolutely brilliant impact since becoming manager of the England men’s team.
Tuchel was appointed successor to Gareth Southgate in October with his 18-month contract beginning on 1st January.
The German will take charge of his first match on 21st March when England face Albania in their opening 2026 World Cup qualifier.
==============================
IN NIGERIA
Super Falcons has maintained 36th position in the latest FIFA women’s world ranking.
The nine-time African champions also kept their position as the number one ranked team in Africa.
The Super Falcons have been in the 36th position since March 2024.
Justine Madugu’s side retained the same position in June, August and December, 2024.
South Africa, Morocco, Zambia and Ghana complete the top five countries in Africa.
===============================
Flamingos is now in Pretoria for their 2025 FIFA Under-seventeen Women’s World Cup second round, first leg qualifier against the Bantwana of South Africa.
Saturday’s encounter will hold at the Lucas Moripe Stadium Pretoria.
The reverse fixture is slated for the Remo Stars Stadium, Ikenne Saturday, 15th March.
The aggregate winner will sail through to the final qualifying round.
Morocco will host the FIFA Under-seventeen Women’s World Cup later in the year.
===============================
The Nigeria Women Football League Premiership has opened its mid-season transfer window as the league enters the mid-season break.
Its Media Director, Sam Ahmadu in a statement said the transfer window will help teams strengthen their squads ahead of resumption on 19th March.
He stated that the transfer window will allow clubs to reinforce their teams and address key areas before the second stanza begins.
Meanwhile, fourteen teams are currently participating in the league with Remo Stars Ladies leading in Group A with 19 points, closely followed by title holders Edo Queens with 17 points.
Rivers Angels lead Group B tied with Bayelsa Queens on 17 points, with Delta Queens, Naija Ratels and others trailing behind.
Nigerian midfielder Kazeem Ogunleye has been unveiled by Albanian Club Partizani.
Ogunleye joined the Red Bulls from Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL, champions Rangers.
The playmaker put pen to paper on a four-year contract after a successful medical.
================================
The Director of Youth and Sports Development for the Economic Community of West African States, Ambassador Francis Njoaguani, has underscored the importance of sports in fostering cooperation and unity among the 12 ECOWAS member states.
Njoaguani stated this at the 13th ECOWAS African Wrestling Tournament which commenced on Thursday at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium’s Velodrome in Abuja.
The event drew 55 athletes from 11 countries, with each nation represented by five wrestlers and four technical officials.
Netflix are hoping to tempt Tyson Fury out of retirement to finally face Anthony Joshua as part of their aggressive expansion into boxing.
The Gypsy King announced he was hanging up his gloves in January just weeks after he suffered his second successive defeat to Oleksandr Usyk for three of the four major heavyweight belts in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The other major title is held by Daniel Dubois, who solidified his position as IBF champion of the world with a devastating knockout of Joshua at Wembley last September.
Boxing fans have long awaited for a domestic showdown between Fury and Joshua, who came close to sharing the ring in 2021 until a legal arbitration ruled that Fury had to face American rival Deontay Wilder for a third time, with Joshua then going onto lose two fights to Usyk.
OTHER LEAGUES
Bayern Munich captain Manuel Neuer has been ruled out for the foreseeable future after tearing a muscle in his right calf.
The former Germany goalkeeper, suffered the injury during his side’s Champions League last-16 first leg tie with Bayer Leverkusen.
He was replaced by debutant 21-year-old keeper Jonas Urbig in the 59th minute as Bayern went on to secure a comfortable three-nil win.
================================
Neymar has been recalled to the Brazil squad after a seventeen-month absence for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Argentina.
The Santos forward has not featured for the Selecao since sustaining a knee injury against Uruguay in October 2023.
Liverpool and Manchester City goalkeepers Alisson and Ederson are among an 10-strong contingent of Premier League players included in Dorival Jr’s squad.
Arsenal and Nottingham Forest centre-backs Gabriel and Murillo have also been picked, along with Wolves duo Andre and Matheus Cunha, and Newcastle pair Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton.
Brazil, who is fifth in the Conmebol table with 18 points from 12 games, host Colombia on 21st March and then visit leaders Argentina five days later.
==============================
Scotland winger Ben Doak will almost certainly miss this month’s Nations League play-off double-header against Greece after having surgery on a thigh injury.
Middlesbrough manager Michael Carrick said it was hard to say whether the on-loan Liverpool 19-year-old will be able to play for the Championship side again this season.
==============================
New European Leagues president Claudius Schafer says he fears for the future of domestic competitions because of the distortion created by prize money from international tournaments.
World governing body Fifa announced prize money of one billion dollars for this summer’s thirty-two-team Club World Cup in the United States.
The actual fees will rise depending on performance at the tournament, which is likely to benefit the twelve European clubs.
Schafer suggested the solidarity aspect was largely irrelevant, and raised concerns about the impact of substantial prize money on the competitive balance in smaller and mid-sized leagues.
============================
Former England manager Fabio Capello has disclosed that Cristiano Ronaldo is not among one of the greatest players in history.
Capello made this known after the Portuguese international’s claimed that he was the best player.
Capello stated that Ronaldo was still below Pele, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi.
=============================
Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho says he is the opposite of racist following the racism allegations made against him by Galatasaray.
Galatasaray said they would initiate criminal proceedings against Mourinho after claiming he made racist statements following the teams’ goalless draw on 24th February.
Mourinho has also filed a lawsuit against Galatasaray seeking damages worth forty-one thousand pounds.
==============================
Spanish prosecutors have demanded a retrial in the case of former football federation president Luis Rubiales, who was found guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent.
In February, Rubiales was fined nine thousand, fifty-two pounds for that offence but found not guilty of coercion over allegations he pressured Hermoso into publicly saying the kiss was consensual.
Prosecutors have called for Rubiales to be jailed and appealed that verdict, seeking a retrial with a different judge after alleging the original was biased in Rubiales’s favour.
==============================
OTHER SPORTS
In Tennis, Great Britain have been handed an away tie against Poland as they look to avoid relegation from the top tier of the Davis Cup.
Leon Smith’s side, seeded fourth in the draw, face the unseeded Poles in a World Group I best-of-five tie in September.
The winners will progress to the first qualifying phase of the 2026 event and maintain their chances of reaching the eight-team finals later that year.
The draw for the World Group I ties was held on Thursday a week later than originally planned because of Chile’s protests following their controversial tie against Belgium.
=============================
Also, Female tennis players will receive paid maternity leave on the WTA Tour for the first time.
More than three hundred and twenty players will be eligible for up to twelve months paid leave through a new maternity fund introduced by governing body, the Women’s Tennis Association.
Grants will also be made available for fertility treatment.
Players will need to compete in a minimum number of WTA tournaments over a certain period of time to be eligible.
The maternity programme will be fully funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is a global partner of the WTA Tour.
=============================
Australian tennis great Fred Stolle, who won two Grand Slam singles titles in the 1960s, has died at the age of eighty-six.
Stolle won the French Open in 1965, the US Open in 1966 and reached the final in six other Grand Slams, including three at Wimbledon.
He also won ten Grand Slam men’s doubles titles and seven mixed doubles.
Tennis Australia said the sport had lost “one of its great players and characters.
=============================
In Cricket, Director of men’s cricket Rob Key says England would be stupid not to consider Ben Stokes as a white-ball captain.
England are looking for new leaders of the one-day and T20 sides after Jos Buttler resigned following their early exit at the Champions Trophy.
Stokes has been Test captain since 2022 but has not played white-ball cricket for England since the 2023 50-over World Cup.
All-rounder Stokes is currently recovering from a hamstring operation and has been training with a group of England Lions players in Abu Dhabi.
============================
In Rugby, Romain Ntamack and Damian Penaud have returned to the France line-up for Saturday’s Six Nations game against Ireland in Dublin.
Fly-half Ntamack returns from suspension while Penaud is recalled to the right wing after being left out of the matchday squad for the win over Italy a fortnight ago.
Ntamack and Penaud’s return means Thomas Ramos switches from out-half to full-back, while Leo Barre and Theo Attissogbe drop out.
=============================
SOCCER ACTION CONTINUES THIS WEEKEND
IN NIGERIA PREMIER FOOTBALL LEAGUE
ON SATURDAY
Lobi Stars vs Ikorodu City
Bendel Insurance vs Remo Stars
ON SUNDAY
Enugu Rangers vs Akwa United
Kwara United vs Kano Pillars
Rivers United FC vs Niger Tornadoes
Nasarawa United vs Sunshine Stars
Katsina United vs Shooting Stars
Plateau United vs Abia Warriors
Enyimba vs El Kanemi Warriors
Heartland Owerri vs Bayelsa United
=================================
IN ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
ON SATURDAY
Nottingham Forest vs Manchester City
Brighton vs Fulham
Crystal Palace vs Ipswich Town
Liverpool vs Southampton
Brentford vs Aston Villa
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Everton
ON SUNDAY
Chelsea vs Leicester City
Tottenham Hotspur vs AFC Bournemouth
Manchester United vs Arsenal
==============================
IN SPANISH LA LIGA
ON SATURDAY
Celta Vigo vs Leganés
Deportivo Alavés vs Villarreal
Valencia vs Real Valladolid
Barcelona vs Osasuna
ON SUNDAY
Getafe vs Atlético Madrid
Real Madrid vs Rayo Vallecano
Athletic Club vs Mallorca
Real Betis vs Las Palmas
Real Sociedad vs Sevilla
==============================
IN ITALIAN SERIE A
ON SATURDAY
Como vs Venezia
Parma vs Torino
Lecce vs AC Milan
Inter Milan vs Monza
ON SUNDAY
Hellas Verona vs Bologna
Napoli vs Fiorentina
Empoli vs Roma
Juventus vs Atalanta
FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
SOME PEOPLE WANT IT TO HAPPEN, SOME WISH IT WOULD HAPPEN, OTHER MAKE IT HAPPEN….WORDS FROM MICHAEL JORDAN.
securityandsafetymatters 