IN NIGERIA
Morocco and Paris Saint-Germain star, defender Achraf Hakimi has been named 2025 African men’s Player of the Year.
Hakimi finished ahead of former winners Victor Osimhen and Mohamed Salah to clinch the award.
He is the first Moroccan since Mustapha Hadji (1998) to claim the continent’s prestigious individual men’s award.
The right-back was instrumental for both the French giants and his national team.
While Morocco’s Ghizlane Chebbak has been crowned the CAF Women’s Player of the Year, beating Nigeria’s Rasheedat Ajibade to the prestigious continental honour.
Chebbak, who has been a standout performer for both club and country, impressed voters with her leadership and consistency throughout the year.
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Nigeria’s Super Falcons has won the National Team of the Year at the 2025 CAF Awards in Rabat, Morocco.
The Super Falcons were recognised for their impressive performance at the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
The West Africans won a record-extending 10th title at the biennial competition.
President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Ibrahim Gusau received the award on behalf of the Super Falcons.
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Super Falcons and Brighton goalkeeper, Chiamaka Nnadozie has won the 2025 Africa Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year award.
Nnadozie has now claimed the award for the third year running also won the award in 2023 and 2024.
She beat off competition from Morocco and AS FAR’s Khadija Er-Rmichi and Andile Dlamini of South Africa and Mamelodi Sundowns.
Nnadozie has been instrumental for both club and country which was not a surprise she came out tops at the awards.
Morocco and former Sevilla star Yassine Bounou won the men’s Goalkeeper of the Year award.
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Flamingos captain and Bayelsa Queens star Shakirat Moshood has missed out on the 2025 CAF Women’s Young Player of the Year award, which went to Morocco’s Doha El Madani.
Moshood missed out on the award at the ceremony in Morocco.
El Madani’s win underlined her emergence as one of Africa’s most promising young footballers.
In the men’s category another Moroccan Othmane Maamma won the award.
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Nigeria has risen three places to 38th in the latest FIFA men’s world ranking following a month in which the Super Eagles played two competitive fixtures.
The ranking update, which covered 149 national-team outings worldwide since the previous release, reflects Nigeria’s four-one victory over Gabon and the one-all draw with Congo that ended in a four-three penalty defeat in the African play-off.
The ranking placed Nigeria fifth among African nations behind Morocco, Senegal, Egypt and Algeria.
The Super Eagles hold a narrow advantage over Tunisia, who are 40th on 1,497.13 points, and a wider margin over rivals such as Ivory Coast and DR Congo, which sit on 1,489.59 and 1,442.50 points.
Spain remain top of the world rankings, with world champions Argentina and France close behind, while Brazil rose two places to fifth following their recent results.
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National Sports Commission says Nigeria must move on from the disappointment of missing out on the 2026 World Cup.
Its Director General Bukola Olopade who made this known insisted that the focus must shift quickly to rebuilding and preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Nigeria’s elimination in Rabat on Sunday ended the Super Eagles’ road to the tournament after a four-three penalty shootout defeat to Democratic Republic of Congo.
The result revived debate about the Nigeria Football Federation’s leadership, but Olopade urged restraint when speaking to journalists.
He explained that apportioning blame at this stage would not help the team recover from the setback.
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Super Eagles striker Akor Adams has expressed disappointment with Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
The Sevilla striker, who scored in the team’s four-one demolition of Gabon in the semi-final, said he feels hurt that Nigeria would be absent from the World Cup.
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Former Kwara United coach Samson Unuanel has disclosed that the Super Eagles always struggle to win games without Victor Osimhen in the attack.
He made this known on the backdrop of the team’s failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup after losing to Congo via penalty shootouts.
Unuanel stated that the Super Eagles struggled to threaten DR Congo’s defence after the withdrawal of the Galatasaray star.
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Remo Stars has moved out of the relegation zone following a hard-earned one-nil victory over Kano Pillars in a rescheduled Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL, matchday five encounter at the Moshood Abiola Sports Arena, Abeokuta.
Victor Mbaoma scored the decisive goal four minutes after the half hour mark.
It was Daniel Ogunmodede’s side fifth win of the season.
Remo Stars also moved to 15th position on the table with sixteen points from twelve matches.
Kano Pillars is still searching for their first win under Mohammed Babaganaru.
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Fenerbache has joined the number of clubs interested in Super Eagles star Ademola Lookman, who plays for Atalanta.
The Yellow Canaries Istanbul rivals, Galatasaray are reportedly leading the race for the winger’s signature.
Premier League club, Tottenham Hotspur and Spanish outfit, Atletico Madrid are also rumoured to have interest in Lookman.
The Nigeria international could leave Atalanta in January after failing to secure a move to Inter Milan in the summer.
Lookman’s contract with with Atalanta will expire in 2027.
With seven days to the kickoff of the inaugural West African Para Games (Zones A & B) in Abeokuta, Ogun, the National Sports Commission has reaffirmed its full preparations.
The commission in a statement on Wednesday, said the Games scheduled from 26th November to 4th December, will bring together para athletes from across West Africa.
The Games reflect the commitment of President Bola Tinubu to position Nigeria as a preferred destination for international sporting events.
The Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) has urged business executives to embrace its 2025 golf tournament as a platform to deepen bilateral ties and expand business opportunities.
The Chairman NBCC Golf Committee, Arc. Tayo Babalakin, said the format for the golf tournament slated for 11th December at the Ikoyi Golf Club, Lagos was stableford.
He described golf as a golden choice because it is a calm, serene game; free from the usual tension business people were accustomed to.
British-Nigerian heavyweight Anthony Joshua has been told to forget about ever fighting Tyson Fury unless he delivers a convincing victory over Jake Paul next month.
Frank Warren, who will be tasked with negotiating Fury’s return to the ring, says Joshua must avoid what could be boxing’s biggest ever upset when he faces the YouTuber-turned-boxer on December 19.
Joshua, 36, is still expected to fight in Riyadh in February before a September showdown with Fury is eyed—per Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh’s plans.
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IN ENGLAND
Norway international Andreas Schjelderup has been given a two-week suspended prison sentence after a Danish court found him guilty of sharing sexual material of two boys under the age of eighteen.
Benfica winger Schjelderup, told the court he received a 27-second video on Snapchat and forwarded it to a group chat of four friends before deleting it once he realised its content.
Schjelderup, who was nineteen and playing for Danish Superliga side Nordsjaelland at the time of the incident, pleaded guilty after co-operating with a police investigation.
Schjelderup will only have to serve time in jail if found guilty of another crime during the next twelve months.
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Tunisia boss Sami Trabelsi believes Chelsea star Estevao William has what it takes to compete for the Ballon d’Or award.
Trabelsi stated this after the Brazilian international brilliant performance against Tunisia in the international friendly match.
Trabelsi noted that Estevao was a football genius.
Premier League leaders Arsenal will end their partnership deal with Rwanda at the end of this season.
The Visit Rwanda partnership, signed eight seasons ago, had increasingly come under scrutiny due to spiralling violence in mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which borders Rwanda.
The DRC accuses Rwanda of arming and supporting the M23 militia, which has seized swathes of DRC territory since taking up arms in 2021.
The conflict has killed thousands of people and triggered a humanitarian crisis, although the DRC and M23 have signed a ceasefire deal and peace framework in recent months.
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OTHER LEAGUES
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Wales’ focus lies on Thursday’s World Cup play-off draw as they wait to discover their semi-final and potential final opponents.
Having finished second in their qualifying group courtesy of an emphatic seven-one triumph over North Macedonia, their biggest win since 1978, Craig Bellamy’s side will play the last-four encounter on home soil.
They will face either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26th March.
Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons would relish a tie against any opponent on the back of their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.
UEFA has given Barcelona the go-ahead to play Champions League matches at their partially rebuilt Camp Nou stadium, the La Liga giants said on Wednesday.
The news comes just a couple of days after Barca announced their long-awaited return to league action at the stadium, which had been beset by construction chaos, after more than two years in exile.
The Spanish champions will host Eintracht Frankfurt at the Camp Nou on 9th December, just over two weeks after reinaugurating the stadium against Athletic Bilbao in domestic action on November 22.
Monaco star Paul Pogba is close to making his long-awaited Ligue 1 debut this weekend.
After moving to Monaco in June, Pogba was eager to start a new chapter, but injuries and his suspension kept him out of action, preventing him from even making his debut for the Monegasque side.
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OTHER SPORTS
In Tennis, Italy overpowered Austria in the Davis Cup quarter-finals to move a step closer to becoming the first nation to win three consecutive titles for fifty-three years.
Straight-sets singles wins for Matteo Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli earned victory for an Italian team which dominated despite missing the nation’s top two players in Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti.
Italy move on to a semi-final meeting with Belgium on Friday, after their upcoming opponents beat France on the opening day of the Finals in Bologna.
They will begin that match on a 12-tie winning streak at the Davis Cup Finals, stretching back to the group stages of the 2023 tournament.
In the other half of the draw, Spain face the Czech Republic before Argentina play Germany on Thursday.
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In Cricket, England captain Ben Stokes has called on his team to create history by winning the Ashes in Australia.
Only five England teams have won an Ashes series in this country since World War II and just two of those successes have come in the past forty years.
England have not taken a series here since 2010-11, which was also the last time they won a Test in Australia.
Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum have breathed life into England’s Test cricket since they took charge in 2022.
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In Rugby, Elliot Daly will play for the first time since breaking his arm on British and Irish Lions duty in June as he starts on the wing for England against Argentina on Sunday.
The 33-year-old replaces Tom Roebuck, who suffered a foot injury in last weekend’s 33-19 win over New Zealand.
Daly’s inclusion is one of six changes to the starting XV as Borthwick, whose hand is partly forced by injury, experiments with more combinations.
Elsewhere, there is an all-new front row with Ellis Genge and Luke Cowan-Dickie recalled alongside Asher Opoku-Fordjour, who makes only his second Test start.
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
The miracle is not that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start….words from John Bingham.
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