IN WOMEN’S AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS
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Black Queens of Ghana has begun their CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations campaign with a two-nil victory over debutants Cape Verde in their Group D.
Doris Boaduwaa gave the Black Queens the perfect start in the sixth minute, finishing after being set up by Portia Boakye.
Ghana doubled their lead in the second half when Cape Verde defender Eleia Vieira turned the ball into her own net in the 54th minute.
Cape Verde, playing their first ever match at the continental finals, ended the contest with ten women after Klaydiana Borges was sent off in stoppage time.
The result gives Ghana a strong opening platform in a competitive group as they look to build on the bronze medal they won at the previous edition.
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Malawi head coach, Lovemore Fazili has hailed his players for producing a courageous and disciplined display in their shock victory over Nigeria’s Super Falcons.
The Scorchers stunned the defending champions three-two in their opening Group C match at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, securing one of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history.
Fazili said his players had made the nation proud with their spirited and determined performance against the Super Falcons.
He stressed that the team must remain focused as they still have two group matches to play.
The Scorchers will face Egypt’s Cleopatras in their next game on Saturday.
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Super Falcons forward Asisat Oshoala has urged Nigerians to continue supporting the team as they seek to recover from their shock opening defeat to Malawi at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Ahead of the Falcons’ remaining two group matches, the 31-year-old believes there is still enough time for the team to respond.
Oshoala admitted that the traditional gap between Nigeria and the rest of the continent is narrowing.
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Nigeria’s U-20 Boys, Flying Eagles, will on Thursday seek an early passage into the semi-finals of this year’s WAFU B U-20 Championship ongoing in the Ivorian city of Yamoussoukro, when they confront the Sparrow Hawks from Togo in their second match of the group phase.
A sweet 4-2 win over West African rivals Ghana has established the Cup-holders at the top of Group B on goal difference, ahead of Burkina Faso’s Young Stallions who trounced the Sparrow Hawks 3-1 on Monday.
Victory on Thursday will take Nigeria to six points, with early contenders Togo pegged back, as the Flying Eagles countenance a fierce contest with the Young Stallions on Sunday.
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Nigeria’s Goodness Nwachukwu has delivered a sensational performance to claim Team Nigeria’s seventh gold medal at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, breaking her own world record in the women’s F42-44/F61-64 discus event.
Nwachukwu produced a stunning final throw of 39.66m, eclipsing her previous F42 world record by more than three metres to successfully defend her Commonwealth title in emphatic fashion.
Wales’ Funmi Oduwaiye claimed the silver medal with a best throw of 38.52m, while compatriot Bree Cronin secured bronze after recording a season’s best of 36.00m.
There was more success for Team Nigeria as Jessica Oji won silver in the women’s shot put with an impressive throw of 17.87m.
With Nwachukwu’s historic triumph and Oji’s podium finish, Nigeria now sits fifth on the Commonwealth Games medals table, having amassed seven gold, five silver and two bronze medals.
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Super Eagles striker, Tolu Arokodare, who plays for Wolves, has joined Dutch side Ajax on loan for the 2026-27 season with the Eredivisie club having the option to make the deal permanent next summer.
The Nigeria international recently forced a Wolves training session to be cancelled after reportedly refusing to leave the pitch.
Arokodare denied refusing to train, saying he has always conducted himself professionally and upheld the highest training standards throughout his career.
The 25-year-old moved to Molineux in a twenty-four million pounds deal from Genk on a four-year contract in September 2025 after scoring thirty-one league goals in seventy-nine appearances for the Belgian side.
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Monza has reached an agreement with Serie A champions Inter Milan to sign Nigerian midfielder Ebenezer Akinsamiro on a permanent transfer.
According to reports, Inter will receive seven point five million euros for the deal, along with a ten percent sell-on clause on any future transfer.
The agreement does not include a buy-back clause, meaning the Nerazzurri have decided to part ways permanently with their academy product.
Akinsamiro also attracted interest from fellow Serie A side Bologna, as well as Bundesliga clubs Werder Bremen and Borussia Mönchengladbach, but Monza has won the race for his signature.
He was part of Nigeria’s Super Eagles squad to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations
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Super Eagles winger Yira Collins Sor is closing in on a move to Turkish Super Lig newcomers Amedspor.
Amedspor is currently in talks with Belgian Pro League side KRC Genk over the transfer of the Nigerian winger.
The negotiations between the two clubs are progressing, although no agreement has been reached at this stage.
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Edel FC, a second tier domestic league side, has confirmed they have put on hold their earlier plan to relocate to Enugu for their 2026/2027 Nigeria National League, NNL, campaign.
The Phinan Ozonweke side had been playing their NNL home matches at the Awka City Stadium.
Chukwuebuka informed that Edel FC will commence preparation ahead the new season on Monday, 3rd August, 2026.
Edel FC finished 6th on the Conference A table with twenty points to retain their NNL position.
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IN ENGLAND
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Tottenham manager, Roberto de Zerbi says he has told midfielder Lucas Bergvall to stay but cannot promise him a starting role.
The Sweden international has received multiple offers from Premier League rivals Newcastle and Nottingham Forest but surprisingly started Spurs’ four-two penalty shootout win over Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium.
De Zerbi admitted he made mistakes in his handling of Bergvall during a chaotic end to the season following his appointment in March, when he narrowly guided Spurs to Premier League safety with a final-day victory over Everton.
In the shootout Sydney’s Joe Lacey hit a post and Martin Dubravka saved Alex Popovic’s effort, while Tonali, debutant Andy Robertson and Dane Scarlett converted their penalties to secure victory for Spurs.
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Manchester City has returned to pre-season training last week and midfielder Jack Grealish was spotted among the players who had reported for duty.
But any immediate hopes of seeing the 30-year-old donning a City shirt once more were dashed on Tuesday when he missed out on a seat on the plane for the club’s tour of Hong Kong and Seoul over the next eleven days.
Sources said Grealish continues to recuperate from a season-ending foot injury sustained in January during a loan spell at Everton, where he was starting to recapture his best form, and it is too early to speculate what the future might hold.
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Chelsea have agreed a deal to sign Danny Welbeck while Jordan Henderson is set to cancel his Brentford contract to enable a move to Stamford Bridge.
Henderson is under contract until 2027, while Welbeck has agreed a two-year deal and been given permission by Brighton to conduct a medical at Stamford Bridge.
A fee for the striker has also been agreed but remains undisclosed as Chelsea tie up the deal for him to join pre-season in Hong Kong after Chelsea’s final match in Australia against Tottenham on Saturday.
Welbeck will become the oldest signing under the Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital ownership, until Henderson’s likely arrival with the west Londoners.
It is part of new manager Xabi Alonso’s drive to add experience to Chelsea’s squad, which has been the youngest in the Premier League for the past two seasons.
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Arsenal star, Jurrien Timber has travelled back to London from the team’s training camp in Spain in a move related to the groin injury that caused him to miss the end of last season.
The Netherlands international missed two months towards the end of last season because of an ankle injury, but returned in time for the Champions League final loss to Paris Saint-Germain.
It is now understood that the right-back has returned to London from the Gunners’ training camp in Spain but sources insist the visit is part of his rehabilitation schedule and not because of a setback in his recovery.
Timber is expected to return to Spain to rejoin the squad.
Arsenal face Manchester City in the Community Shield on 16th August, before beginning their Premier League title defence against promoted Coventry City on 21st August.
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Liverpool have stepped up their interest in Paris Saint-Germain’s Bradley Barcola and are preparing an opening bid.
Barcola has been identified as the primary option for Liverpool as they look to replace Mohamed Salah, who left at the end of last season.
The France winger is valued by PSG at around one hundred and forty-five milion pounds.
Such a fee would break the British transfer record but those at Anfield are keen on striking a deal closer to the one hundred million pounds mark.
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Crystal Palace have held talks with Takehiro Tomiyasu over a permanent contract that would mean the defender returning to the Premier League.
Tomiyasu is training with Palace and was named as a substitute in the pre-season friendly versus Lens on Tuesday.
The Japan international is understood to have held discussions over a permanent deal with Palace that would mean the 27-year-old joining on a free transfer.
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Nottingham Forest is close to completing a deal for Sporting Lisbon defender Ousmane Diomande.
The 22-year-old is viewed as a key target for new Forest boss Oliver Glasner, and talks have progressed in recent days.
While a final agreement still needs to be reached, sources indicate a deal between the clubs is now close, with discussions at an advanced stage.
Diomande has a sixty-eight point two million pounds release clause but Forest are keen to land the Ivory Coast international for a lower fee.
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Middlesbrough have signed Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Sebastian Berhalter for an undisclosed fee on a four-year deal.
The 25-year-old USA international scored twenty goals in one hundred and sixty-seven appearances for the Major League Soccer club.
He might make his debut for Kim Hellberg’s side’s in their Carabao Cup first-round tie against Wrexham on Friday, 7th August.
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FIFA President, Gianni Infantino has written to all two hundred and eleven member associations saying they will receive forty million dollars if they back his controversial plan to sell off stakes in its major competitions.
Infantino has set a deadline of 19th September for football federations to accept his plans if they want to access an initial twenty million dollars.
Football’s world governing body has said it wants to create a commercial subsidiary to run its main events, including the World Cup, and external investors will be able to buy stakes in it.
FIFA confirmed that the money would come from liquidating a minority portion of its stake on Fifa Forward Enterprise, a subsidiary company set up to maximise commercial revenue that would include private investors.
The incentive to nations comes after the statement rocked football’s foundations, quickly leading to condemnation from Europe, Asia and North America.
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Former FIFA governance committee chair Miguel Maduro believes there is a very high likelihood that FIFA’s controversial twenty billion dollars commercial sell-off plan will be approved, leaving UEFA and national associations with little ability to block the move.
Maduro described FIFA as a political cartel built on patronage, making internal or external resistance difficult.
He warned that FIFA could eventually leverage this commercial entity and an expanded Club World Cup to rival or overshadow UEFA’s Champions League.
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Uefa will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss its response to the controversial World Cup stakeholder plans proposed by Fifa and its president Gianni Infantino.
European football’s governing body kept up its offensive over the plans after it was discovered Fifa had sent a letter to all two hundred and eleven member associations.
Many associations, including the Football Association, are furious at only learning through the media of the proposal to sell a twenty percent stake in Fifa competitions to private finance.
Uefa’s unease has been echoed by the Asian, South American and North and Central American Confederations.
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Meanwhile Fifa has opened disciplinary proceedings against Argentina over their behaviour after their World Cup final loss to Spain and throughout the tournament.
On the recommendation of the prosecutor, Fifa will investigate Argentina players Nahuel Molina (two counts) and Leandro Paredes (three counts), and Argentina assistant coach Roberto Ayala (one count) for alleged assault under article 14 of Fifa’s disciplinary code.
Molina may also face disciplinary action for one count of alleged unsporting behaviour under article 14.
Team-mate Thiago Almada and Spain midfielder Gavi are also accused of the same breach.
Under Fifa’s disciplinary code, players and officials face at least a one-match suspension for unsportsmanlike conduct and at least three matches for assault.
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OTHER LEAGUES
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Spain defender Marc Cucurella has kept his promise to get a tattoo of World Cup-winning coach Luis de la Fuente.
Cucurella helped Spain win the World Cup this month as they beat Argentina one-nil in the final.
The 28-year-old, who joined Real Madrid from Chelsea for fifty-two million pounds in June, revealed the tattoo, a portrait of De la Fuente holding the World Cup in front of a number 26 on social media.
After the final De la Fuente said he expected Cucurella to stick to his word.
Cucurella carried his wife’s pyjama top with him as a lucky charm during the World Cup, and recently said he has his trademark long, curly hair so his child can easily keep track of him during matches.
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Scottish footballer Lawrence Shankland says being named Rangers captain has exceeded the dream he had of playing for his boyhood team.
The 30-year-old striker only joined the club two months ago from Hearts, where he also wore the armband and scored eighty-eight goals in one hundred and seventy-one games.
The Scotland forward succeeds previous long-serving captain James Tavernier, who led the Ibrox side to a Europa League final and won the Scottish Premiership, Scottish Cup and League Cup during his eleven years in Govan.
The news comes two days before Derek McInnes’ side start their league campaign at Dundee United on Friday.
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Around twenty people from Ethiopia have gone missing after taking part in the Gothia Cup football tournament in Gothenburg, Sweden.
According to the police, the boys are between fourteen and seventeen years old, and one or more leaders are also missing.
Gothia Cup contacted the police, who filed a missing persons report.
The police now state that the individuals have not returned to Ethiopia and that it appears to be a voluntary disappearance.
Sweden’s Gothia Cup, the world’s largest international youth football tournament, has historically been a focal point for young athletes seeking asylum.
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Celtic captain Callum McGregor has insisted he sees his future at the club and wants to win the league in a bit more style this term.
Under Martin O’Neill, Celtic chased down Hearts to win the Scottish Premiership on the final day last season before beating Dunfermline Athletic at Hampden to claim the Scottish Cup.
In the aftermath of that success, McGregor who has been linked with a reunion with former boss Brendan Rodgers in Saudi Arabia, said he wanted to end his career with Celtic provided the club continue to push and want to be successful.
Midfielder McGregor will lead Celtic out for their season opener against Dundee on Monday, his 13th professional season with the club with O’Neill now in permanent charge.
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Barcelona goalkeeper Joan García has declared that winning the UEFA Champions League is his primary target for the 2026-27 season.
Fresh off winning the World Cup 2026 with Spain, García, who was also part of the Barcelona side that secured La Liga and the Supercopa de España, has set his sights firmly on club football’s top trophy.
He noted that obsessing over the title is unhelpful, but strong desire and belief remain essential.
Garcia also stressed that Barcelona must strike the right balance between ambition and pressure.
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La Liga side Rayo Vallecano have been barred indefinitely from playing at their home stadium less than three weeks before the start of the new season because of the risk of supporters contracting Legionnaires’ disease.
Rayo rent the Estadio de Vallecas from the regional government of Madrid but have had their licence to host matches suspended after an audit highlighted serious health and safety issues.
A regional government report cited the risk of Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks or fires due to the accumulation of refuse and debris inside the stadium, as well as electrical faults.
To date, no alternative venue for home games has been confirmed.
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Neymar has officially confirmed his retirement from international football, ending a 16-year career with the Brazil national team following their exit from the FIFA World Cup 2026.
The 34-year-old Santos forward made the announcement after his side’s four-two victory over Universidad Central in the second leg of the Copa Sudamericana knockout round playoffs, putting an end to speculation that he could make a return to the national team.
The superstar played his last match in the Round of 16 exit, in which Brazil lost two-one to Norway, with Neymar scoring a consolation penalty before being surrounded by tearful teammates at full-time.
Neymar finished his international career as Brazil’s all-time leading scorer with eighty goals, going past the record previously held by Pelé.
Across one hundred and thirty caps, he also contributed fifty-eight assists, figures that underline his dominance as the most prolific Brazilian ever to represent the Seleção.
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OTHER SPORTS
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Formula 1 president Stefano Domenicali says the 2026 championship will end in Europe if the conflict in the Middle East makes it impossible to hold the season-closing races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
Domenicali said on a call with F1 media that a final decision would be made by the middle of September.
The 61-year-old did not elaborate on where the final race would be held if Qatar and Abu Dhabi have to be called off, but the strong front-runner is the Imola circuit in Italy.
F1 has already been forced to cancel the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races, which were scheduled for April, as a result of the US-Israel war with Iran.
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In Cricket, Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming is expected to be appointed as England Test coach after the sacking of Brendon McCullum.
McCullum was fired earlier this month following a string of poor results and several off-field incidents, but remains in charge of England’s white-ball sides.
Former England coach Andy Flower subsequently ruled himself out of the running to replace McCullum.
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The Welsh Rugby Union has outlined how it plans to cut from four professional teams to three by 2028, with Ospreys and Scarlets set to fight to be the side in south west Wales.
The governing body confirmed in April it intended to press on with plans to go down to three men’s teams from the 2028-29 season, with one in the capital, one in the east and one in the west.
Cardiff, owned by the Welsh Rugby Union, and Dragons, an independently-backed business, are set to be given licences.
That would leave Swansea-based Ospreys and Llanelli-based Scarlets to compete for the remaining spot, with a merger also a practical, if controversial, possibility.
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Three-time major champion Padraig Harrington has been named as one of Luke Donald’s vice-captains for the Ryder Cup at Adare Manor, in the Republic of Ireland, in 2027.
The 54-year-old Dubliner joins the Molinari brothers Edoardo and Francesco in Team Europe’s backroom team as they bid for a third consecutive victory over USA.
Harrington played in six Ryder Cups for Team Europe and was a vice-captain on three occasions before captaining the side for the unsuccessful 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits.
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In Athletics, Kate O’Connor has won Northern Ireland’s first gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in the heptathlon at Scotstoun Stadium.
O’Connor, a world indoor and outdoor silver medallist, finished top of the standings with 6,569 points and is the first new heptathlon champion at the Games in eight years.
England’s Jade O’Dowda claimed silver while Australia’s Tori West won the battle for bronze.
The 25-year-old becomes NI’s 12th medal winner in Glasgow, claiming the country’s first gold at the Games in athletics since 1986.
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
Learn as if you will live forever, live like you will die tomorrow……words from Mahatma Gandhi
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