IN WOMEN’S AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS
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Hosts Morocco has secured a hard-fought one-nil victory over Algeria in a fiercely contested North African derby in their second Group A game of the Women’s African Cup of Nations.
Morocco were made to work hard for the three points, as they came up against a disciplined Algerian side that frustrated them for most parts of the contest.
However, Morocco eventually found the breakthrough in the 84th minute when Sanaa Mssoudy scored the decisive goal to spark celebrations among the home supporters and hand the Atlas Lionesses all three points.
The narrow victory sees Morocco remain top of Group A with six points from two matches, strengthening their position ahead of the knockout stages.
As for the Algerians, the defeat leaves them on three points, same points as Senegal, who earlier defeated Kenya one-nil to keep their own qualification hopes alive.
Nigeria Football Federation, Executive Committee member and FIFA Media Committee member, Aisha Falode has urged Nigerians to keep faith with the Super Falcons following their stunning three-two defeat to Malawi.
The disappointing result has left the 10-time African champions under pressure ahead of their remaining group fixtures, but Falode insists the setback should not define a team that has built an enviable legacy over decades.
According to her, the Super Falcons remain focused on securing qualification for the FIFA Women’s World Cup while also reclaiming the WAFCON title for a record-extending 11th time.
Falode called on Nigerians to rally behind the team instead of dwelling on criticism, insisting this is when the players need the country’s encouragement the most.
The Super Falcons will seek to revive their WAFCON 2026 campaign when they face Zambia’s Copper Queens in their Group C Matchday 2 fixture on Saturday, 1st August, at Al Madina Stadium, Rabat.
They will conclude the group stage against Egypt on Wednesday, 5th August, at the Olympic Stadium, Rabat.
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Defending champions Nigeria’s Flying Eagles have booked their place in the semi-finals of the WAFU B Under-twenty Championship with a convincing three-nil victory over Togo’s Sparrow Hawks in Yamoussoukro.
The Flying Eagles maintained their perfect start to the tournament, making it two wins from two matches after their opening four-two victory over Ghana.
The result also confirmed Togo’s elimination after they had earlier suffered a three-one defeat to Burkina Faso.
The win sends Nigeria to the last four with six points from two games and guarantees their qualification with a match to spare.
The Flying Eagles will round off their Group B campaign against Burkina Faso on Sunday.
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The Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, has officially rescheduled its 2026 Elective Congress from Saturday, 26th to Sunday, 27th September, in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital.
The decision was ratified during an extraordinary virtual General Assembly held on Wednesday.
The Elective Congress will usher in a new Executive Committee that will oversee the affairs of Nigerian football for the next four years.
NFF President, Ibrahim Gusau explained that the date adjustment became necessary following the confirmation of the Super Eagles’ opening fixture in the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Madagascar.
According to Gusau, discussions with the Confederation of African Football confirmed that the Group L encounter will take place on Friday, 25th September 2026.
He noted that several candidates contesting in the election are expected to be involved with the national team during the match, making it practically impossible for them to travel to Lafia in time for the Congress.
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Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan has failed to defend her women’s one hundred metres hurdles title at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
The world record holder struggled to execute her race efficiently, finishing third after clocking 12.60 seconds at Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow, Scotland.
Bahamas’ Devynne Charlton and Megan Simmonds of Jamaica were daylight ahead of her.
Charlton took the gold with a 12.33-second finish while Simmonds got the bronze.
For every successful multi-sport competition, there is a catalyst. At the 2026 Commonwealth Games, Nigeria’s weightlifters and para powerlifters have found their mojo, driving the country’s charge for medals in Glasgow.
Their performances so far have lifted Nigeria’s overall standings in the medal table. Ten of the country’s 12 medals have come from weightlifting and para powerlifting accounting for all six of Nigeria’s gold medals so far.
From Edidiong Umoafia’s record-shattering total in the men’s 71kg category to dominant gold-medal sweeps in the women’s events, the lifters are proving to be the indisputable powerhouses of Team Nigeria’s campaign.
The nation’s campaign in weightlifting and para powerlifting started on a record-breaking note.
Edidiong Umoafia set the arena alight by snatching the Games record of 147kg before lifting 172kg in the clean and jerk. It totalled 319kg, another record in the Commonwealth Games.
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Nigeria’s Chukwuebuka Enekwechi has won Team Nigeria’s eighth gold medal with victory in the men’s shot put final.
The African record holder produced a best throw of 21.07m to finish ahead of New Zealand’s Tom Walsh, who won silver with 21.03m, while England’s Scott Lincoln claimed bronze with a throw of 20.99m.
The victory adds another chapter to Enekwechi’s remarkable career and further strengthens Nigeria’s dominance in the field events at the ongoing Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
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Super Eagles winger, Chidera Ejuke has been left out of Sevilla pre-season friendlies so as to sort out his future.
Ejuke has continued to train with Sevilla’s first team, but has been left out of the club’s pre-season friendlies in a bid to expedite his departure this summer.
The tricky winger still has a year left on his contract, and could leave for free if he were not sold before then.
The 28-year-old has far been linked to clubs in the Major League Soccer, MLS, Belgium and the Gulf states of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and, United Arab Emirates.
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Super Eagles defender, Chidozie Awaziem has completed a permanent move to Turkish Super Lig side Konyaspor.
The 29-year-old joined the Green and Whites from French club Nantes after putting pen to paper on a two-year contract.
The move marks a return to familiar territory for Awaziem, who previously featured in the Turkish top flight during loan spells with Çaykur Rizespor and Alanyaspor.
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Shooting Stars Sports Club will honour and celebrate its legends on home matchdays when the 2026/2027 Nigeria Premier Football League season kicks off next month, August.
In a landmark move to preserve the club’s rich heritage, the management of Shooting Stars Sports Club has approved a proposal by the Pillar of Sports and Youth Development Foundation to institute a special recognition programme aimed at celebrating 3SC legends and former players during selected Nigeria Premier Football League home matches.
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The Nigeria Cricket Federation has unveiled the 14-player Junior Yellow Greens squad that will represent the country at the 2028 ICC U-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Africa Qualifier Division 2 in Rwanda from 9th to 15th August.
The Junior Yellow Greens will compete against Uganda, Ghana, Rwanda, Mozambique and Sierra Leone in the tournament, with promotion to Division 1 and a step closer to the ICC U-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup at stake.
The squad, led by Rahmon Ali, is the product of an intensive multi-phase selection process in Abuja and Lagos, with coaches assessing players based on their technical ability, discipline, attitude and capacity to perform under increasing levels of competition.
The selection process began with an initial training camp in Abuja, where players identified during the National U-17 Championship were invited for assessment.
IN ENGLAND
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Chelsea has signed France’s World Cup defender Maxence Lacroix from Crystal Palace for fifty-two million pounds.
The 26-year-old, capped seven times by France, has penned a contract at Stamford Bridge until 2032.
The Frenchman joined Palace from Bundesliga side Wolfsburg in 2024 for an initial fifteen point five million pound and became a regular under Oliver Glasner last season.
Lacroix made fifty-five appearances in all competitions as Palace won the Uefa Conference League, the club’s first major European trophy.
Lacroix is Chelsea’s third signing of the summer transfer window, joining Morgan Rogers and Marco Palestra in moving to west London, as the club prepares for its first season under new boss Xabi Alonso.
Deals for winger Geovany Quenda and forward Emmanuel Emegha were agreed in 2025, with both players formally completing moves this month.
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Liverpool star, Harvey Elliott says he is ready for a second chance at Liverpool and keen to enjoy his football again after a tough loan spell at Aston Villa.
Elliott joined Villa last summer on a season-long loan, with a clause in the deal stating Unai Emery’s side were obliged to sign him for thirty-five million pound if he made ten appearances.
Villa decided early in the season they did not want to trigger that option, meaning the 23-year-old played only nine games and a total of two hundred and seventy-seven minutes, with Emery describing the situation as embarrassing for everyone involved.
Elliott returned to Merseyside earlier than planned this summer and has featured in both of Liverpool’s pre-season games under new manager Andoni Iraola.
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Club’s record one hundred million pound signing Sandro Tonali says he took ten minutes to decide to join Tottenham from Newcastle after meeting manager Roberto de Zerbi at his home.
The 26-year-old said a shared passion for his boyhood club Brescia played a key role in the move.
De Zerbi grew up a Brescia fan and later played for them, while Tonali started his career there, and that connection helped pave the way for the biggest transfer in Tottenham’s history.
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Multiple sources say there is growing expectation that Newcastle captain Bruno Guimaraes will join Arsenal this summer.
The Brazil midfielder has made it clear he wants to join the Premier League champions and Arsenal are increasingly confident of signing the 28-year-old.
Guimaraes, who has scored thirty-one goals in one hundred and ninety-five appearances for Newcastle since joining from Lyon in 2022, has been a player of interest to the Gunners all summer.
Arsenal will need to improve the seventy million pounds bid they made this month if they are to sign Guimaraes, who is due to return to Newcastle training in the coming days.
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England defender, John Stones has joined Italian champions Inter Milan on a free transfer and signed a two-year contract.
The 32-year-old left Manchester City when his deal expired at the end of June after ten successful years at the Premier League club.
Stones said he had lived all my dreams out after helping City win six Premier League titles, the Champions League, two FA Cups, five League Cups, three Community Shields, the Club World Cup and the Uefa Super Cup.
Since he became a free agent, the centre-back has attracted interest from clubs across Europe, including Chelsea and Juventus.
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A consortium led by former Newcastle United co-owner Amanda Staveley has held talks about purchasing a twenty-five percent stake in Championship club West Ham.
The group, which also includes Staveley’s husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi, have expressed a firm interest in purchasing Vanessa Gold’s stake in the club and discussions have developed in recent weeks.
Staveley is understood to have secured global investment in an effort to secure a deal.
According to sources, the consortium made initial enquiries into the prospect of investing in West Ham towards the end of last season, which ended in the Hammers being relegated from the top flight.
David Sullivan and Daniel Kretinsky are currently the club’s major shareholders.
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Two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas is set to make her London City Lionesses’ debut against Manchester United when the Women’s Super League season kicks off.
London City will host United in the opening match of the 2026-27 WSL season on Friday, 4th September.
Spain midfielder Putellas is the highest profile of the eight signings made by Eder Maestre.
His ambitious side face a United team hoping to bounce back after failing to qualify for the Champions League last season.
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Premier League has confirmed its twenty clubs have unanimously voted to approve a proposal for a new strategic partnership, which will be put to the English Football League for its members to vote on in the next few days.
No figure has been put on the deal, which is due to last ten years, with both sides keen not to debate the issue in public.
The Premier League said the proposal was fully funded, and expected to come through a transfer levy.
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Players found guilty of discrimination will face a ban of at least ten matches under strengthened Football Association rules coming in for the new season.
In previous seasons, suspensions ranged from six to twelve matches for ‘aggravated breaches’ of FA Rule E3.2, which relates to misconduct around references to ethnic origin, colour, race, nationality, religion, sex, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, or disability.
The strengthened sanction, which also applies to managers and individuals in the technical area, is part of the FA’s commitment to delivering a game free from discrimination.
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European football’s fifty-five member associations have voted to boycott World Cups if the sport’s governing body proceeds with a plan to sell stakes in its competitions to private investors.
The decision was made at an emergency meeting called to discuss the proposal announced earlier this week by Fifa, which oversees world football.
Uefa, which governs European football, had already made its opposition clear by releasing two damning statements and that strength of feeling has been reaffirmed.
Uefa’s boycott would cover all Fifa competitions, including the men’s and women’s World Cups and Club World Cup, and be triggered if Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s proposals are voted through by member associations.
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OTHER LEAGUES
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Motherwell smoothly progressed to the Conference League third qualifying round after a composed and professional performance away to Faroese side Havnar Boltfelag.
Alfred Johansson’s side took a two-goal lead into the second leg against a team who had not lost at home in European competitions for five years, but the hosts were soon trailing when Willy Vogt’s heels were clipped and Lukas Fadinger slammed in the penalty.
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Derry City has bowed out of the Uefa Conference League qualifiers after Rijeka won one-nil at Brandywell.
Daniel Adu-Adjei’s 14th minute goal increased Rijeka’s advantage to two-nil on aggregate and was enough to secure the Croatian side’s spot in the third qualifying round.
Toni Fruk, fresh from representing Croatia at the World Cup, showed glimpses of class and his side will now face Ilves of Finland.
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Dundee head coach, Steven Pressley says signing a new contract with Dundee was the right decision, despite a lot of pain ahead for the club.
The Dens Park outfit have not disclosed details of Pressley’s new deal, but the team believed he remains on a one-year rolling contract.
The 52-year-old replaced Tony Docherty in June 2025 and guided Dundee to an eighth-place finish in the Scottish Premiership last season.
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Barcelona’s new signing Karim Adeyemi has disclosed that he is not afraid of competition with Lamine Yamal.
The 24-year-old Germany international, who joined Barcelona from Borussia Dortmund on a five-year contract until June 2031, is expected to make his unofficial debut in Friday’s pre-season friendly against Birmingham City.
Adeyemi revealed Flick’s phone call was all it took for him to make up his mind.
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South Africa defender, Olwethu Makhanya has become Rangers’ eighth summer signing, joining for an undisclosed fee from Philadelphia Union.
The 22-year-old centre-back played for the Major League Soccer side fifty-three times after breaking into the first team last year.
He has signed a four-year deal at Ibrox with the option of a further year.
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OTHER SPORTS
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In Tennis, Cameron Norrie has booked his place in the Los Cabos Open quarter-finals with a straight-set victory over James Duckworth in Mexico.
The British number two defeated Australia’s Duckworth 6-4, 6-4 to set up a meeting with former top-20 player Bernard Tomic in the last eight.
Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka continued her strong form by advancing past Ashlyn Krueger to the quarter-finals of the Washington Open.
Third seed Osaka – who was playing for the first time since reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals, dominated the match to lead 6-3 3-1 victory over before Krueger retired because of an ankle injury.
Osaka will face Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto in her third successive quarter-final.
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In the men’s singles event, 17-year-old Cruz Hewitt will reunite with top seed Alex de Minaur in the last 16.
Hewitt is the son of former world number one Lleyton Hewitt, and used to knockabout with De Minaur, ten years his senior.
He defeated Marcos Giron of the United States 6-3, 6-4 on his main singles draw debut, while De Minaur beat Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
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In Cricket, Former skipper, Michael Vaughan says the England Test captaincy could be exactly what Joe Root needs.
Speaking on the Test Match Special podcast, Vaughan said the 35-year-old’s return to the role, having led the team from 2017 to 2022, might prove to be motivation in the later stages of his career.
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In Rugby, Scottish Rugby has sacked its chief executive, Alex Williamson, after a months-long examination of his conduct in the role.
Appointed as successor to Mark Dodson in September 2024, Williamson started work at Murrayfield in early 2025.
A low-key figure, it was announced in late-May this year that he had been put on a period of extended leave.
Current chief financial officer David White is set to become interim chief executive while the governing body begins the process of replacing Williamson.
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence…words from Helen Keller.
