IN NIGERIA
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Super Falcons has received a massive sixty-thousand-dollar goal bonus following their emphatic six-two victory over Egypt’s Cleopatras in their final Group C fixture of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Ahead of the tournament, the National Sports Commission, NSC, introduced a special performance-based incentive, promising the reigning African champions five thousand dollars for every goal scored during the competition, beginning with their opening fixture against Malawi.
Following the Super Falcons’ stunning six-goal display against Egypt, Nigeria Football Federation, President Ibrahim Gusau announced that the NSC had doubled the reward to ten thousand dollars per goal in recognition of the team’s outstanding performances and to further motivate the players for the knockout stages.
The revised incentive means the Super Falcons have now earned sixty thousand dollars from their six goals against Egypt alone, highlighting the government’s renewed commitment to rewarding excellence in Nigerian sports.
The nine-time African champions will now shift their attention to a highly anticipated quarter-final clash against the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon on Sunday in Casablanca.
Beyond a place in the semi-finals, the stakes are even higher, as victory would also secure Nigeria’s qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
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Flying Eagles head coach, Abdu Maikaba has reflected on his side’s hard-fought semi-final victory over hosts Côte d’Ivoire at the 2026 WAFU B Under-twenty Championship.
The defending champions edged past the hosts four-three on penalties after an enthralling two-all draw following extra time in the semi-final clash.
Maikaba praised his players’ resilience and described Côte d’Ivoire as the strongest team in the competition, insisting his side deserved their place in the final.
He also explained how his side tactically outmanoeuvred their opponents during the keenly contested encounter.
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Defending champions Nigeria’s Flying Eagles will take on Burkina Faso in the final of the WAFU B Under-twenty Championship.
The showdown will be a rematch of their Group B meeting, where the Young Stallions secured a two-nil victory over the Flying Eagles.
The champions will qualify for the 2027 Africa Under-twenty Africa Cup of Nations.
Abdu Maikaba’s side are aiming to win the regional title for a third consecutive time, having lifted the trophy in the last two editions.
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Golden Eaglets head coach, Uwejamomere Eboboritse has called up a total of sixty-two players to the camp as the team commences its screening and training programmes ahead of this year’s WAFU B Under-seventeen Championship.
The list is made up of five goalkeepers, eighteen defenders, twenty midfielders and nineteen forwards.
The players have been advised to report to camp in Abuja as Eboboritse and his assistants Kalli Mohammed Kachalla and Abdullahi Isa, begin the arduous task of building another world-champion squad, with Nigeria having won the global title five times in the past.
This year’s WAFU B Under-seventeen Championship will take place in the month of October.
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Former Super Eagles midfielder Seyi Olofinjana says Nigeria must use consecutive World Cup absences to build sustainable administrative structures, establish a clear playing identity, and prioritise professional competence over sentiment when appointing football leaders for long-term success.
The former Hull City star noted that the Super Eagles currently lack a recognizable tactical philosophy or discernible playing style flowing from age-grade levels up to the senior team.
Olofinjana also stated that Nigeria’s natural abundance of football talent has historically created a false sense of security, resulting in poor preparation.
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Super Eagles defender Abdullahi Bewene has signed a new five-year contract with Czech club Baník Ostrava.
The new deal will keep the 21-year-old at the club until June 2031, ending speculation over his future.
Bewene progressed through Baník Ostrava’s youth academy and B team before earning promotion to the first team, where he has established himself as one of the club’s key defenders.
He made his senior international debut for the Super Eagles in a friendly against Poland in June.
The right-back also featured in Nigeria’s two-one defeat to Portugal in another friendly, further underlining his growing importance to the national team.
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Former Super Eagles defender Leon Balogun has completed a free transfer to Hungarian champions Gyori ETO FC.
The experienced centre-back has signed a one-year contract with Efraín Juárez’s side after leaving Cypriot outfit Aris Limassol.
Balogun featured in twenty-two matches for Aris Limassol last season, registering two goals and one assist.
The defender expressed his delight at completing the move.
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Rivers United head coach, Finidi George, has reacted with mixed feelings to the Pride of Rivers’ Preliminary Round clash against Ivorian side FC San Pedro in the 2026/2027 CAF Champions League preliminary round.
CAF conducted the draw for the 2026/2027 edition of the competition, with Nigeria’s representatives, Rangers International and Rivers United, handed potentially favourable opponents.
While Rangers, the reigning NPFL champions, were drawn against Benin Republic side Sobemap FC, Rivers United will face Ivorian club FC San Pedro in their bid to reach the second preliminary round.
Following the draw, Finidi George described the pairing against the Côte d’Ivoire club as not a bad one.
The Pride of Rivers boss revealed that his technical crew would gather as much information as possible on FC San Pedro ahead of the tie to prepare the team adequately.
The first leg will be played in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, before the return fixture takes place in Nigeria at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
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IN ENGLAND
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Chelsea winger Jamie Gittens says he feels more confident under manager Xabi Alonso during pre-season preparations.
Gittens stated that his physical condition has improved and he feels a renewed sense of self-belief.
The winger also expressed high praise for Alonso’s clear tactical vision and demanding training standards.
Teammates like Levi Colwill and Cole Palmer have also echoed positive sentiments about the new setup, highlighting a confident atmosphere within the squad ahead of the new campaign.
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Newcastle United manager, Matthias Jaissle says a decision about Bruno Guimaraes’ future had already been taken by the time he first met the club’s departing captain.
Jaissle briefly spoke to Guimaraes at the club’s training camp in Spain earlier this week, but the 28-year-old went on to bid an emotional farewell to his team-mates and club staff.
Guimaraes is the fourth key player to leave Newcastle in less than a year.
Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali moved to Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur in the window while Alexander Isak joined Liverpool last summer.
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Manchester City winger, Jeremy Doku has committed his future to the club after signing a new contract until 2031.
Belgium international Doku joined City from Rennes for fifty-five point four million pounds in 2023 and the 24-year-old would extend his stay at Etihad Stadium, with an official announcement expected next week.
Doku played forty-eight times for City last season, scoring eight goals, to help the side win both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup in Pep Guardiola’s final season in charge.
He becomes the fourth City player to sign a contract extension this summer after midfielder Phil Foden and defenders Josko Gvardiol and Abdukodir Khusanov all agreed new terms.
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Leeds United have signed Manchester City goalkeeper James Trafford in a deal worth up to forty-five million pounds.
The England international has left Etihad Stadium just a year after returning from Burnley in a twenty-seven million pounds move last summer.
Trafford, who was part of England’s World Cup squad this summer but did not feature, made seventeen appearances for City last season four in the Premier League – but played a big part in their Carabao Cup and FA Cup triumphs.
The 23-year-old’s move to West Yorkshire comes after the arrival of Champions League-winning goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, in September, ended Trafford’s hopes of establishing himself as Manchester City’s first-choice goalkeeper.
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A consortium including former AC Milan, Chelsea and Brazil forward Alexandre Pato is set to buy a majority stake in League Two club Northampton Town.
Sports Alpha Capital was in discussions about taking over Colchester United earlier this year but decided to pull out of a potential deal following initial talks.
It is understood Pato is involved with the consortium but is not fronting it.
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European teams could still boycott competitions including the World Cup as UEFA says Fifa’s defence of its president Gianni Infantino changes nothing.
The English Football Association has sent a letter withdrawing its support for Infantino in reaction to the plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors.
European governing body UEFA said its conditions had not been met, despite Infantino’s plan being aborted.
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OTHER LEAGUES
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Brazil winger, Vinicius Junior has agreed a new six-year contract with Real Madrid that will keep him at the Bernabeu until 2032.
The 26-year-old had entered the final twelve months of his contract and attracted interest from Arsenal in recent weeks.
Real Madrid announced the two parties have agreed to extend his deal to 30th June 2032.
Vinicius said eight years at the Bernabeu are too short, stressing that six more years, and then forever.
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Real Madrid has signed Ivory Coast international Yan Diomande from RB Leipzig for a fee worth up to one hundred and twenty million pounds.
The 19-year-old winger has signed a seven-year contract and his price tag could surpass the one hundred and fifteen million pounds Real agreed to pay Borussia Dortmund for Jude Bellingham in June 2023.
If Real end up paying the full one hundred and twenty million pounds for Diomande he would become the fourth most expensive player in history, behind PSG’s Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, and Liverpool’s former Newcastle striker Alexander Isak.
Diomande is also the most expensive African player, surpassing the seventy-two million pounds Arsenal paid Lille for fellow Ivory Coast international Nicolas Pepe in 2019.
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Former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan has agreed to become Uruguay head coach on an interim basis.
Forlan succeeds Marcelo Bielsa, who stepped down after Uruguay failed to qualify from the group stage at the World Cup.
The 47-year-old is set to be in charge for the national team’s friendlies this autumn before a permanent manager is appointed at the end of this year or the start of 2027.
Forlan has also been named coach for Uruguay’s Under-twenty team, alongside the senior first team.
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Hearts were outclassed by Portuguese giants Benfica as the Tynecastle side fell to their joint-heaviest European defeat in the first leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie.
Three of Benfica’s six goals in Lisbon were gift-wrapped by Wouter Vrancken’s men, who conceded after only two minutes on a night that threatens to leave psychological scars.
Veteran Rafa Silva got the scoring started, latching on to Leandro Barreiro’s cutback to tap in the opener and show Hearts the quality they were up against.
The second was similar to some of the goals Hearts conceded away to Sturm Graz in their Champions League qualifying humbling two weeks ago.
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Rangers have work to do in their Europa League third qualifying round tie after defensive lapses were punished by triumphant Jagiellonia Bialystok in Poland.
Kajetan Szmyt scored a first-half double to capitalise on an error-strewn display from Derek McInnes’ side in the opening forty-five minutes of the first leg.
Despite a dream start for the visitors, when Tuur Rommens drilled a low cross that zipped through a tangle of legs before cannoning over the line off home defender Guilherme Montoia, Rangers failed to get a hold of the game.
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Former Celtic striker, Teemu Pukki has earned HJK Helsinki a draw at home to Motherwell in Conference League qualifying but the Scottish Premiership side will be favourites to advance to a play-off against Freiburg.
Alfred Johansson’s men struggled to create anything of note in an uneventful first half, but produced a superb second-half performance at the Bolt Arena and deservedly led through Tawanda Maswanhise’s penalty.
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The Scottish FA has scrapped its independent panel that reviewed major refereeing decisions in the Premiership.
Since 2024, the voluntary three-man key match incidents panel, which included former players and a club representative, had given verdicts on a weekly basis in a bid to provide transparency.
Separate to the KMI panel, SFA head of refereeing Willie Collum provides monthly video explanations of key decisions and whether they were correct or not in his VAR Review Show broadcast.
Collum will also continue to hold meetings with captains and managers, which are seen as a more useful means of discussing incidents.
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The Argentine Football Association, has announced 15 July will be ‘National Football Teams Day’ to mark Argentina’s 2026 World Cup semi-final victory over England on that date.
Bidding for their first World Cup final since 1966, England took the lead in a tense affair in Atlanta through a 55th-minute Anthony Gordon finish.
But with Thomas Tuchel’s side sitting deep, Argentina struck in the 85th and 92nd minutes to break English hearts and claim a two-one win.
The victory came 40 years after Argentina’s previous big World Cup win over England in the controversial quarter-final victory at the 1986 tournament.
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OTHER SPORTS
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In Boxing, Tyson Fury’s promoter, Frank Warren, has disclosed that he expects the heavyweight showdown between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua to take place in November.
While initial plans pointed to Wembley Stadium in the UK, discussions over start times for a global audience have heavily linked the fight to a US venue, such as Madison Square Garden in New York.
Warren noted that the final details remain up to His Excellency Turki Alalshikh to formally reveal.
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In Cricket, Surrey duo Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence have been recalled to the England squad for the first two Tests against Pakistan.
The pair have been named in a 16-man squad before the series opener at Headingley on Wednesday 19th August but Jacob Bethell will miss the entire series through injury, with Jordan Cox to be promoted to number three.
The three-match series marks England’s first Test outing since the retirement of captain Ben Stokes and sacking of head coach Brendon McCullum.
Joe Root will captain the side for the first time since being reappointed to the role in July, with Marcus Trescothick serving as interim head coach.
McCullum’s replacement, Stephen Fleming, will begin his tenure against South Africa in December.
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In Cycling, Kimberley Le Court overcame a mechanical failure before winning a sprint finish to seal victory in stage six of the Tour de France Femmes, as Swiss rider Marlen Reusser held on to the overall lead.
Le Court of AG Insurance-Soudal, who also crashed early on in the stage, was forced her to change bike just fifteen kilometres from the end.
The Mauritian fought her way back into contention shortly before the day’s final climb, forming part of a small eight-rider breakaway group ten kilometres from the finish.
Le Court, had just enough performance left to launch a sprint with three hundred metres to go, holding off French rider Cedrine Kerbaol on the line to seal victory, with Puck Pieterse of the Netherlands taking third place.
Movistar’s Reusser retains the yellow jersey after the one hundred and fifty-three kilometres ride from Montbrison to Tournon-sur-Rhone, holding a 12-second lead over Dutch rider Demi Vollering.
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In Athletics, London has submitted its final bid to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships.
Athletic Ventures, a body made up of UK Athletics, London Marathon Events, and the Great Run Company – is behind the move to bring the biennial event to the capital and confirmed the final documents have been submitted to World Athletics.
London Stadium, built for the 2012 Olympics and used for the London Diamond League meeting for the past four years, is the proposed host venue.
The host city for the 2029 edition will be confirmed in September.
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
You have power over your mind —not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength…. words from Marcus Aurelius
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