The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sports

  • Keshi relocates to Benin

    Keshi relocates to Benin

    Lack of accommodation in Abuja once again forced the Super Eagles Head Coach Stephen Keshi to relocate to his home in Benin City, instead of returning to the nation’s capital to begin arrangements for the next line of action for the Africa Nations Cup holding in South Africa next January.

    The senior national team are presently shopping for friendly matches to prepare for the most glamorous competition in Africa. The Eagles are also considering Zimbabwe or Mozambique as possible camping sites for their training towards the championship which draws will hold later in the month.

    When SportingLife inquired from our source, who is very close to the Super Eagles head coach, he said: “Keshi is not in Abuja, he left for his house in Benin from Calabar last Monday.“

    “I have told you times without number that the coach is not comfortable accumulating bills in a hotel whenever the team is not in camp. That is the reason why he always retires to his home in Benin whenever they are on break. He is not comfortable with the arrangement because it is very stressful for him, but he cannot help it.

    “He is, however, expected in Abuja on Friday (today) to begin arrangements to enable him attend the Nations Cup final draws in South Africa, and also watch the Nigeria National League champion of champions event holding in Abuja this weekend” our source concluded.

    Stephen Keshi, who last weekend entered the history books as one of only two Nigerians that have captained the senior national team, and also qualified them for the Africa Nations Cup, is still awaiting the NFF to fulfil part of the contractual agreement they signed last november. Keshi has fulfilled a part of the conditions given to him by the GlassHouse by qualifying the Super Eagles to the Africa Nations Cup; the other is for him to get to the last four of the championship.

    The NFF are obligated to provide him with a decent accommodation in Abuja and an official car, but eleven months after appointing the Big Boss’ as Eagles’ gaffer, the federation is yet to fulfill this part of the deal.

  • Fatusi urges follow-up programmes

    Fatusi urges follow-up programmes

    Teslim Fatusi, member of the Atlanta Olympics 96’ gold medal winning-football team, on Wednesday urged the National Sports Commission (NSC) to institute follow-up programmes to the National Sports Festival.

    Fatusi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that such programmes would ensure that talents discovered at festivals were groomed to stardom– realising the objective of the fiesta.

    The National Sports Festival was conceived in the early 1970s to unite the country, which was traumatised by the civil war in the late 1960s, and also to promote sports.

    The 18th edition of the festival, tagged ‘’Eko 2012’’ is scheduled for Nov. 27 to Dec. 9 in Lagos.

    Fatusi told NAN that organising the festival without a pragmatic backup was not enough to transform sports.

    “The introduction of the festival in the 1970s was to unite the country after the civil war and to also promote sports. I believe that in the aspect of national integration and unity, the festival has achieved its aim to an extent, but not in sports.

    “Most of the athletes discovered are not harnessed properly; you just don’t discover talents without proper follow-up programmes to help them improve,’’ he said.

    The ex-player said the NSC should collaborate with state sports councils to constantly organise competitions to groom the talents.

    “If those discovered are properly monitored, we will have good athletes that will represent us at the Olympics in Rio, Brazil in 2016 and other international competitions,’’ he said.

  • Events to be streamed live to global audience

    Events to be streamed live to global audience

    The Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the 18th National Sports Festival said in Lagos on Wednesday that events at the fiesta would be transmitted live to a global audience.

    The `live streaming’ of the festival, scheduled to run from Nov. 27 to Dec. 9 in Lagos, will target mainly those Nigerians in the Diaspora.

    This was contained in a statement signed by Wale Edun, Chairman, Media and Publicity of the LOC.

    It said that a live streaming outfit, `Vodstreet’, would relay the festival’s events to a global audience.

    According to the statement, sports enthusiasts across the world will have the opportunity of watching the festival and its related contents live on their phones via various mobile devices like Blackberrys and i-Pads.

    It noted that the highlights of events they might have missed during the fiesta could be recalled from the festival’s website.

    “This has never happened in the history of sports festivals in the country, but it must happen now to underscore the point that Lagos is the Centre of Excellence in the country,’’ it said.

    The statement also urged Nigerians in the Diaspora not to entertain any fears as they would be able to view and follow the games as it progressed.

  • Haruna on CSKA Moscow’s radar

    Haruna on CSKA Moscow’s radar

    Dynamo Kiev’s Lukman Haruna could be the second Nigerian player at CSKA Moscow in the coming months, to join Ahmed Musa in the Russian capital.

    According to reports on FootballTransfer.com.ua, a leading voice on the Ukrainian transfer market on Thursday, the Russian club are targeting the former Golden Eaglets skipper as reinforcement in the winter transfer market.

    A source of the Army Team confirmed that the club is willing to do business with Dynamo Kiev for Haruna.

    ”Lukman very early showed good match quality, but lately he has not been able to reveal all his possibilities. While the probability of transfer is too early to say, it is possible that Haruna will be in CSKA. On what terms, it’s too soon to speak, but it’s quite possible that the player maybe rented (signed on loan),” the source was quoted as saying by footballtransfer.com.ua.

    Haruna is not guaranteed playing time at Dynamo Kiev. After 11 matches in the Ukrainian championship, the central midfielder has made only two appearances for the Kievites.

  • Guinness supports Festival with N100m

    Guinness supports Festival with N100m

    Guinness Nigeria Plc has identified with the 18th National Sports Festival, tagged Eko 2012, by supporting the sports fiesta with N100 million.

    The Guinness support involves a cash donation of N30 million, and products activation and other marketing tools valued at N70 million, a gesture that has made the company the official alcoholic drink for the festival.

    At the event held at the headquarters of the company in Lagos yesterday, the Managing Director of Guinness Nigeria Plc, Seni Adetu, said the firm was happy to be identified with the festival, acknowledging the vital role sports play in unifying the country.

    “We are proud to be associated with Eko 2012 because for us, it is a delight and joy to be part of the sporting fiesta considering the role sports play in unifying people. We have been looking for such opportunity to support sports and this is another way to show our support to Eko 2012,” he said.

    In his remarks, Secretary-General, Local Organising Committee (LOC) Eko 2012, Kweku Tandoh lauded the company for showing interest in the festival, saying this was in line with the intention of the state to stage a public-private sector fiesta that would become a template for others to follow.

    “We are glad that Guinness has decided to partner the LOC and the state to ensure that we stage a successful fiesta and we hope other corporate bodies will also come on board as the kick-off of the games gets closer,” Tandoh said.

    Also in attendance at the event was the chairman, Marketing and Sponsorship Sub-Committee, Molade Okoya-Thomas.

  • Glo, Total Promotions to resolve fight soon

    Glo, Total Promotions to resolve fight soon

    Shehu Gusau, Vice Chairman, Nigeria Premier League (NPL), on Thursday assured that the sponsorship title controversy between communication giants, Glo and Total Promotions, would be resolved soon.

    Gusau told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that this was because the NPL had engaged the warring parties in a series of meetings, for an amicable solution.

    NAN gathered that an agreement was about to be reached by the parties for Glo to take up the title sponsorship contract, while Total Promotions takes charge of the TV Rights deal.

    NAN recalled that a tripartite meeting arranged by the Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi, scheduled for last September in Lagos, failed to hold due to Glo’s refusal to attend.

    Glo had taken the matter to court and had insisted that attending the meeting would be tantamount to backing out on its case against Total Promotions on the sponsorship controversy. Gusau, however, said that all hands were now on deck to make sure that the Dec. 1 proposed kick-off date for the 2012/2013 was realisable.

    “Now, because of the litigation, everything is at a standstill, but I believe that it will soon be resolved from the way the minister is handling it. I hope Glo and Total Promotion will agree to dialogue.

    “I believe that by the end of this month, the matter will be resolved because the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) and the NPL Annual General Meeting will hold in November,” he said.

    Gusau said that the NPL congress scheduled for Nov. 17 became necessary to enable the league board finalise other arrangements, while the board also awaits an amicable resolution of the sponsorship controversy.

    The chairman added that meanwhile, the NPL would manage without a sponsor, stressing that nothing much can be done in the league without a title sponsor.

    According to him, the NPL had been running the league with money realised from Television Rights.

    “It is from this TV Rights that we pay match officials’ indemnities, host board meetings, pay salaries and other expenses,” Gusau said.

    He pointed out that the delay in the start of the 2012/2013 season was necessary in order to resolve all the misunderstandings and to give room for a smooth league season.

    Gusau said that although, the kick-off date for the league was originally scheduled for last October, it was shifted till December on the directive of the minister.

  • El Kanemi get full 2011/2012 payment

    Players and officials of newly promoted side El-Kanemi Warriors have received full payment of arrears of their salaries, allowances and signing-on fees for the 2011/2012 season.

    The team gained promotion to the elite division after the abridged 2011/2012 Nigeria National League (NNL) season.

    The club’s Team Manager, Baba Ali Ajayi, who disclosed this to SportingLife, said the management has settled all the players and officials’ outstanding bills to enable them concentrate for the coming season.

    Ajayi thanked the state governor, Kashim Shettima for making funds available to settle the bills.

    “I can confirm to you that we’ve settled all the players and the technical crew their outstanding bills. We do not owe anybody. We want to thank the state government for the financial support to the team while we are pleading with them to release funds early for the new season in order to have good preparation,” Ajayi said.

    The Team Manager also disclosed that about twenty players are currently undergoing trials with the club. He added that the management will use this weekend’s Super 4 clash by the four newly promoted teams in Abuja to identify those that will be finally signed up for next season.

    “We have about twenty players on ground for the screening exercise. We’ve been trying to put them on test with friendly matches but we will use the Super 4 clash to identify their potential and pick those that we will sign.”

  • House of Reps. to query Presidency on Ekeji

    The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Sports, Godfrey Ali Gaya has revealed to SportingLife that his committee will soon write the Presidency to enquire about the details of the contract it signed with the Director-General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Patrick Ekeji.

    The member representing the Zango/Kataf Federal Constituency in the House, said: “We are very much aware that the D-G is supposed to have retired from the service by now, having passed the stipulated years of service.

    “We heard that he was offered a certain number of years’ contract, the details of which we don’t know yet because nobody has bothered to inform us about it. But since Nigerians who elected us into office are asking questions about it, we will not waste time; we’ll ask the executive arm to give us details ofthe contract, and what led to the contract.

    “They will also need to explain if there are no other competent Nigerians that can be saddled with that responsibility.

    “It is after that we would be in a better position to answer all questions arising from the continual stay of the D-G in office.”

    It would be recalled that the Director-General, Ekeji having attained the retirement age of 60 years in 2010 was offered a five-year contract by the Federal Government, and this is expected to run up to 2015.

    The contract, SportingLife gathered, was facilitated by the then Minister of Sports, Sani Ndanusa as a way of ensuring that he (Ndanusa) got to the position of the President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee.

    There have been calls for the sack of the D-G following Nigeria’s dissmal performance at the 2014 Olympic Games held in London, and the delapidated state of the Abuja National Stadium.

  • Venezuela insist on Mikel, Osaze, Musa

    The Venezuelan FA has insisted on having a full compliment of Nigeria’s foreign based players for its November 14 International Friendly in Miami, U.S.A.

    This is based on its agreement with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) during discussions.

    “Those were part of the terms reached by both parties that our foreign based players must play since they assured us of fielding their top players,” said SportingLife’s source.

    They believe the presence of Chelsea of England midfielder, John Mikel, CSKA Moscow’s Ahmed Musa, Osaze Odemwingie of West Bromwich Albion and other notable players would help raise the profile of the match which would be the first for both sides. They are expected to join the team in Miami from their clubs.

    “Using an entirely home-based side would be seen as a breach of agreement,” our source said.

    But despite the insistence, Chief Coach, Stephen Keshi has no plans of excluding the home-based players.

    “The coach will continue to give the local lads similar opportunities as their foreign colleagues but those that will make the team will be at his discretion,” added the source.

    The friendly is part of Nigeria’s build-up to next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

    Early this year, Nigeria featured an entirely home-based side against Peru in a friendly played in Lima which they lost by a lone goal.

    The team will regroup on November 4 after a short break following its 6-1 defeat of Liberia last Saturday in the final round of the Africa Nations Cup qualifier.

  • Maigari targets AFCON trophy

    Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Aminu Maigari has said the country will gun for a third Nations Cup trophy next year.

    “Qualification has brought a huge relief not only to me, but millions of Nigerians. But this is just the beginning because we need to go to South Africa to win the cup,” Maigari told MTNFootball.com

    Nigeria first won the Nations Cup on home soil in 1980 and then clinched the continental championship again in 1994 in Tunisia.

    However, Maigari admitted the Eagles still have a lot of work to do before they are again crowned African champions.

    He therefore promised to ensure the team get adequate preparation ahead of the tournament, which kicks off on January 19 in Johannesburg.

    “We have already begun plans to ensure the best preparation for the team. We have considered a possible training site for the Eagles considering the venue for our group games after the draw next week,” Maigari disclosed.

    “We will also make sure that for all the FIFA free windows before the Nations Cup the Eagles are busy.

    “Already there is a game next month in the USA (versus Venezuela). We know what Nigerians want and we will work very hard to make sure we have a very strong team at the Nations Cup.”

    Zimbabwe has been proposed as training base for the Eagles prior to the AFCON but officials also said this could change going by which city the team are drawn to play their first round matches.

    On Wednesday in Durban Nigeria will find out the teams they will face in the group phase of the 2013 AFCON.

    The Eagles are in Pot B of the draw meaning Nigeria could be in the same group headed by Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Zambia or host nation South Africa.