The Nation Newspaper

Tag: football

  • NFF to regulate football academies

    NFF to regulate football academies

    •Lauds Irukka online on talent hunt

    The Nigeria Football Federation(NFF)is to  regulate football academies in the country.

    Speaking at the unveiling of former Super Eagles coach Samson Siasia as the brand ambassador of PSG-Irukka football talent hunt ,the Vice President of NFF, Seyi Akinwunmi said that the purpose of the regulation is to ensure that only football academies that meet the required standard operate in the country.

    According to him one of the objectives of the current NFF  is to ensure the development of youth football.

    He said for the objective to be achieved ,standard and compliance must be enforced  in football academies to enable them meet with the standard in  other climes.

    Akinwunmi commended Irukka online for its efforts at encouraging the development of football in the country.

    He said the talent hunt, which would hold in 14 cities across the country, would help to discover hidden talented footballers

    According to him, irukka online is doing the NFF in particular and Nigeria in general  a big favour by helping in the discovery and harnessing of young footballers .

    In his contribution ,the Managing Director, Irukka online , Chinedu Oguike said the purpose of the PSG-Irukka football talent hunt  is to produce the  Okochas`,Kanu Nwankwos and Mikel Obis of this world for Nigeria.

    He said Irukka online decided to make Samson Siasia ,the brand ambassador  of the talent hunt because  of his great achievement  in the development  of youth football in the country.

    According to him,with Siasia and the technical crew, the talent hunt would produce those that would bring honour to Nigeria in the game of football in the near future

    He urged talented young footballers to make use of the opportunity being provided by the talent hunt to realise their dreams of playing in big leagues in the world.

  • World Cup 2026: FIFA reveals allocation for 48-team tournament

    World Cup 2026: FIFA reveals allocation for 48-team tournament

    FIFA is proposing a six-nation play-off tournament to decide the last two slots at the 48-team World Cup in 2026.

    Football’s world governing body has revealed its plans for how the 48 places will be allocated, with 16 European teams set to qualify.

    The proposals — approved by FIFA’s president and his counterparts at the six confederations — are expected to be ratified by the FIFA Council on May 9.

    FIFA members voted in January to expand the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams.

    UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said he was “satisfied’’ with the proposals and that European nations would be “fairly represented’’.

    All six confederations will have at least one team in the expanded tournament, with no inter-confederation play-offs prior to the play-off tournament.

    The World Cup hosts will still qualify automatically, with their slot taken from their confederation’s quota.

    The recommended places for each confederation are:

    • Africa – 9 (up from 5)
    • Asia – 8 (up from 4 or 5)
    • Europe – 16 (up from 13)
    • North, Central America and Caribbean – 6 (up from 3 or 4)
    • Oceania – 1 (from 0 or 1)
    • South America – 6 (up from 4 or 5)

    Should the proposals be ratified, as expected, it will consist of one team from each confederation except UEFA, with the final team taken from the confederation of the host country.

    Two teams will be seeded based on their FIFA ranking.

    They will then face the winners of two knockout games involving the four unseeded teams, with the prize a place in the World Cup.

    The play-off will be played in the World Cup’s host country, with November 2025 suggested as a possible date for the 2026 qualifying play-off.

    It will also double as a test event for the main tournament.(NAN)

  • Match Day 15 results in 2016/2017 NPFL

    Match Day 15 results in 2016/2017 NPFL

    Following are the results of Match Day 15 fixtures in the 2016/2017 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), played on Sunday:

    Plateau United FC 4-1 ABS FC

    Remo Stars FC 2-1 Wikki Tourists

    Gombe United 1-0 MFM FC

    Niger Tornadoes FC 2-1 Sunshine Stars FC

    Abia Warriors FC 3-0 Kano Pillars FC

    Enyimba International FC 1-0 Rivers United FC

    Katsina United 1-0 Rangers International

    Nasarawa United 1-0 Shooting Stars

    El-Kanemi Warriors 1-0 Lobi Stars

    To be played later:

    Akwa United vs FC IfeanyiUbah

  • School lifts football trophy

    Powergate Private Aacademy, Ipaja, defeated Dee-Jewels Schols Egbeda 5-4 to win the 2017 Lagos Inter-Schools cup final (secondary school category) organised by Wonderland Sports.

    Full time scoresline was 2-2.  But goalkeeper and Captain, Adeyinka Odunsi, was the hero for his team as he saved two spot kicks during sudden death shootout to the delight of its supporters.

    The win was a relief to Towergate team which was reduced to 10 boys after Ganiu Waris was sent off for rough play.  One of their goals was also dissallowed.

    Dee Jewels were leading 2-1 until Waris netted a late equaliser.

    Tournament top scorer, Simon Francis of Dee -Jewels, failed to add to his eight goals tally as Odunsi saved his weak spot kick.

    Odunsi was later named most valuable player of the tournament.

    Effortswill Academy, which hosted the final, beat Murtala Muhammed Airport Schools 2-1 to win the third place match.

    The primary school category was won by Taqwa Schools Ifako- Ijaiye, which beat Sonik Schools IIasamaja three goals to nothing.

    Most Valuable Player of the tournament, Mutiu Durosinmi, Khalid Murtala and Oloyede Kabir were the goal scorers.

  • Wikki Tourists crash out of CAF competition

    Wikki Tourists crash out of 2017 CAF Confederation Cup competition, after a 1-0 home win in Bauchi, losing out on a 1-2 aggregate to RSLAF of Sierra Leone in the first round.

  • Match Day 3 results in 2016/2017 NPFL

    Match Day 3 results in 2016/2017 NPFL

    Following are the results of Match Day 3 fixtures in the 2016/2017 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) played on Sunday:

    Enyimba International FC 2-0 Gombe United

    Katsina United 1-0 Nasarwa United

    Kano Pillars 2-1 Shooting Stars

    ABS FC 1-0 FC IfeanyiUbah

    Rivers United 1-0 Niger Tornadoes

    Wikki Tourists 1-0 Akwa United

    Rangers International 1-0 El-Kanemi Warriors

    Remo Stars 0-0 Abia Warriors

    Plateau United 3-1 Sunshine Stars (NAN)

  • Nigeria League match results

    The following are the results of Match Day 1 fixtures in the 2016/2017 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), played on Sunday:

    Shooting Stars 2-0 Lobi Stars

    MFM FC 3-0 Niger Tornadoes

    Enyimba International 1-0 Sunshine Stars

    ABS FC 3-1 Akwa United

    Rivers United 2-1 El-Kanemi Warriors FC

    Rangers International 1-2 Abia Warriors

    Katsina United 2-1 Gombe United

    Remo Stars 1-2 Plateau United

    Wikki Tourists 0-0 Nasarawa United(NAN)

    Played on Saturday:

    Kano Pillars 1-0 FC IfeanyiUbah

    (abandoned after 50 minutes)(NAN)

  • Mikel Obi signs deal with Chinese club

    Mikel Obi signs deal with Chinese club

    Former Chelsea midfielder John Mikel Obi is set to earn £140,000 a week playing in the Chinese Super League.
    The Tianjin TEDA Club confirmed on Friday that Obi has signed his contract.
    Mikel won the Champions League and two Premier Leagues with Chelsea before losing a place in the club’s first team.

  • Costa secures Chelsea’s 9th straight league win

    Costa secures Chelsea’s 9th straight league win

    Chelsea moved back to the top of the Premier League on Sunday and made it nine successive league wins as Diego Costa scored the winner against West Brom.

    The Spain striker punished a hesitant Gareth McAuley in the 76th minute to rob the defender of possession and curl a brilliant left-foot shot past Ben Foster.

    West Brom had looked like earning a point after restricting the Blues to just one other shot on target, a 30-yard David Luiz free-kick.

    Chelsea also came close through an N’Golo Kante shot that deflected off Pedro and rolled just wide of the post.

    The Baggies had early chances through a Chris Brunt shot that fizzed wide and Salomon Rondon shooting across goal.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Chelsea have now moved three points ahead of Arsenal while West Brom stay ninth.(NAN)

  • We didn’t expect Falcons to win, says Sports Minister

    We didn’t expect Falcons to win, says Sports Minister

    The Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung on Thursday said that Super Falcons winning the African Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) trophy last Saturday, took the government by surprise as proper arrangements were not made.

    According to him, funds were not available because the team was not expected to win the trophy.

    The victorious female footballers expressed their disappointment in Abuja on Wednesday as they seized the trophy and refused to vacate their hotel rooms.

    Speaking with State House correspondents over the embarrassing development, Dalung said that if the NFF was confident of the victory in Cameroon, it would have applied for and processed the funds for their bonuses early enough to avoid the ugly aftermath.

    He said that government needed to perform a ‘surgery’ on the sports sector otherwise, similar occurrences are bound to happen again.

    “It is unfortunate that we are celebrating victory of the Super Falcons amidst some bitter feelings among the players because of some administrative lapses that were not managed properly.

    “If the situation was explained to these girls I don’t think the situation would have gotten to this level. But we are working round to clock to ensure that what belongs to them legitimately is given to them. This has to do with government process.

    “One thing I always make clear is that the process of request for funds for sporting projects must come earlier to meet the objectives. Don’t forget that nobody even knew the team would emerge victorious, if we were confident they will emerge victorious, all the Federation would have done is to plan for process of participation and entitlement.

    “It is already established in sports tradition, when you win this is what you are entitled to. The situation is highly unfortunate and I don’t like it. These girls have given confidence to women who want to embrace sports but this will go a long way in killing this laudable achievement. It is unfortunate but we will make sure the right thing is done,” he said.

    Stressing that the team’s coaches are owed backlog of salaries, he said: “It is a complex situation but the entire governance of football deserves an urgent surgery. If that surgery is not done we will always live with the embarrassment. I’m talking about the governance of football administration in Nigeria.”

    He pointed out that the issue of non-interference has been used to harass and intimidate government and that will no longer be allowed as the government is being embarrassed by the activities.

    “They use it to scandalise the government so the man who is at the receiving end has the responsibility to ensure that things must be done right so we must take steps to ensure that money meant for athletes get to them on time as at when due.”

    According to him, similar situation was prevented from happening during the last Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil as the government insisted that all athletes be paid their 22-day entitlements directly from government purse and not through their respective sports federations.