The Nation Newspaper

Tag: golden

  • Tony Elumelu joins golden club

    Tony Elumelu joins golden club

    The rank of successful men and women in the golden age of 50 appears to be swelling by the day. Tayo Ayeni, the famous brains behind Skymit Motors, and PR guru, Yomi Badejo Okunsanya, only recently celebrated their 50th birthday in grand style.

    Now, a former Managing Director of the United Bank for Africa and Chairman, Heirs Holdings Limited, Tony Elemelu, is set to make his entry as he clocks 50 in few weeks. The social pulse is beating more quickly because it promises to be a memorable occasion.

    Upon his retirement from the UBA as managing director, Elumelu founded Heir Holdings and Tony Elumelu Foundation in order to continue to contribute his quota to the economic transformation of the African continent. Both organisations have been working to encourage and positively impact on Africa’s business leaders and entrepreneurs, including business students and young entrepreneurs and CEOs of multinational companies.

  • EUROPEAN GOLDEN BALL AWARD

    EUROPEAN GOLDEN BALL AWARD

    Ahmed Musa, Alaba make list  

    SUPER EAGLES striker and CSKA Moscow ace Ahmed Musa top the list of nominees for this year’s European Golden Boy award released Monday.

    Musa who was in superb form for the Steven Keshi tutored side in the final Afcon 2013 qualifier against Liberia in Calabar that earned Nigeria ticket to the Nations Cup continued his scoring feat with club to the delight of teammates and coaching crew.

    Known for his pacy run on the 20 year old former Kano Pillars and VVV Venlo forward has made over 23 appearances with six goals in the kitty for the Russian side since joining them in January.

    Aside from Ahmed Musa, Nigeria born David Alaba who plies his trade with Champions League runners up Bayern Munich also made the list . The Austria international had an impressive outing in Bayern Munich Champions league battle against eventual winners Chelsea.

    The award, which is decided by journalists from Tuttosport, L’Equipe, Marca, Bild, The Times and De Telegraaf, has previously been won by some of the biggest names in world football including Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, Rafael van der Vaart and Mario Balotelli while last season’s winner was Mario Gotze of Borussia Dortmund.

    •The complete list of nominees are:

    •David Alaba – Bayern Munich

    •Jano Ananidze – Spartak Moscow

    •Christian Atsu – FC Porto

    •Jean-Christophe Bahebeck – Troyes

    •Joel Campbell – Real Betis

    •Luc Castaignos – FC Twente

    •Thibaut Courtois – Atletico Madrid

    •Philippe Coutinho – Inter Milan

    •Gerard Deulofeu – Barcelona

    •Julian Draxler – Schalke

    •Dudu – Dynamo Kyiv

    •Stephan El Shaarawy – AC Milan

    •Christian Eriksen – Ajax

    •Mario Gotze – Borussia Dortmund

    •John Guidetti – Manchester City

    •Isco – Malaga

    •Jese – Real Madrid

    •Ola John – Benfica

    •Vaclav Kadlec – Sparta Prague

    •Koke – Atletico Madrid

    •Mateo Kovacic – Dinamo Zagreb

    •Milan Lalkovic – Vitoria Guimaraes

    •Erik Lamela – Roma

    •Jurgen Locadia – PSV Eindhoven

    •Samuele Longo – Espanyol

    •Lazar Markovic – Partizan Belgrade

    •Bruno Martins Indi – Feyenoord

    •Iker Muniain – Athletic Bilbao

    •Ahmed Musa – CSKA Moscow

    •Pedro Obiang – Sampdoria

    •Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – Arsenal

    •Magomed Ozdoev – Lokomotiv Moscow

    •Paul Pogba – Juventus

    •Mohamed Salah – FC Basel

    •Jonjo Shelvey – Liverpool

    •Raheem Sterling – Liverpool

    •Raphael Varane – Real Madrid

    •Marco Verratti – PSG

    •Granit Xhaka – M’gladbach

  • 2013 Under-17 fifa World Cup: Ugbe, Ugbade tip Golden Eaglets

    2013 Under-17 fifa World Cup: Ugbe, Ugbade tip Golden Eaglets

    The Golden Eaglets have no choice than to qualify for the Under-17 African Youth Championship in Morocco en route to the 2013 World Cup in the UAE.

    Golden Eaglets’ Assistant coach, Nduka Ugbade and Patrick Ugbe, the Cross River State Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, said as much on the Good Morning Cross River TV show on Cross River Broadcasting Corporation on Wednesday.

    The Golden Eaglets have failed to qualify for the last two editions of the African biennial tournament but Ugbade and Ugbe both believed that the current squad would cross the Rubicon.

    “I’ve seen these boys closely during their training sessions and I’m very impressed with the quality in the team,” said Ugbe, calling on soccer fans to troop to the U.J. Esuene Stadium in Calabar for the team’s African qualifier game against Junior Menas of Niger on Saturday. “We are ready for the game (between Nigeria and Niger) on Saturday and I’m using this opportunity to call on our people to be at the stadium to see these talented boys.”

    Ugbe maintained that hosting the Golden Eaglets by Cross River State offered the people the chance to see Nigeria’s Generation Next at close quarters, adding that the state government accepted to host the junior national team in order to inspire local youngsters.

    Said he: “We are delighted to have the Golden Eaglets because His Excellency, Senator Liyel Imoke sees this as national service though at a big cost despite the state’s lean resources. We want our people to enjoy this moment to see these players before they become full fledge professionals that they would be reading on the pages of newspapers. Saturday is their first major game here and we are calling on Nigerians far and near to come and see them,” Ugbe noted.

    Speaking in the same vein, Ugbade said there are reasons to be optimistic about the chances of these Golden Eaglets following recent failures.

    “We are condemned to qualify for both the African tournament and the World Cup and I believe we are on the right course,” said Ugbade, the foremost captain of the national cadet team.”This is the team that plays with information and not formation; and we are happy that the boys are responding well.”

    Ugbade said the team was focused but shied away from predicting the outcome of Saturday’s game against Junior Menas of Niger: “People have been saying we would massacre Niger because of our 4-1 away win in Niamey but the game would be tighter because the Nigeriens have seen the quality of our team. We just need to score the first goal and we would build on that,” Ugbade added.

    The Nigerien contingent is being expected in Calabar Thursday for Saturday’s first round, second leg match.