Green Visit Shocks Leon Balogun…Thanks Maigari For Support

After he dropped his crutches in the course of the week, Fortuna Dusseldurf and Super Eagles defender, Leon Balogun got the shock of his life when the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), through its Technical Committee Chairman, Barr. Chris Green paid him a surprise visit last Thursday in Germany.

Balogun who has been celebrating the support he has received from the federation and its coaching crew said he could not believe his eyes when he saw Green in Dusseldurf just to check on him. “This is a pleasant surprise and I can’t believe that the federation will go the whole hug to support me. I can assure you sir that your visit will hasten my recovery process and help me thank Nigerians for all the support they have shown to me”, he declared.

The defender then went on heap praises on the President of the NFF, Alhaji Aminu Maigari for his leadership qualities, declaring that the affection, care and support of the federation has offered has reached a level that he has to reciprocate by getting himself physically and mentally fit for the Brazil 2014 World Cup if he is picked by the coaching crew.

The NFF, through Barr. Green assured that it will keep a close tab on the player to ensure that he is not only fit but ready for the challenge of the Brazil 2014 World Cup. “We want the best for the country and you have proven through your commitment after just a game that you are the type of player that we need for the Nigerian football to become a global brand”.

ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters returns to Mission Viejo, California

The ITF today announced that the 2014 ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters will return to Mission Viejo, California, USA for the second successive year. The event will take place at the Marguerite Tennis Pavilion on 5-9 November.

The ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters is the ITF’s flagship wheelchair tennis doubles event. First staged in 2000, the season-ending event currently features the world’s top eight men’s pairs, top six women’s pairs and top four quad pairs. USA is one of three countries to have hosted the tournament since its inception in 2000.

Last year Mission Viejo hosted the ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters alongside the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters, the season-ending championship for the world’s top ranked singles players. The city has long supported wheelchair tennis and for the last seven years has hosted the ITF Cruyff Foundation Junior Wheelchair Camp for the Americas in association with the USTA.

As a result of hosting last year’s event, Mission Viejo was recently named as the first city to receive the USTA Brad Parks Award, which is awarded annually to recognise outstanding contribution to wheelchair tennis. The award is named after the founder of wheelchair tennis, Brad Parks, who hails from the nearby city of San Clemente. Parks, one of six ITF Wheelchair Tennis Ambassadors, will be the Honorary Chair of the ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters again this year.

“We are delighted that Mission Viejo will host the 2014 ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters after such a tremendous event in 2013,” said ITF Wheelchair Tennis Manager Mark Bullock. “Mission Viejo’s commitment to the development of wheelchair tennis over many years has been outstanding and I would like to congratulate the city on receiving the USTA Brad Parks Award. We look forward to working with the team at the City of Mission Viejo Recreation and Community Services and Marguerite Tennis Pavilion to stage another memorable event in November.”

FIFA to distribute 50,000 Brazil 2014 tickets to stadium construction workers

FIFA to distribute 50,000 Brazil 2014 tickets to stadium construction workers
(FIFA.com)

By way of thanks for their unstinting efforts in helping to make the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ a reality, FIFA has announced that it will hand out nearly 50,000 tickets to workers involved in the construction and refurbishment of the tournament’s 12 stadiums.

The announcement was made at a press conference following this Thursday’s Brazil 2014 Local Organising Committee (LOC) management board meeting at the Estadio Maracana.

The tickets, all of them Category 4, will be distributed to the construction companies responsible for carrying out work at the stadiums, who will then hand them out to the workers.

The constructors are free to decide the distribution criteria and the number of tickets to be allocated to each worker.

The tickets are for all the first-round games with the exception of the Opening Match between Brazil and Croatia on 12 June in Sao Paulo.

As agreed with the constructors, tickets were allocated in accordance with the final number of workers involved in the construction of each stadium, the number of tickets per stadium being proportional to the percentage of workers employed there.

The tickets will be distributed in the middle of May and can only be collected by a representative appointed by each constructor.

The companies will in turn hand out the tickets to their workers, who will not be required to collect them from the Brazil 2014 Ticket Distribution Centres.

Ticket sales
More than 2.56 million tickets have been sold for Brazil 2014 to date. Some 295,387 of those tickets have been sold in the current sales phase, which comes to a close on 1 April at 7:00 Brasilia time (12:00 CET). The next phase begins on 15 April at 7:00 Brasilia time (12:00 CET).

Ticket Distribution Centres will open to the public in the 12 Host Cities on 18 April, and will initially remain open on weekends only. Nearly 540,000 tickets will be made available for collection from the start of May.

Fans who selected the option of picking up their tickets at these centres will be able to do so then.

In collecting their tickets, fans eligible for concessions (over 60s, students, recipients of the Bolsa Familia family grant and people with disabilities) must present documentation proving said entitlement.

Source: FIFA.COM

Idah LG in Kogi State to host Attah Igala Unity Cup

The Chairman of Idah Local Government Area, Dr Musa Major has described sports as the best means for youth engagement and pledged his support and that of his colleagues to the successful staging of the Attah Igala Unity U16 Cup.

The Attah Igala U16 Boys Football Championship is organised to commemorate the coronation of His Royal Majesty, Michael Idakwo Ameh Oboni II and slated to take place in Idah from 21st – 27th April 2014 among nine Local Government Areas of the Eastern district of Kogi state.

The new Attah of Igala is HRM Idakwo Michael Ameh Oboni II who ascended the throne of his fore fathers in February, 2013, after the
demise of Attah Aliyu Ocheje Obaje.

Dr Major, who is head forum of Chairmen from Eastern zone of Kogi State, stated this in Idah when he received the Local Organising
Committee, LOC, assured the organizers of a hitch free tournament stressed his administration’s resolve to engage youths through sports to reduce restiveness in the area.

The Idah LG boss while commending the trophy donor and organisers for softening his burden advocated for governments at all level to encourage sports in bid to reduce the increasing societal decadence and insecurity in the country.

Chairman of YSFON Kogi State chapter, Umar Nnda said the purpose of the Attah Igala Unity Cup was to discover talents and bring unity among youths in the Igala Kingdom.

Nnda said that the tournament’s trophy donated by Honourable, Surveyor Emmanuel Ogbe Omebije, the Deputy speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly was to give the Attah Igala’s coronation commemoration a befitting celebration.

The National Vice President of YSFON, Honourable Mustapha Allah-Dey who spoke on behalf of the body, said the national body will supervise the competition and passed a vote of confidence on state chapter of YSFON to stage a hitch free tournament come next month.

He also noted that the body is interested to see the Attah Igala Unity Cup gain recognition at the national level as other notable
tournaments for traditional rulers.

Preliminary round draws held at the meeting have hosts Idah, Ankpa, Dekina, Bassa and Omala in Group A.

Group B has Ofu, Igalamela/Odolu, Ibaji and Olamaboro.

According to the Kogi State’s YSFON Publicity Secretary, Samuel Ahmadu, local organizing committee have agreed for participating teams to arrive Idah on Monday 21st April, while registration and screening takes place on Tuesday, and next up the opening matches of the football championship.

Members of the Local Organising Committee present at the meeting were

Umar Nnda (Kogi YSFON Chairman), Hon. Mustapha Allah-dey (YSFON, National VP), Chief David Ehimony (YSFON, Deputy National Secretary), Samuel Ahmadu (Kogi YSFON, PRO), while among Sports Secretaries are Muhammed Usman (Igalamela), Harunna Abdulkadir (Bassa), Okoliko Egbunu (Dekina), Nelson Japhet (Ibaji), Ejeh Enemali Genesis (Idah), Adejoh
Samuel (Ofu) and Charles Haruna (Ankpa).

Metro Pro League Week 7 Fixtures

36 Lion FC v Yobo FC 2-04-2014 (WED) 4PM ONIKAN

Bridge FC v Collins Edwin Sports Club 2-04-2014 (WED) 4PM AGEGE STADIUM

Remo Stars v Bolowotan Fc 3-04-2014 (THURS) 4PM AGEGE STADIUM

Apapa Golden Stars v Nath Boys Fc 3-04-2014 (THURS) 4PM TESLIM

Collins Edwin Sports Club v Yobo Fc 5-04-2014 (SAT) 9AM LEGACY / TESLIM

Union Bank FC v AS Racine Fc (THURS) 4PM ONIKAN 7-3-2014(MON)

C.A. BIZERTIN DENIES WOLVES USE OF PITCH

Warri Wolves have been denied by the host Federation two days after arriving Bizerte for their second leg Confederation Cup match with C.A.Bizertin and less than 48 hours contrary to CAF rules which says an away team must be allowed to train at least twice before any match.

The Warri based team had hoped that they will have access to the pitch on Friday afternoon but they were surprised to hear that they cannot make use of the place as the host said training there will affect the natural grass.

With that, Warri Wolves decided to make use of a training pitch belonging to a third division club based in Bizerte, an action which did not go down well with the players who had wanted to have a feel of the pitch.

Speaking on their action, Coach Okpodu said this will bring out the best from his boys as they are more desired to play against the boys whom they feel are not better than them.

‘ The boys are not happy but they are not demoralized either because they know what is at stake. This will spur them the better because they believe they were unlucky at home and this is an opportunity to prove who is better. I only want to pray for fair officiating and it will be well’

Glasgow 2014 Prepared for the Games

The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) today concludes its sixth and final Coordination Commission (CoCom) meeting in Glasgow, overviewing progress towards the XX Commonwealth Games to be staged in Glasgow, Scotland from 23 July to 3 August 2014.

The review meetings were scheduled over the period from Wednesday 26^th to Friday 28^th March. The Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee, Glasgow City Council, Police Scotland, Scottish Government and Commonwealth Games Scotland reported on progress for Games wide planning and delivery of all aspects of the Games.

Bruce Robertson, Chair of the CGF’s Coordination Commission, said:

“As the Organising Committee and Partners enter the final 15 weeks of mobilisation and preparation before the athletes commence arriving on July 13^th, they are very well prepared to deliver a successful Commonwealth Games”

“Since the previous CoCom review in October last year, there continues to be significant progress across all aspects of preparations.

“The
very successful Queens Baton Relay continues its journey around the Commonwealth. On its 160^th day, it is currently in the Caribbean. It has 14 more countries to travel through in the Caribbean and Americas regions, and then it arrives into the European region on its last leg before returning to Scotland on 14 June.

“Glasgow and Scottish community engagement is at unprecedented levels. The clyde-sider volunteer positions were oversubscribed and all required positions and back up roles have been filled. The process to select up to 4000 people to carry the Baton in Scotland has been extremely well-received with successful baton bearers about to find out about the part they will play in the countdown to the Games, and the additional release in February of 4000 tickets for Netball Finals sold out in just three hours.

“With 33 corporate partners secured, and more to be announced in coming weeks, the Games’ sponsorship programme is in great shape.

“The most visual indicators we have seen during this visit demonstrating the progress achieved in the past 6 months were the Commonwealth Games Village and Hampden Park. The Village construction is now complete and the Organising Committee is the manager onsite and has commenced bump in of temporary overlay, furniture and fixtures.

“Hampden Park now has a grass infield in place on the raised deck and this iconic stadium is starting to look like an athletics arena already.

Through strong financial management, the Partners are now well positioned to turn the plans for a successful Games into the best ever Games through refinement of the services being delivered for the Games clients.”

“The
extent of detailed planning presented by the Games organizers has provided a high level of confidence for the CGF that all aspects of Games delivery will be fulfilled. The remaining period to mobilise the operations and determine readiness will, however, be challenging.”

CGF Chief Executive Mike Hooper, said:

“There is a lot to be done, and one of the challenges to delivering a Games is managing the activity in the final weeks when installation of temporary overlay, training of the workforce
and installation of equipment, mobilisation of transport, security, spectator and related services, and conduct of readiness events all converge. It is complex, and there is limited time, but this mobilisation period is being well planned and we have every confidence that the challenges will all be met”

“There are on-going exercises and activities across the Games theatre for training, rehearsal and testing of Games time procedures and processes. For key decision making and overall Games time management, the CGF is confident the strength of the partnership across the Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee, Glasgow City Council, Police Scotland, Scottish Government and Commonwealth Games Scotland remains robust. This has been developed over 6 years of hard work together and will position the Partnership well to manage the range of issues that will arise in the coming weeks and at Games time.”

Costa Rica 2014: “We are very sorry”, Flamingoes apologize to Nigerians

Flamingoes have apologized to Nigerians for their failure to progress beyond the quarter-final following a 3-0 loss to Spain at the ongoing FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica on Friday morning.

A brace from Patri Guijarro and one from Nahikari Garcia were all the Europeans needed to book a place in the semi final of the competition at the expense of Bala Nikyu’s side as the Nigerians once again missed out on making it past the quarters.

Speaking after the game, Flamingoes’ assistant captain Uchenna Kanu appealed to Nigeria to bear with the team and not to murder them as it was never their delight to lose the encounter.

Uchenna while admitting disappointment with her side’s loss to Spain and quarterfinal exit lamented the quality of officiating, but foresee Nigeria winning the next edition of the tournament.

“I’m not happy that we lost, I’m not happy that we are out of the Competition – I believe football is a game of luck, It can favour
anybody, any day, but we thank God none of us sustain any injury. The way it happened today, I don’t know what happen with the referee and everything seems against us. I know it’s not a thing of joy to lose and not only losing, getting out of the tournament, it’s very appalling.

“It normal for them to be angry and disappointed when people think you will get to somewhere. It is just sad but I don’t think they should kill us because we lost the match or because we are out of the tournament – I believe that one day the trophy we come to Africa, Nigeria to be precise. They should bear with us,” she pleaded.

However, striker and captain of the Nigerian side, Chiwendu Ihezuo also registered huge disappointment with the Flamingoes exit from the age grade competition, insisting amiss over what transpire against Spain.

“I feel very bad about the outcome of the match. I don’t know what happen to us today. I know they are very disappointed in us. We just appeal to them that we are very sorry. This is not the end of the World. We will still try our possible best next time,” the Pelican
forward said amidst tears.

In the same vein, Flamingoes’ head coach Bala Nikyu, has praised the standard of the competition though expressed displeasure over his team’s performance and the outcome of the quarterfinal game against Spain.

“Although we’re disappointed that our adventure has ended too early, we’ve really enjoyed taking part in this marvellous FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, which has been fantastically well organised. It goes without saying that I’m not happy with the way the match panned out or our performance, but there’s nothing we can do about it now except try to put it behind us,” upset Nikyu said.

The Nigerian side will depart The venue of the quarter final Friday morning (Friday evening in Nigeria), to Madrid and from there pick a connecting flight to Lagos, from where the team will leave for its final destination, Abuja tomorrow morning.

Financial Guarantee: APFON commends Kano Pillars, urge others to hurry

Association of Professional Footballers of Nigeria (APFON), the umbrella body of professional football players in the country has heaped praises on the management of Kano Pillars Football Club to provide a financial performance guarantee to the League Management Company (LMC) in line with registration requirements for participation in the 2013/14 Glo Premier League season.

Provision of quarterly financial performance guarantee of N25m is one of the conditions Clubs must meet to be licensed to participate in the league and Kano Pillars on Tuesday beat the Match Day 9 deadline clubs were mandated to comply or face sanctions which include points’ deduction.

“We are very pleased with the development and it is a demonstration of good faith by the Management of Kano Pillars to have taken practical steps towards guaranteeing players and other personnel wages by posting the financial bond” declared Austin Popo, Secretary of APFON. He said the step by Pillars sends a positive signal to Football Clubs administrators and asserted that Club administrators must treat their Players and Coaches as assets and not as liabilities, as this is the only way they can place appropriate value and key into the reforms orchestrated by the LMC to reposition professional football in Nigeria”.

To the other Clubs that are yet to complete this important requirement for registration, Popo said “the Players Union wishes to advice all the other Clubs in the NPFL to follow in the footsteps of Kano Pillars by urgently initiating steps if they haven’t begun the process of securing the financial performance guarantee”.

“It is important to state that the NPFL needs to deliver in a number of key areas, one of which is on- field quality, which can only be guaranteed by timely payment of Players and Coaches remunerations and other benefits available”.

The financial performance guarantee seeks to make Clubs demonstrate a capacity to meet their financial obligations to players, coaches, other personnel and vendors. Proven defaults in payables will result in the LMC invoking the bond conditions to offset any determinable financial liability of the defaulting club in addition to any other sanction the LMC may impose.

APFON has been in the lead of a campaign to recover from various Clubs, claims of over N500m in unpaid salaries, sign-off fees and bonuses of players dating back to over six seasons and Popo in the statement commending Pillars urged Clubs to expand their revenue generation capacity to meet demands of running a profitable and stable professional league club.

“The Players Union further wishes to advice the Clubs to explore additional and alternative means of generating revenue outside of government funding such as engaging their communities and fans towards attracting more people to the stadium and commercializing their operations, especially those Clubs that already enjoy huge attendance. There really is no reason why Clubs cannot guarantee the needed attendance, sponsorship and other commercial revenues to run their clubs as a profitable business if they set their minds to it”, the players union representative declared.

More than 700 athletes set to compete at inaugural IAAF World Relays

Close to 800 athletes are expected to compete at the first edition of the IAAF World Relays, which will be held on 24-25 May in Nassau, the capital of The Bahamas.

Preliminary entry figures indicate that 48 member federations will take part in Nassau. Initial entries of 762 athletes – 440 men and 322 women – have been received by the IAAF as 90 men’s teams and 64 women’s teams will be spread across the five events.

The 4x100m, 4x200m, 4x400m, 4x800m and 4x1500m will all be contested at the inaugural World Relays.

The top eight teams in both the men’s and women’s 4x100m and 4x400m will automatically qualify for the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing.

In addition, the top eight teams in each event will be awarded prize money with the gold medallists taking home no less than USD $50,000. In the event that a team breaks a world record in Nassau, an additional bonus of USD $50,000 will be awarded.