Nigerian star football players Asisat Oshoala, Victor Osimhen, Samuel Chukwueze are in the shortlist for honours at the 2019 CAF Awards ceremony scheduled for the Albatros Citadel Sahl Hasheesh, Hurghada, Egypt on Tuesday night. Winner of the gong in 2014, 2016 and 2017, and also among the final three in 2018, Super Falcons’ captain Asisat […]
via Nigeria’s Super Falcons, Oshoala, Osimhen In Line For Honours At CAF Awards — finixsportsblog
Nigeria picked all three points in a hard–fought 2-1 win over Benin Republic as the group phase of the qualifying campaign for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations began on Wednesday. The Squirrels shocked the modest crowd at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo in south-south Nigeria as Stephane Sessegnon swept home after only two minutes, […]
via Eagles Begin 2021 AFCON Race with 2-1 Win Over Squirrels — finixsportsblog
A relatively “new-breed Super Eagles” team came close to bringing down Ukraine’s ‘Blue and Yellow’ at the Dnipro Arena on Tuesday before suffering loss of concentration that saw Ukraine tie the game 2-2 with two goals in 45 seconds. Debutant Joseph Ayodele-Aribo put the seal on a frenetic beginning at the 31,000 –capacity venue when […]
via Ukraine Force Nigeria’s Super Eagles to 2-2 draw In Dnipro — finixsportsblog
Technical Adviser Gernot Rohr has called up stand–in Captain Ahmed Musa and 22 other players for next month’s crucial 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match between the Super Eagles and South Africa’s Bafana Bafana in Johannesburg. The same group will prosecute the friendly encounter against the Cranes of Uganda at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, […]
Coach Emmanuel Amuneke has cast his lot with his FIFA U-17 World Cup winners, with about 15 of them making the list of 18 players of the U-20 squad to this weekend’s 2017 CAF U-20 Cup of Nations qualifying match against Burundi in Bujumbura. Team Secretary Aliyu Lawal Ibrahim told thenff.com that the Nigeria delegation […]
via Amuneke picks Nwakali, Osimhen, 16 others for Burundi — newfanzoneblog
FIFA U-17 World Cup highest goal scorer ever, Victor Osimhen, has arrived the camp of the U-23 National Team, ahead of the international friendly game against Brazil later this month.
The ganging striker who arrived the Star View Palace Hotel camp of the Dream Team at about 1pm on Sunday was received by interim Head Coach, Fatai Amao.
Speaking on arrival, Osimhen, who was part of the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations–winning team to Senegal last year, told thenff.com: “It’s always fun for me to come to camp and play for my fatherland. I see it as a privilege and will always honour such invitations any time I am called upon.
“I have come to fight for a jersey in this friendly match that is part of preparations for the Rio Olympics and I am happy to be among the invited players. You know I was part of the Golden Eaglets team that defeated the Brazilians at the last U-17 World Cup in Chile and so it will a pleasure for me to play them at their backyard and hopefully find the back of the net, as I did against them in Chile.”
With his arrival, Osimhen became the first foreign-based player to arrive camp in preparation for the game.
The U-23 are expected to depart the shores of the country on Sunday, March 20, aboard a South African Airways flight.
Full List Of Winners At The GLO CAF Awards 2015, Plus Africa’s Finest XI
*Referee Of The Year:
Bakary Papa GASSAMA – Gambia.
*Coach Of The Year:
Herve Renard
* African Legends Awards Winners:
Charles Kumi Gyami – Ghana
Samuel Mbappe Leppe – Cameroon
*The Leader Of The Year Award:
Abdiqani Said Arab – Somalia
* National Team of the Year:
The Elephants of Cote d’ Ivorie.
* National Team Of The Year (Women):
The Cameroon National Women’s Team
*Most Promising Talent Award:
Oghenekaro Etebo – Nigeria
* Youth Player Of The Year:
Victor Osimhen – Nigeria Golden Eaglets
* Women Player Of The Year:
Gaelle Enganamouit – Cameroon (Winner)
* African Player Of The Year Based In Africa:
Mbwana Samatta – Tanzania
* Caf Footballer Of The Year.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – Gabon
* Club Of The Year:
TP Mazembe
* Fair Play Award:
Allez Casa – Senegal
* Platinum Award:
Muhammadu Buhari, President of Nigeria
Africa Finest XI:
Goal Keeper:
Robert Muteba KIDIABA (DR Congo)
Defenders:
Serge AURIER (Cote d’Ivoire), Aymen ABDENNOUR (Tunisia), Mohamed MEFTAH (Algeria)
Midfielders: Andre AYEW (Ghana), Yaya TOURE (Cote d’Ivoire), Sadio MANE (Senegal), Yacine BRAHIMI (Algeria)
Forwards: Mbwana Aly SAMATTA (Tanzania), Pierre-Emerrick AUBAMEYANG (Gabon), Baghdad BOUNEDJAH (Algeria)
Two Nigerian champion teams, World Cup-winning Coach Emmanuel Amuneke, and star players Azubuike Okechukwu and Victor Osimhen are in line to be honoured at the Glo-Caf African Football Awards on Thursday evening.
The annual showpiece, which rewards African football players from across the world who had excelled in the preceding year, will take place at the International Conference Centre, Abuja from 7pm on Thursday.
Nigeria’s U-23 team, which won the 2nd Africa U-23 Cup of Nations in Senegal last month, in the process qualifying for this year’s Olympics football tournament in Rio de Janeiro, is nominated in the category of ‘National Team of the Year,’ alongside Nigeria’s U-17 squad which successfully retained the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile in November.
Azubuike Okechukwu, who captained the Nigeria U-23 to glory in Senegal and was selected the Most Valuable Player, is nominated for ‘Most Promising Talent’ alongside team-mate Etebo Oghenekaro, who finished the tournament as top scorer.
Golden Eaglets’ Head Coach, Emmanuel Amuneke, is listed for ‘Coach of the Year,’ while his players, Kelechi Nwakali and Victor Osimhen are in consideration for ‘Youth Player of the Year.’
Eaglets’ captain Nwakali was named the Most Valuable Player of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, with Osimhen the top scorer of all time with 10 goals.
Super Falcons’ defender Ngozi Ebere is nominated for ‘Women Player of the Year.’
The out-going year 2015 provided a mixture of sweet and sour taste for Nigeria’s sporting atmosphere with failures and successes.
Nigeria began the year in sadness following the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations hosted by Equatorial Guinea after Morocco refused to host the tournament due to the breakout of the Ebola Virus in some parts of Africa.
Nigerians painfully watched the AFCON 2015 on television as Ivory Coast defeated Ghana 9-8 Via penalty shootout to lift the trophy for the second time on February 8.
The Golden Eaglets went to Niger Republic for the CAF U17 tournament, in February, and finished 4th, after losing 1-0 to South Africa in the semifinal and a woeful 3-1 loss to Guinea in the third place match, though that was enough to qualify them for the 2015 FIFA U17 World Cup. Victor Osimhen emerged the top scorer with four goals, and Mali was crowned the champions.
In March, the Flying Eagles brought relief to sport lovers by winning the CAF U20 Championship hosted by Senegal and as a result qualified for the FIFA U20 World Cup hosted by New Zealand. Musa Muhammed emerged the top scorer with four goals and Bernard Bulbwa’s goal against Senegal in the final was rated the best of the tournament.
In August, Nigeria’s senior men’s basketball team, D’Tigers won their first ever AfroBasket, beating Angola in the final 74–65 in Tunisia. Chamberlain Oguchi was named tourney MVP.
By winning the title, Nigeria automatically qualified for the 2016 Olympics. The next three best-placed teams, Angola, Tunisia, and Senegal, each secured a spot in next summer’s final FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
In same month, it was a woeful outing for Nigeria at the World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China as none of its 16 athletes who represented the country could get a medal.
Kenya emerged the overall winner with seven gold, six silver and three bronze medals.
But the story changed for Nigeria in September, when, at the All Africa Games, she finished second behind Egypt. The West African giants had a total of 144 medals, claiming 47 gold, 55 silver and 42 bronze.
In para-sport at the same tournament, Nigeria finished top with 12 gold, 11 silver and eight bronze, totaling 31 medals.
Still in September, Nigeria finished 7th at the Commonwealth Youth Games held in Apia, capital city of Samoa with six gold, two silver and three bronze medals.
At the 2015 World Wrestling Championships, Nigeria was only able to finish with one bronze medal, thanks to Odunayo Adekuoroye in the women’s freestyle category.
In October, Nigeria finished 3rd at the AfroBasket Women 2015. They lost by just one point (71-70) to host Cameroon in the semifinal, but went ahead to beat Angola 65-55 in the third place. That feat was not enough to seal a qualification ticket for the Rio 2016 Olympics as only two teams (first and second) can represent the continent at the tournament.
In October/November, the Golden Eaglets went on to win a record 5th FIFA U17 World Cup in Chile, beating West African brothers Mali 2-0 in the final. Victor Osimhen again emerged the top scorer, but this time, with 10 goals. Compatriot Kelechi Nwakali was the tournament’s best player. Nigeria scored 23 goals and conceded five.
In November, Enyimba won the 2014/15 Nigeria Professional Football League a record 7th time with 70 points.
Akwa United defeated Lobi Stars 2-1 to win the 2015 Federation Cup. A sumptuous free kick in the first half through Namso Edo and a rocket shot from Abdullafeez Afeez in second half ended the long wait by the Promise Keepers as they secured the first Federation Cup title in the club’s history in style.
In December, Nigeria ended the year on a rather bright note as the Nigeria Under23 Men’s Football team, led by Samson Siasia, won the U23 AFCON tournament held in Senegal. The feat also saw Nigeria qualify for the men’s football event at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Oghenekaro Etebo emerged the top scorer with five goals while Okechukwu Azubuike was voted the tournament’s best player.
The Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) has released the nominees for the other categories for the 2015 Glo-CAF Awards. The categories are; Women Player of the Year, Youth Player of the Year, Most Promising Talent, Coach of the Year, Referee of the Year, African Legend, National Team of the Year, Women National Team of the Year, Club of the Year, Platinum Award.
The list was unveiled at a press conference attended by CAF Excutive member Anjorin Moucharafou and Glo representatives on Monday, 14 December 2015 in Abuja, Nigeria.
The winners will be decided by votes from the CAF Footbal land Media Committees except Legend and Platinum awards, which are not subject to vote while Referee of the Year Award will be decided by the votes of CAF Refereeing Committee.
The winners will be announced at the Glo-CAF Awards Gala scheduled for Thursday, January 7, 2016 in Abuja, Nigeria.
Below are the nominees for the various categories in alphabetical order;
Women Player of the Year
· Gabrielle Onguéné, Cameroon
· Gaelle Enganamouit, Cameroon
· Ngozi Ebere, Nigeria
· N’rehy Tia Ines, Cote d’Ivoire
· Portia Boakye, Ghana
Youth Player of the Year
· Adama Traore, Mali
· Kelechi Nwakali, Nigeria
· Samuel Diarra, Mali
· Victor Osimhen, Nigeria
· Yaw Yeboah, Ghana
Most Promising Talent
· Azubuike Okechukwu, Nigeria
· Etebo Oghenekaro, Nigeria
· Djigui Diarra, Mali
· Mahmoud Abdelmonem ‘kahraba’, Egypt
· Zinedine Ferhat, Algeria
Coach of the Year
· Baye Ba, Mali, U17
· Emmanuel Amunike, Nigeria U17
· Fawzi Benzarti, Etoile Sportive de Sahel
· Hervé Renard, Cote d’ivore
· Patrice Carteron, TP Mazembe
Referee of the Year
· Alioum Neant, Cameroon
· Bakary Papa GASSAMA, Gambia
· Eric Arnaud OTOGO CASTANE, Gabon
· Ghead Zaglol GRISHA, Egypt
· Janny SIKAZWE, Zambia
African Legend
· Charles Kumi Gyamfi, Ghana
· Samuel Mbappé Léppé, Cameroon
National Team of the Year
· Cote d’Ivoire
· Ghana
· Mali U17
· Nigeria U17
· Nigeria U-23
Women National Team of the Year
· Ghana
· Cameroon
· South Africa
· Zimbabwe
Club of the Year
· USM Algers , Algeria
· TP Mazembe, DR Congo
· Orlando Pirates, South Africa
· Etoile Sportive du Sahel, Tunisia
I want to congratulate you on your appointment as the number one sports administrator in Nigeria and I wish you a productive regime in office.
Having said that, Sir, I want to bring to your attention the things that are not properly done or overlooked in Football and Basketball especially – two of the most popular sports in Nigeria.
First of all, there is an urgent need for you to look into the issue of contract signing for the victorious U17 boys, the NFF said via a press release that they will not allow any agent to sign the boys. This is not in their remit, but making regulations and passing them through their successive programmes of development, where one percent of any such transfer go to the federation, according to international standard as practised in England and the world over.
Their responsibility and duty is in players discovery, development and nurturing to enable them to perform to the best of their abilities and patriotism for the greater good of the nation and themselves, which they have done. The players are entitled to sign pre-contracts and professional contract agreements before and when they clock 18. The NFF proclamations was under the guise that they don’t want them to sign slave contracts, which is no business of theirs but to guide, advise and support rather than the indecent backdoor football agency creation by the FA.
The NFF can only make laws regarding a legitimate age a player can sign a pre-contract or professional contract and not indulge in player trading. It was widely circulated in the media that the NFF President, Amaju Pinnick personally introduced Victor Osimhen to Arsenal FC. This is illegal and fraudulent because he is not a FIFA Licensed agent.
NFF does not have the rights to sell or stop players from signing for any club.
Meanwhile, they are allowing academies to do talent hunts, taking kids abroad. Just last week, some came to Abuja to do a talent hunt show, these are the people they need to look out for in order to protect the players in other to avoid slave contracts. They have to put the regulations in place. Please Sir, it will be beneficial to the players’ careers and the nation to implore them to sign their ITC.
Concerning the issue of kit sponsors, it is such a shame that a nation as big as ours, the so called giant of Africa signed a shoddy contract. Players attending tournaments without adequate kits, each of them got only a jersey which they had to wash and re-use for the next game. Please look into this matter, it is a disgrace. Adidas was our sponsor with retainership fee while Nike is neither bringing money nor kits as recently and currently exposed. Sir, please investigate the Nike contract.
On the issue of sponsorship, the NFF claimed that Arik Air and Zenith banks were the co-sponsors of some FA chairmen who were sent to London for a training which is clearly unnecessary. The federation claimed to be broke but had the money to sponsor FA Chairmen on a training ahead of their Annual General Meeting, is it to avoid impeachment or for acceptance as their Annual General Meeting beckons? The FA chairmen accepted, instead of them to ask the FA to use the money to offset some bills. The FA is broke Sir, they are owing all the National Teams, including coaches. The NFF playing to the gallery were praising Arik, Sir, can you request for the sponsorship proofs with these ones?
lt is imperative that the NFF should create an Insurance policy for all their athletes, this is rising from a player – Gloria Ofoegbu who got injured while she was playing for Nigeria. The NFF neglected her and even denounced her that she didn’t get the injury whilst playing for the Nation. Despite all the pleas, it entailed the involvement of a good Samaritan to help conduct a surgery for her. She is amongst many others, suffering from the lack of adequate insurance policy for the national team players hence players playing better for clubs than country because they will end up saying if they got injured no one will treat them, conversely devoting themselves to their clubs than their country as they are better looked after both medically and academically.
Basketball is the second most popular sports in Nigeria, Sir, the Federation is one of the poorest with little or no money attached to them. They are reaping the reward of their perseverance, determination, and the love for the sport and their nation with recent successes, irrespective of the lack of adequate investment and sponsorship. I think you should deem it fit to support them and encourage future generations by allocating them enough facilities and resources to enable them develop the game in the Nigeria.
Finally Sir, since your appointment two months ago, we are yet to hear about the policies you want to make for sports apart from fighting corruption in Nigeria. Good to know you have checked out equipment and stadium facilities but there is a huge need for you to do more by cutting out social activities and settling down to get to work as we know that it took the president a long time to appoint ministers. By now we expect you to start putting committees that will work with you together, good heads and experienced hands that can help your sojourn in office.
Thanks.
NFF President Amaju Pinnick has charged players of the Nigeria U-23 squad to fire from all cylinders when they clash with hosts Senegal in the first semi final of the 2nd Africa U-23 Cup of Nations in Dakar on Wednesday.
Head Coach Samson Siasia believes his boys improved in their last game against Algeria by not conceding a goal, but Pinnick wants the players to show no mercy when launching onslaughts and do everything to keep the rearguard tight against the rampaging Senegalese.
Both teams clashed at the men’s football event of the 11th All-Africa Games in Brazzaville in September, with Nigeria scoring a last –minute goal to tie the match 1-1.
“It is not going to be easy playing against the host nation that is high on confidence, having won all their three group phase matches. Extra effort will be needed in all departments; hardwork and courage are critical virtues that the U-23 boys must take to heart on Wednesday.
“Our country is on a run of excellent results in international competitions. We are determined that run must continue and that is why the U-23 boys must defeat Senegal to assure of a place in Rio de Janeiro next year.”
Nigeria, 1996 champions and 2008 vice champions, missed the 2012 Olympics as Coach Austin Eguavoen’s Class of 2011 lost out at the inaugural Africa U-23 Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Siasia’s group will miss team captain Azubuike Okechukwu, who is suspended after receiving a second yellow card in the game against Algeria on Saturday. But Siasia says there is no reason to panic.
“We would have loved to have Azubuike because he is the captain and a big motivator, and you have to have a leader on the field. But he’s suspended, so we have to live with that. There is no need crying over spilt milk. In life, you always have to make adjustments in several areas. Azubuike’s absence will give another player the opportunity to prove himself.”
He added: “We are not going back home empty –handed; it’s no retreat, no surrender. We have to get ourselves ready for tomorrow’s game; it’s going to be a difficult one. It’s going to be eleven players against eleven, so we have our chances to qualify.”
Reacting on his rearguard that has conceded four goals in three games, Siasia said: “We have learnt our lessons. Two games in which the first half looked good and the last half didn’t. We made our corrections and you can see from how we played in the last game.” Coach Siasia added that for now, he is using FIFA U-17 World Cup sensation Victor Osimhen sparingly, so that the boy doesn’t get consumed by the occasion.
Wednesday’s clash will take place at the Stade Leopold Sedar Senghor, where Siasia scored Nigeria’s first goal in a 2-1 defeat of host Senegal in the opening match of the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations.
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