Category: Sport

As part of its programmes aimed at developing football in the region, the Western Nigeria Football Forum plans to build soccer houses for its seven member states.
The Western Nigeria Football Forum comprises the six south west states of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and Lagos States.

Speaking during the maiden Western Nigeria Football Union Taiwo Ogunjobi U-15 Championship’s award night, the association’s chairman, Seyi Akinwunmi, said the zone plans to build well-rounded footballers, who apart from honing their skills to actualize their potentials, also acquire qualitative education.
Akinwunmi said the Taiwo Ogunjobi U-15 Championship was instituted to honour the late former secretary general of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), who spent a better part of his life in the service of the nation.

He added: “Apart from honouring Taiwo Ogunjobi, we will also help the host Football Association, Osun, complete its football house.

“We have raised some money from among ourselves, but we are also looking for help to complete the Osun State Football house.
“We hope that next year, we will take the project to another state, which will benefit from the programme until all the states have their own football houses.”

Akinwunmi said Western Nigeria Football Union want to set examples that other regions could copy for even development of the game across the country.

“We believe that Western Nigeria Football Union is big enough to take care of its development and also set a template for others to emulate.

“We hope to move from U-15 football to other levels of youth development.
“The union will also find ways to help our young footballers, who are out of job for no fault of theirs. We will also help our retired footballers in dire situations after serving their country meritoriously.”

Akinwunmi, who is also the first vice president of the NFF, described recipients of the maiden Taiwo Ogunjobi U-15 Championship awards as patriots, who have done so much for the development of Nigerian football.

Among the awardees are Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, who recently led Nigeria to its best ever performance at the Commonwealth Games; Chief Kessington Adebutu, who apart from sponsoring numerous youth football development initiatives, singlehandedly bankrolling the resuscitation of the National Stadium, Lagos; promoter of Remo Stars Football Club, Kunle Soname, whose company, Bet9ja, sponsors several football competitions, including the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL); and Gbenga Elegbeleye, a former director general of the National Sports Commission (NSC), who has also served on the board of the NFF, headed Ondo State Football Association, as well as the state’s table tennis association.

Algeria FA has announced the country’s team will take on the Super Eagles in a friendly on September 27 at the new stadium in Oran.
The Eagles will replace World Cup-bound Ghana, who was originally slated to play this game.

Algeria will first play another friendly against Guinea on September 24.
This will be the third time the North Africans will face Nigeria under coach Djamel Belmadi.

In the first encounter, Belmadi led his team to go past the Super Eagles 2-1 in the semifinal of the 2019 AFCON in Egypt.

Algeria then pipped Nigeria in a friendly in Austria in October 2020.
Both teams failed to qualify for this year’s World Cup in Qatar.

Victor Osimhen, a Super Eagles striker, scored as Napoli defeated Monza 4-0 in Serie A on Sunday.

The Nigerian international, who was making his second league appearance this season, had an early chance to put the hosts ahead, but his shot was blocked.

Osimhen, on the other hand, scored the second goal in the 46th minute, after Kvaratskhelia had given Napoli the lead in the 35th.
It was the second goal for Osimhen in the season. He was also a constant threat for Monza defenders.

Kvaratskhelia grabbed his brace in the 62nd minute before Min-jae Kim made it 4-0 in the 92nd minute to seal the maximum points.

The victory put Napoli on top of the Serie A table with six points while Monza sit bottom on zero point.

‘Bounce back and come with vengeance,’ says Kamaru Usman ahead of his third fight with Leon Edwards in Wembley.
Kamarudeen Usman, a Nigerian-American professional mixed martial artist (MMA), has vowed to overcome defeat.

Usman was knocked out by Leon Edwards in the main event of the Ultimate Fighting Champions (UFC) 278 in the early hours of Sunday, August 21.

Usman, 35, started slowly in the first round but easily won the second, third, and fourth rounds.

Edwards’ knockout came with less than a minute remaining, and Usman was dethroned as UFC welterweight champion.

Usman on 3rd fight with Edwards
Usman defeated Edwards back in 2015 in Orlando, Florida. The British-born fighter now has his revenge at the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake, Utah.

Usman took to social media to let fans know about his mindset despite the loss.

A message on his official Twitter account said, “Champs f$ck up sometimes… but we bounce back and come with vengeance.”

UFC boss Dana White has revealed that there would be a rematch between Edwards and Usman for the third time.

Speaking about the fight White said, “Anything is possible in this in the sport.

“You know every time we make a fight and they’re like oh this is a lopsided one-sided bugger there are no lopsided one-sided fights in this sport anything is possible.”

When asked details of the third fight between Usman and Edwards, White responded, “yeah how do you not do it Wembley I mean.”

It is now expected that the UFC schedule the third fight between Usman and Edwards for the 80,000-capacity Wembley Stadium in the United Kingdom later this year.

The prize money for Saturday’s (today) heavyweight title rematch between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia has been revealed.

According to Evening Standard, Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk will each receive a guaranteed minimum of £33.2m ($40m) for their rematch.

Recall that the duo went head-to-head on Wednesday at the final press conference ahead of the rematch.

On noticing that Usyk had gotten bigger for the second fight, Joshua warned the Ukrainian that it won’t be enough and would only help him (Usyk) absorb more punishment.

“If you’re a puncher, punchers aren’t made, they’re born,” Joshua told Sky Sports News.

Meanwhile, further reports say the pay for the rematch could rise close to $50m for either Joshua or Usyk if pay-per-view television sales reach a level sufficient to justify adding a bonus for the winner.

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Joshua will be attempting to reclaim the lost world heavyweight titles when he locks horns with Usyk once again in Saudi Arabia.

The two will share the Octagon at UFC 276 and are eager to take on Jarod Cannonier’s new challenge, according to Israel Adesanya, the middleweight champion of the UFC.

In the early hours of Sunday morning in Las Vegas, the New Zealander of Nigerian descent will defend his middleweight title against the former heavyweight champion.

The ruthless UFC king is excited about the prospect of facing the sharp-shooting Cannonier.

He stated, “I’m very excited (to be fighting Jared),” to SunSport.

I’m looking forward to taking on a new opponent. The fact that it’s a new battle excites me; I’ve got fresh enthusiasm and I’m prepared.

Cannonier, a former heavyweight, has won five of his last six fights, including four by way of a knockout. After a string of consecutive rematches, “Stylebender,” despite facing a difficult opponent, is glad to have a different kind of fight on the table.

Adesanya, a fan favourite who recently signed a sizable new contract with the UFC, will defend his title for the fifth time after thrashing Australian rival Robert Whittaker.

As he chases the mark of 10 defences set by Anderson Silva, Adesanya is hoping to successfully defend his middleweight title once more.

The official start of the “Beach Volleyball Tour” is scheduled for July, according to the Nigeria Beach Volleyball Commission.

The first phase of the Beach Tour will begin in Yola, Adamawa State, from July 5 to 9, 2022, according to a statement signed by Hon. Famous Daunemigha, Chairman Media and Publicity of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF).

The application of the standard Beach Volleyball (BVB) Regulations, according to Hon Daunemigha, requires that the three phases of the tours be completed by the participating teams.

According to the South South representative on the NVBF board, the goal of the tour is to raise the level of play throughout the nation.

The Beach Volleyball Tour (first phase) will be held in Yola, Adamawa State, the speaker declared, according to the Nigeria Beach Volleyball Commission. We believe it is now necessary to have additional national championships because the beach volleyball commission has only ever hosted one national championship.

The women’s team from Nigeria has lost the opportunity to compete in the finals in each of the previous two Olympic Beach Volleyball Qualifiers, and we do not want this to happen again.

The governing body is confident that the introduction of beach volleyball tours will significantly raise the sport’s calibre and standard across the nation.