Former Manchester United forward Tiago Manuel Dias ‘Bebe’ Correia has been named in Cape Verde’s squad for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations next month.

The Portugal-born switched nationalities to represent the country of his parents in 2022.

Although he was expected to make the team for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, which was held in Cameroon last year, he was not invited.

However, after 16 appearances for the Blue Sharks, coach Pedro Bubista named him in his 26-man squad for the tournament in Ivory Coast.

Tiago Manuel Dias ‘Bebe’ 
Bebe has been in fine form for Rayo Vallecano this season, scoring four goals in 15 matches across all competitions.

He is expected to spearhead the Cape Verde attack when they open their AFCON 2023 campaign with a big game against Ghana.

Cape Verde, a one-time quarter-finalist at AFCON, have been drawn in Group B alongside the Black Stars, seven-time champions Egypt and Mozambique.

Meanwhile, Bebe is likely to take advantage of the competition to remind the world of the potential that saw Sir Alex Ferguson sign him from Vitoria Guimaraes in 2010.

Nigerian national team manager Jose Peseiro has announced the Super Eagles’ 25-man squad will represent the country at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in the Ivory Coast next year.

The competition is set to kick off in Ivory Coast on January 15, when the Elephants will take on Guinea-Bissau.

Nigeria will also face the host nation in the group stage as they are both in Group A alongside Equatorial Guinea and Guinea.

The Portuguese manager’s squad list was made official on the Super Eagles page on X on Friday evening, with the team comprising three goalkeepers, nine defenders, five midfielders, and eight forwards.

It would be recalled that the team coach Jose Peseiro last week released the provisional list of 41 players that is expected to resume camp in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Monday.

The football body decided to cut the team to 25 players on Friday.

The African soccer governing body has allowed each participating country to list 27 players for the competition but only 23 will be allowed to dress for the match.

Skipper Ahmed Musa and William Troost Ekong staged a return to the team.

Meanwhile, Olorunleke Ojo, Stanley Nwabili, Bruno Onyeamachi, Ralph Onyedika, Bright Osayi, Victor Boniface, Ademola Lookman will be making their debut in the tournament.

Here is Nigeria’s 25-man squad for AFCON 2023:

Goalkeepers: Stanley Nwabili (Chippa United); Francis Uzoho (Omonoia FC); Olorunleke Ojo ( Enyimba F.C.).

Defenders: Olaoluwa Aina (Nottingham Forest); Chidozie Awaziem (Boavista); Bright Osayi-Samuel (Fenerbahce); William Troost-Ekong (PAOK); Bruno Onyemaechi (Boavista F.C.); Kenneth Omeruo (Kasımpaşa); Oluwasemilogo Ajayi (West Brom); Calvin Bassey (Fulham); Zaidu Sanusi (FC Porto).

Midfielders: Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City); Raphael Onyedika (Club Brugge); Joe Ayodele-Aribo (Southampton); Frank Onyeka (Brentford); Alex Iwobi (Fulham).

Forwards: Ahmed Musa (Sivasspor); Victor Osimhen (Napoli); Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City); Sadiq Umar (Real Sociedad); Moses Simon (Nantes); Ademola Lookman (Atalanta); Samuel Chukwueze (AC Milan); Victor Boniface (Bayer Leverkusen).

Real Sociedad forward Umar Sadiq has been nominated for LaLiga Goal of the Month award for December.

Sadiq scored a stunning goal in Real Sociedad’s 1-1 draw at Osasuna on December 2.

The forward unleashed a powerful shot into the net from the edge of the box on 41 minutes.

It was the Nigeria international’s second goal of the season for Sociedad.

The 26-year-old netted a stunning goal in Sociedad’s 2-1 victory against Sevilla in their previous La Liga game.

Also in contention for the award are Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz and Real Betis’ Aitor Ruibal.

Diaz was nominated for his strike against Villarreal, while Ruibal is in the running for his goal against Real Madrid.

The World football-governing body, FIFA has moved the 2024 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup final qualifying round, first leg match between Nigeria and Burundi from Bujumbura to Dar es Salaam in nearby Tanzania, as the world body has deemed the pitch in Bujumbura unfit to host the game.

FIFA, who deemed the pitch in Bujumbura unfit to host the game also been clarified that following the expansion of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup to a 24-team tournament (from the 16-team event that it was at the last edition in Costa Rica last year), and the granting of two more slots to Africa, the fixture between Nigeria and Burundi will be the final qualifying round, with the winner over two picks picking up a ticket to Colombia.

Burundi will now host the Falconets at the Azam Stadium Complex in Dar es Salaam – the same venue where the Falconets played a 1-1 draw with their Tanzanian counterparts in the last round, before edging the Tanzanians 2-1 in Abuja to reach this stage.

Meanwhile, The Confederation of African Football has also named South African official, Nonjabulo Nonhle Ndlela as referee for the match that has been scheduled for Sunday, 14th January 2024, with her compatriots Maneo Evodia Tau and Nandipha Menze as first and second assistant referees respectively. Nteboheleng Theresia Setoko from Lesotho will be the fourth official.

Angelique Tuyishime from Rwanda will be in the role of commissioner, with Fransiska Katjaimo from Namibia as referee assessor.

For the return leg at the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Saturday, 20th January 2024, Tunisian official Asma Chouchane will be the referee, with her compatriots Houda Afine, Nesrine Ouertatani and Emna Ajbouni as assistant 1, assistant 2 and fourth official respectively. Christine Ziga from Ghana and Fadouma Dia from Senegal will serve as commissioner and referee assessor respectively.

However, all 25 players invited by Head Coach Chris Musa Danjuma for the fixture have been notified to arrive in the Federal Capital, Abuja on Wednesday, 27th December 2023 as training sessions for the first leg match commence on the following day.

The Federation of the Ivorian Football( FIF) has concluded arrangements for the Elephants to face the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone to prepare for next month’s African Cup of Nations.

The head coach of the Ivorian team Loius Gasset last week released the list of 54 provisional list of players for the tournament.

The football body initially arranged to face the Mambas of Mozambique but the Mozabicans withdrew in November.

The game against Sierra Leone is scheduled for January 6th at the Stade Lauren Pokou De San Pedro by 5 pm local time.

The 2015 champions will face Guinea-Bissau in the opening game of the competition before facing the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the second match.

After much negotiations, Nigeria’s Super Eagles attacker Moses Simon has extended his contract with FC Nantes of France.

The Nigeria international signed a two-year contract that will see him remain at the Maison Jaune until 2026.


Simon joined the Canaries on loan from Spanish club Levante at the start of the 2019/20 season.The move was made permanent the following campaign.

His current deal is expected to run out at the end of the ongoing season and the club hierarchy saw reason to open discussion on a new deal.

The club on Friday announced his extension via its official website and he will stay with the club until 2026.

” FC Nantes is very pleased to announce the contract extension of Moses Simon (28 years old). The Nigerian winger, who arrived in the summer of 2019 from Levante Unión Deportiva (La Liga, Spain), has decided to continue the adventure in yellow and green for the next two years. He is now linked to the Club des bords de l’Erdre until 2026″, the club said.

Simon has scored 29 goals and provided 31 assists in 163 appearances across all competitions for the Canaries.

Meanwhile, The 28-year-old is expected to be named in Nigeria’s squad for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

Former Elephant of Cote d’Ivoire midfielder Yaya Toure has ignored Nigeria’s Super Eagles and has picked The Djurtus of Guinea Bissau, Atlas Lions of Morocco and Teranga Lions of Senegal as the tournament favorites


Côte d’Ivoire will stage next year’s tournament which will run from January 13 to February 11, 2024.

This is the second time they will host the tournament after first staging it in 1984.

The assistant coach of the Saudi Arabia national team Looking forward to next year’s edition Toure, who captained his country to win the AFCON in 2015, made a shock list of the countries he feels are favourites.

Surprisingly, he left out former winners like Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia.

Among favourites he listed are South Africa, Guinea-Bissau, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco and reigning champions Senegal.

Côte d’Ivoire were champions in 1992 and 2015, South Africa win as hosts in 1996, Morocco’s only success was in 1976 while Senegal claimed their first-ever title at the 2021 edition in Cameroon.

Toure based his prediction on the performance of the team during the qualifier and believes that can propel them to win the trophy.

“It is normal to have a preference for your own country. Ivory Coast has a strong team and many talented and experienced players.

But if I had to choose teams that I think are favourites, I would say Senegal, Morocco, Guinea-Bissau, and South Africa.

Their performance during qualifying was impressive”, he said

Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen has officially signed his new contract with Napoli to June 2026.

Napoli confirmed the extension to the forward’s contract on social media with a post that read “together until 2026” and a picture of Osimhen and club president Aurelio De Laurentiis.

Meanwhile, a release clause in the region of €130 million has been inserted in the new contract.

Osimhen’s previous deal would have expired in June 2025 and his renewal has been a major subject of discussion in Italy since Napoli won their first league title in over three decades last season.

The Nigeria international joined the Partenopei from Ligue 1 club Lille in 2020.
The 24-year-old has established himself as one of the best strikers in the world.

He scored 26 league goals as under departed coach Luciano Spalletti, Napoli captivated Europe with thrilling football and was crowned champions for the first time since Diego Maradona was with the club.

In total Osimhen has scored 67 times in 118 appearances since signing from Lille in 2020.

According to reports, Osimhen’s salary will increase to €10m per season after tax.

It would be recalled that Osimhen was crowned the Italian Footballers’ Association player of the Year earlier this month.

He was also named as the African Footballer of the Year for 2023.

The Director-general of the Cote d’Ivoire police, Youssouf Kouyate said they had measures in place for all six stadiums to avoid a similar tragedy — with organizers expecting 1.5 million fans from outside the country.

Aside from the external security risk posed by jihadis based in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire authorities have moved to quell fears over crowd control which has been the source of most anxiety due to what happened in Yaounde two years ago.

It would be recalled that the last-16 clash between hosts Cameroon and Comoros resulted in eight dying and dozens injured due to a crush as home fans piled in to watch.

“We are going to open the gates to the stadia very early, we will ensure the spectators form an orderly queue so they can enter the stadium without any trouble,” he said.

“We are going to demand spectators come early.”

There will be some 17,000 soldiers and police deployed for the tournament and 2,500 stadium staff.

“It is after all not the first big sporting event Ivory Coast has had to organize,” said Kouyate.


“We hosted the Francophone Games (in 2017). We are calm.”

It was not so calm a few months ago when, to the embarrassment of the organizers, torrential rain flooded the pitch at the 60,000-capacity Ebimpe Olympic Stadium which had been specially constructed at an enormous cost for the tournament.

The stadium is due to host 10 matches including the opening game between Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau on Jan. 13, and the final on Feb. 11.

Super Eagles forward, Victor Boniface, has won the Rookie of The Month award for a fifth consecutive time this season after taking the December prize.

The forward has made the Rookie of the Month award his own since joining Bayer Leverkusen from Belgian outfit Union Saint-Gilloise in the summer.

The 22-year-old previously won the award in August, September, October and November.

The striker has registered 10 goals in 15 league appearances for Leverkusen this season, plus another four goals in the UEFA Europa League.

Meanwhile, Leverkusen’s 24-game unbeaten run at the start of a campaign is the longest in German history, matching Hamburg’s streak in 1982/83, while the 42 goals they have scored in the Bundesliga after 15 matches is a club record.

South Africa Banyana Banyana forward Thembi Kgatlana has left the US National Women’s Soccer League for a new club in the Mexico women’s league in a record deal.

The South African forward has been with Racing Louisville since leaving Spanish Women’s league side Atletico Madrid in 2022.

In Louisville, Kgatlana tallied two goals and two assists in 16 appearances for Racing after returning from a 10-month rehabilitation process to heal a torn Achilles tendon. She originally signed with Racing from Atletico Madrid in July 2022 but suffered her injury a week after the announcement, delaying her arrival until January 2023.

Over the year with Racing, Kgatlana became a fan and locker-room favorite while helping Louisville to its first NWSL knockout tournament appearance in the UKG NWSL Challenge Cup. She started seven league games for Racing and notched 797 total minutes across all competitions, making her first appearance on May 6 in Orlando.

The six-figure transfer fee ($275 000) is the second-highest in National Women’s Soccer League history for a player departing the league for a foreign club – and the largest transfer fee in Racing history. The agreement includes a sell-on clause and an add-on to the transfer fee for Racing should Kgatlana surpass a specific number of goals for Tigres.

Meanwhile, At Tigres, Kgatlana joins a club that recently won the Liga MX Femenil’s 2022 Torneo Apertura.

Kgatlana, 27, played a huge role in Desiree Ellis’s South Africa Women’s team making history at this past summer’s 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, where she scored twice and assisted two goals in leading Banyana Banyana to its first knockout stage appearance at the globe’s biggest tournament.

Fatai Osho has resigned from his position as head coach of Nigeria Premier Football League outfit, Akwa United.


The Promise Keepers have struggled under Osho’s tutelage this season.

The former NPFL champions have recorded three wins in 14 league matches this term.

The former Rivers United assistant coach announced his resignation on the social media.

The young tactician thanked the chairman of the club Paul Bassey for his overwhelming support.

“ELDER PAUL BASSEY
Sir, I can’t thank you enough for my time at Akwa United FC. You’re a rare breed that deserves all happiness and success. We gave it our all but it was not to be.This temporary set back will be followed by unimaginable success. I will forever appreciate you,” he wrote on his X account.

Osho took charge of the Uyo outfit at the start of the season after the club failed to renew the contract of his former head coach, Ayodeji Ayeni.

Akwa United are expected to name a replacement ahead of their matchday 15 clash with Sunshine Stars on Thursday.

The technical crew of Kwara United Football Club, led by Coach Kabir Sulaiman Dogo has been given an ultimatum to win the next three matches or face sanctions, following the dwindling fortunes of the club.

The ultimatum is coming on the heel of the club’s goalless draw with North Central virals, Niger Tornadoes, on Sunday, bringing the number of home draws to four out of seven matches played at home in Ilorin.

In a letter titled ‘Notification of three matches ultimatum’, dated Monday December 18, 2023, and signed by the Club Secretary, Wale Obalola, the entire crew were charged to find a solution to the poor run of the team.

The other coaches are Coach Abdulkadir Abolaji (Assistant Coach) Coach Olaniyi Mukaila (Assistant Coach) and Coach Alao Olaniyi Adeyemi (Goalkeeper Trainer).

“The management of Kwara United Football Club wishes to inform you that the entire technical crew headed by you has been given three (3) matches ultimatum to arrest the current and unacceptable performance(s) of the team”, the letter read in part.

“In line with the above, and considering the dwindling performance(s) coupled with poor results of the State’s darling team, Kwara United Football Club in the on-going Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) 2023/2024 season that is already in Matchday 14, the management expresses dissatisfaction with the position of the team.

“The team only amassed two points from the last three matches without scoring a single goal, while playing two home matches out of the three and most unfortunately, the team had played seven (7) home matches with four (4) matches drawn out of the seven (7). With this unacceptable performance, the management has resolved to place the technical Crew on three (3) must-win matches ultimatum, or get sanctioned.

“The 3 matches are Matchday 15 home game against Plateau United on Thursday, December 21, 2023, Matchday 16 away match against Kano Pillars on Thursday 28 December 2023, as well as Matchday 17 home game against Lobi Stars FC.

“This action became necessary to re-energize the players in order to regain their confidence.

“The management appeal to the teeming supporters, fans, and stakeholders to sustain their support for the team, so that the team can move forward and compete for the title in the top-flight.”

Rivers United have departed the country for their CAF Confederation Cup clash against Club Africain of Tunisia.

The Pride of Rivers departed the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, aboard an Egypt Air flight at 2:45 pm on Sunday for Tunis, Tunisia via EgyptAir flight at with a stopover in Cairo, Egypt.

The contingent, which consists of players and officials, is expected to arrive in Tunis on Monday.

The Pride of Nigeria will confront Club Africain in a TotalEnergies CAF Confederation’s Cup Group C Matchday 4 tie at the Stade de Rades on Wednesday 20th December 2023.

The match is billed to kick off at 8 pm.

Rivers United defeated the North African side 1-0 last Sunday, at Godswill Akpabio International Stadium.

Nyima Nwagua was the hero as Stanley Eguma’s Rivers United claimed a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Club Africain in a Matchday three encounter between the two teams.

Cameroonian forward, Vincent Aboubakar has broken his silence following his exclusion from the Besiktas team.

The 31-year-old and four other players were sidelined by the Turkish club due to alleged poor performance and ‘incompatibilities within the team’.

Former Manchester United defender, Eric Bailly, plus Jean Onana, Rachid Ghezzal, and Valentin Rosier, have all been suspended by the Super Lig club.

The exclusion of the five players was confirmed on the club’s official website after the team’s 3-1 defeat to Fenerbache in the Turkish top flight.

According to reports in Turkey, Aboubakar left the camp for a hair transplant procedure which kept him away out of action.

However, the former FC Porto forward has denied the rumours, insisting he was very ill while also defending his contributions to the club this season.

Aboubakar is the club’s leading scorer this season with 11 goals, helping the Turkish outfit qualify for the group stage of the Europa Conference League.

The Cameroonian returned to Europe after a spell in the SPL with Al-Nassr, with his departure coinciding with the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo in January.

Several clubs, including Saudi Pro League (SPL) giants, Al-Ittihad are reportedly set to make a move for him in the January transfer window.