African champions D’Tigress will know their group opponents in the upcoming Olympic qualifying tournament next week.

The Nigerian side qualified for the final stage of the qualifier in July when they emerged as the Women’s Afrobasketball Champions.

D’Tigeress despite not having a decent preparation proved too much for the rest of Africa to win their 4th consecutive title.

They defeated Senegal in the final of the competition played in Rwanda.

The most recent victory made Nigeria only the second team ever, after Senegal, to win four consecutive titles and they did so in style by extending their unbeaten run to 23 games.

Aside from that, the head coach of D’Tigress, Rena Wakama, also made history as the first female coach to win the competition since it began in 1966. After 57 years of male supremacy in women’s basketball in Africa.

D’Tigress who are now ranked as the 11th team globally last lost a game in the Women’s AfroBasket in 2015 against Cameroon in the semi-finals.

According to the update from FIBA, the draw will take place on the 5th of October in Hungary.

The Confederation of African Football ( CAF) has announced the postponement of the 2024 Championship of African Nations ( CHAN) qualifiers.

The Africa governing football body confirmed the postponement on Friday after the intending host is yet to be determined

Algeria hosted the last edition of the competition and Senegal emerged as the winner for the first time in their history.

CAF noted that it is currently impossible to finalize the qualifying format.

The format depends closely on the zone which will host the final tournament, the latter having to compete for the remaining places after having allocated that of the host association.

Therefore, the qualifiers are officially postponed, and new dates will be announced as soon as the host country is confirmed.

The months of September, October, December 2023 and March 2024 were initially selected for the qualifying matches.

Bendel Insurance have been eliminated from the CAF Confederation Cup following a 1-0 defeat to RS Berkane of Morocco.

Youssef Zghoudi beat an offside trap early in the first half to score the only goal of the game.

The Moroccans held Bendel Insurance to a 2-2 draw in the first leg two weeks ago at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City.

The visitors fought back in the second half but were unable to find a way back into the game.

RS Berkane, who won the competition in 2022, proceeded to the group stage 3-2 on aggregate.

Nigeria’s other representative in the competition, Rivers United will entertain Burkina Faso’s Etoile Filante on Sunday.

The fixture is slated for the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Port Harcourt, 4:00 pm local time.

The Nigeria Premier Football League opener involving Sporting Lagos and Gombe United has been postponed.

The match was initially billed for Saturday, September 30, at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan Lagos.

It will now be held on Monday, October 2nd, at the same venue.

The Chief Operating Officer of the NPFL, Davidson Owumi, stated that the postponement was necessitated due to logistics reasons involving the venue of the match.

Coach Paul Offor’s side secured promotion to the top flight after finishing among the top four in the Nigeria National League playoff.

Sporting Lagos FC, founded by Shola Akinlade, and Gombe United also known as Savannah Scorpions will be meeting for the first time in the history of the NPFL.

Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) side, Kano Pillars has been banned from registering new players ahead of the season by the league organizer.

The ban was necessitated following the failure of the club to pay the mandatory N11.8m to former goalkeeper, Bassey Akpan for breach of contract.

In a letter signed by the NPFL Head of Administration, Stanley Ike-Richard sent to the Kano Pillars management and made available to sports journalists, the NPFL made it clear that given the existing ban, the club cannot sign or register new players ahead of the new season until the club pays the former player the outstanding sum of eleven million, eight hundred thousand naira(N11,800,000.00).

It will be recalled that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) through the Players’ Status/Arbitration Committee in a letter signed by the Secretary of the Committee, Joshua Onoja, Esq. ordered Kano Pillars to remit the outstanding sum of ₦11.8 million owed in arrears to their former goalkeeper Bassey Akpan within 21 days in June 2023, a decision the club is yet to comply with.

The former Kwara unite shot-stopper joined Kano Pillars from Akwa United as a free agent and penned a two-year contract then.

The former Nigeria international Akpan was named in the Super Eagles preparatory squad for the 2010 World Cup by Coach Lars Largerback but did not make the final squad.

Meanwhile, The 2023/24 NPFL season will kick off this weekend with Kano Pillars playing on the road against Sunshine Stars after Abudulai Maikaba” ‘s led side secured promotion to the top flight after finishing second in the Nigeria National League playoff.

The NPFL Chief Operating Officer, Davidson Owumi however announced that the ban will not be lifted until both parties reach a compromise.

The profile of former Nigeria’s Super Eagles striker Odion Jude Ighalo continues to soar in Saudi Arabia football with another magnificent performance in the King’s Cup.

Al Wehdah defeated Abha 3-0 last weekend with Ighalo scoring the 3rd goal to help ensure full points.

They faced Al Orubah in the round of 32 of the King’s Cup on Wednesday and after a scoreless first half, it was Ighalo who broke the deadlock in the 76th minute.

Nawaf bin Saleh Al Azizi sealed the game for Al Wehdah in the 90th minute as the game ended 2-0 and they progressed into the round of 16.

Ighalo has now scored 5 goals in the last 4 matches.

Al Wehda will face Al Taawon in round 16 on October 30.

African soccer governing body CAF has stated the period the 2025 and 2027 African Cup of Nations will take place.

The football body on Wednesday announced Morocco as the host of the 2025 edition while the Central African Nations consisting of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will host the 2027.

CAF has made it clear that the competition will be held in June/July of 2025 and 2027 to avoid club versus country row.

Meanwhile, AFCON is a tournament that usually comes up during winter (January/February) but was moved to summer in 2019 in Egypt.

It was dragged back to January/February in Cameroon 2021 and the coming edition in Ivory Coast will still be held in January/February 2024.

The president of CAF Patrice Motsepe has now made it clear that 2025 and 2027 will be held in the summer.

Morocco has won the right to host the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

The North African nation beat neighbors Algeria and Nigeria to host the tournament after securing 22 votes, compared to none from their competitors.

The World Cup semi-finalists will be hosting the Africa Cup of Nations for the second time in their history, with the first being in 1988.

The decision was announced at a CAF Executive Committee meeting on Wednesday, as confirmed on social media.

Morocco are one-time African champion, winning the tournament in 1976 before reaching the final in 2004, where they lost to Tunisia.

Meanwhile, in recent years, Morocco has showcased its full readiness to host Africa’s biggest football event.

Officials from both CAF and FIFA have hailed the quality of Morocco’s football infrastructure and accommodation facilities, stressing that the North African country has what it takes to host prestigious sporting events, including AFCON.

Morocco showed its readiness by hosting several world-class CAF events, including the African Women’s Cup of Nations in July 2022 and the Club World Cup earlier this year, while also being named the WAFCON 2024 hosting country.

Hailing Morocco’s potential to be a respectable host of international tournaments, the FIFA President said last year that Morocco is a great country not only for football but also as a country that knows how to organize major events.

In addition to the continental event, the Atlas lions of Morocco is also bidding to jointly host the 2030 FIFA World Cup with Portugal and Spain.

Meanwhile, Ivory Coast will host the 2023 edition next year with the draw for the tournament set for October 12 in Abidjan.

However, The hope of Nigeria and the Benin Republic having a joint hosting of the African Cup of Nations has finally ended.

Both countries had been pushing and submitted a bid to host the 2025 and 2027 edition of the AFCON, but since Morocco was named 2025 hosting country, all hope was on the 2027 AFCON.

But at the end of voting, it was the Central African countries Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania that got the hosting right and dumped out the other contestants.

The Super Falcons of Nigeria will take on Cape Verde in the second round of the qualifiers for the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.

Cape Verde booked a date with Nigeria after beating Liberia 6-2 on aggregate in the first round.

Cape Verde defeated Liberia 3-2 in the second leg in Monrovia on Tuesday night. They won the first leg 3-0 in Praia last week.

The Super Falcons did not feature in the first round qualifiers, after securing a walkover against São Tomé and Principe who withdrew before the first-leg.

The winner between the Super Falcons and Cape Verde will qualify for the 2024 WAFCON In Morocco.

At the 2022 WAFCON held also in Morocco, the Super Falcons finished fourth. Banyana Banyana of South Africa are the reigning champions after edging Morocco 2-1 in the final.

Meanwhile in other first-round, second-leg fixtures, Kenya pulled a surprise after knocking out Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon 4-3 in a penalty shootout.

Cameroon won the first leg 1-0 at home while Kenya edged the reverse fixture by the same scoreline.

The Cameroon ouster made it the second consecutive time they failed to qualify for the competition.

In another surprise result, Tanzania canceled out a 2-0 first-leg loss to Côte d’Ivoire and went on to win 4-3 also on penalty kicks.

Nigeria’s Super Eagles forward Paul Onuachu continued his impressive performance in the Turkish Super Lig with Trabzonspor.

Last Sunday, Onuachu marked his debut for Trabzonspor with a goal as they thrashed Besiktas 3-0, The Nigerian International meanwhile sustained an injury in his opening game with the club

The former Genk forward recovered in time to face Hatayaspor on Monday and was on target in the fiercely played encounter which ended in a five-goal thriller.

Visca put Trabzonspor ahead in the 44th minute before Onuachu doubled their lead in the 66th minute of the game.

Onuachu was however replaced in the 68th minute before Rivas halved the scoreline for the host in the 72nd minute.

Germany-born Nigerian midfielder Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, younger brother to former Flying Eagles player Tom Dele-Bashiru, had the assist for Hatayspor equalizer on 88 minutes.

Dele-Bashiru then got the winner for Hatayspor in the 97th minute.

The win saw Hatayspor move above Trabzonspor to fourth position on 10th points, Trabzonspor, occupy sixth place on nine points.

Onuachu is currently on loan to Trabzonspor from Championship club Southampton.

The striker joined Southampton in January 2023, but failed to score a single goal in 11 Premier League games as the club got relegated.

Prior to joining Southampton he scored 16 goals in 19 league outings for Belgian side Genk.

The striker joined Southampton in January 2023, but failed to score a single goal in 11 Premier League games as the club got relegated.

Prior to joining Southampton he scored 16 goals in 19 league outings for Belgian side Genk.

Nigerian Referee Patience Ndidi Madu, has been named to officiate the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations qualifiers’ second leg clash between Mali and Central African Republic later this week

Mali thrashed Central African Republic 7-1, in the first leg last week.

The second leg is billed to take place at the Stade 26 Mars, Bamako.

One of the Nigerian female-rated referees, Patience Ndidi Madu will be the central referee for the game.

The Enugu State-born referee will be accompanied by her compatriots Mfon Akpan and Abibatu Yusuf will serve as the first and second assistant referees, respectively.

While Abigael Alaba Olufunmilayo, will be the fourth official.

The winner of the tie will make it to the second round of qualification ahead of the Top Women tournament next year.

Barring any last-minute change, the 2023/2024 Nigeria Premier Football League has gotten a kick-off date.

The league was initially slated to kick off in late August but was shifted due to logistics reasons.

Saturday, September 30 has now been officially announced as the commencement date for the 2023/24 season of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL).

In a letter dated Monday, September 25, Davidson Owumi, the Chief Operating Officer also notified the 20 participating Clubs that the champions of the season would receive ₦150m which is a 50% increase from last season’s prize money.

Enyimba International is currently the defending champions of the league after they clinched the Super Six title in Lagos.

Another highlight of the letter to the clubs is the payment of start-off grants of a total of ₦200m to the 20 clubs.

“The 20 clubs will, as was done last season receive a take-off grant of Ten Million Naira (₦10,000,000) each to smoothen your operations as the season starts.

“We are therefore expecting the Clubs to as a matter of urgency forward their respective account details to the NPFL Secretariat for the transfer of the said amount as the season is set to commence on Saturday, September 30, 2023”, Owumi stated in the letter addressed to all Club Chairmen and General Managers.

On the prize money, the letter read; “after due deliberations by the Chairman and our Strategic Partners, it was agreed that the Prize money, since that is what connotes the true value of the league, be reviewed upwards to ₦150million”.

The letter also addressed some of the Marketing concerns and assured the clubs that the NPFL Board would at all times take decisions and enter into contracts that serves the best interest of the league and the clubs.

“Be rest assured that we will at all times be guided by the very best interest of our league and by implication, the participating Clubs”, the COO explained while adding that discussions are still ongoing with a company that proposed a ten-year partnership for broadcast rights.

“We remain very hopeful that they or other prospective partners will show up since talks are still ongoing. Any success achieved, will enlarge the economic frontiers of the league and by extension the clubs as we progress”, he concluded.

Super Eagles goal machine Victor Osimhen has reportedly apologized to coach Rudi Garcia following a spat on the touchlines during the team’s 0-0 draw away at Bologna on Sunday.

It had been a frustrating evening for Osimhen, who missed the chance to put Napoli ahead from the penalty spot, before being subbed off by Garcia and replaced by Giovanni Simeone in the 86th minute and Napoli still in search of the winning goal.

A visibly frustrated Osimhen directed his anger towards Garcia as he made his way to the touchline, making gestures that indicated he thought having two strikers on the pitch would have been beneficial to Napoli in the closing stages of the game.

Despite his frustration, Osimhen knows that the coach’s decision is final and must be respected. Realizing that, Napoli’s leading goalscorer apologized in the changing rooms of the Dall’Ara immediately after the full-time whistle according to reports from Calciomercato.com.

Training on Monday morning also provided an opportunity for Osimhen and Garcia to evaluate the scenes on Sunday, though it is reported that there were no further arguments of complications to the situation.

All being well, the player and the coach are ready to move on and are now preparing for the visit of Udinese on Wednesday, where Napoli will hope to avoid going four consecutive matches in Serie A without a win, and Osimhen aiming towards scoring after four games without finding the back of the net.

Sensational table tennis star, Aruna Quadri, moved up two spots from 18th to 16th in the latest International Table Tennis Federation World Rankings for men’s singles.

The victory of Nigeria table tennis star Aruna Quadri at the just concluded African Championship in Rades, Tunisia is yielding an instant impact, which was his eighth African table tennis title.

The Nigerian top seed retained his men’s singles title with a convincing 4-0 (11-2, 12-10, 11-6, 11-6) amid missing a direct qualifying spot for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

In the latest International Table Tennis Federation rankings, Aruna has moved up two places to the 16th position in the world and undisputed number one in Africa.

Aruna earned 500 ranking points for a total of 1260 and remains the best-ranked African player.

He is the only African player in the world’s top 20. Since 2018, Aruna has secured three African singles titles, triumphed in doubles three times, and victorious in two team events.

Egypt’s Omar Assar also moved up one spot to 21st in the world and second in Africa with a total point haul of 990 points, while Ahmed Saleh made an incredible leap moving 218 places to finish the month at 52nd and third in Africa with 38i points.

Mohamed Beiali is ranked 62nd in the world and fourth in the continent, having chalked up 307 points.

Senegal’s Ibrahima Diaw lost two spots to finish the month at 90 in the world and fifth on the continent, having chalked up 208 points.

Meanwhile, 17-year-old, Taiwo Mati is the second Nigerian to feature in the top 100 in the world though he dropped two places again to 92nd in the world with 207 points.

The Nigerian duo of Omotayo Olajide and Bode Abiodun made appreciable improvements as they moved up from 264 and 294 spots respectively to rank 104 and 146.

Meanwhile, Amadi Omeh dropped four spots, and is now placed 169th, Azeez Solanke also dropped two spots to 286th, while Riliwan Akanbi on his part dropped four spots in the recent ranking released to 273.

Super Eagles Goalkeeper Ojo Olorunleke has expressed that Enyimba’s lack of competitive matches will not affect the team during their African Football League clash against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco.

The two-time CAF Champions League winners will face the North African side in the quarter-final of the inaugural edition of the competition.

The first leg is billed for the Godswil Akpabio Stadium, Uyo, on October 20.

Enyimba captain revealed that the team is working tirelessly to get in shape ahead of the encounter.

“The team is in a very good physical condition and we are working tirelessly ahead of the competition,” ojo told reporters.

“Our lack of competitive matches will not affect our performance during the competition.”