Nigeria’s under-18 Women Handball Team on Saturday in Monastir, Tunisia, defeated their Angola counterparts 28-24 in the third place match of the ongoing Africa Women’s Youth Handball Championship.
Having lost the semi final game against Egypt, the national under 18 women handball team knew they needed to play with their heart out to finish as the third best team in the championship and they started like a house on fire and determination which ensured they won the first half 12-7 .
The Angolans, who were one of the favourites to win the competition, came back smoking in the second half but Coach Shittu Adewunmi Agboola’s tutored team held strong to win the match 28-24 and get the bronze medal as well taking a major scalp of a big team in Africa Women handball.
It would be recalled that Nigeria secured one of the four slots allocated to Africa for the World Championship after defeating Morocco in the quarter-finals.
They are the Nigerian U-18 women’s handball team to feature in this tournament since 2000.
Also, the first U-18 women’s handball team, since 2000, to make a podium finish.
At the 2000 edition, Nigeria finished second after losing to Côte d’Ivoire in the final.
In their first group game, they defeated Algeria 28-18 and lost to Guinea 23-20 in their second game.
However, they bounced back from the defeat to Guinea with a 28-20 win against hosts Tunisia in their final group game.
Meanwhile, in the final match, defending champion, Egypt retained their title as they comfortably defeat surprise finalist, Guinea 29-16 to be crowned champion of the 2023 Africa Women’s Youth Handball Championship.
The Shittu Agboola tutored side will arrive Nigeria on Monday.
Super Eagles winger, Moses Simon was at his best mettle as he scored a goal and bagged two assists as Nantes defeated Lorient 5-3 in Saturday’s Ligue 1 game.
The Yellow Submarine during the week defeated Clermont with Nigeria’s Super Eagles winger Moses Simon scoring the only goal of the game
The Nigerian International was the hero on Saturday again, The 27-year-old setup Matthis Albine for the game’s opening goal three minutes before the break.
The Nigeria international also teed up Florent Mollet for his side’s fourth goal seven minutes from time.
Simon then wrapped up the scores from the penalty spot deep into stoppage time.
The win moved Nantes to sixth on the league table on eight points while Lorient sits 14th on six points.
Simon has now scored two goals and provided four assists for Nantes this season.
Nigeria were defeated by defending champion Egypt 32-18 in the semi final of the Africa Women’s Youth Handball Championship ongoing in Monastir, Tunisia on Friday.
The national under-18 women’s handball team, led by Coach Shittu Adewunmi couldn’t contain the firepower of Egypt despite a fine start and lost the first half 18-7.
The second half was pretty much the same as the defending champion was too good for Nigeria and it ended 32-18.
It would be recalled that Nigeria defeated Morocco 28-14 on Wednesday in the quarter-finals and for the first time qualified for the IHF Women’s Youth World Championship which will hold in China next year.
The team will also play in the IHF Women Trophy Intercontinental Phase later in the year as well.
Nigeria will play Angola, who shockingly lost to Guinea 25-21 in the other semi final match, in the third place match while Egypt will play Guinea in the final.
The final and the third place match will be played on Saturday with Nigeria vs Angola playing at 4pm while the final match between Egypt and Guinea will be played at 6:30pm.
The center of excellence, Lagos State will feature in 34 events as they target top three finish on the medals table of the 7th National Youth Games, which starts tomorrow with the opening ceremony at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, the capital of Delta State.
The State contingent is made up of 320 athletes and 141 officials.
Meanwhile, screening of athletes is ongoing ahead of Saturday’s commencement of the games.
The indoor Sports Hall of the Stephen Keshi Stadium will be agog as scramble for medals begin in three sports namely weightlifting, table tennis and table tennis.
The games will be declared open tomorrow evening beginning from 6 pm.
A joint meeting of the MOC, LOC, and Director of Sports of the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory has been scheduled for Saturday, September 22. It will start at 6 a.m., with the agenda being the opening ceremony to be held later that day and all other business.
States’ contingents started arriving in Asaba on Wednesday, and 27 states have registered with the Ministry of Sports Development and the Local Organising Committee.
The Games to be held from September 23–30, 2023, across multiple venues in the Delta State capital will feature 35 sports, which include athletics, basketball, cricket, chess, football, judo, golf, handball, scrabble, taekwondo, and volleyball, with no fewer than 4,500 athletes from the states and the FCT participating.
Director-General of the Lagos State Sports Commission, Gafaar Bolowotan said the athletes were in top shape to win laurels for the state, having undergone training at various centres in the state and are ready to do the state proud.
“We are ready for Asaba ,our athletes have been well motivated and our expectations are very high .We were disturbed by the several postponements and we are relief now and ready to chase medals. The commission has done its best to encourage our athletes to go for glory and we hope to finish among the top 3 at the games..”
Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier, the interim management of the Zimbabwe Football Association has appointed a new manager for the Warriors
Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) announced on their X handle on Thursday.
Brito, 71, is still the head coach of Zimbabwe club side Highlanders FC, who are currently second in the 18-team league, just one point off leaders Ngezi Platinum.
Brazilian-born Baltemor Brito, a former assistant to Jose Mourinho at Porto and Chelsea, will be saddled with the responsibility of tinkering with the team for the qualifier.
It would be recalled that Football in Zimbabwe has been under suspension for the last 18 months due to government interference.
Their suspension was lifted in July after its March 2022 expulsion, and the soccer federation has been under the governance of a temporary committee.
“Brito and his assistants’ first assignment will be the invitational match to celebrate Botswana’s Independence Day on 30 September. Thereafter, they will have to begin working on creating a team to compete in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in November.
Brito was part of a quartet that also included fitness coach Rui Faria, goalkeeping coach Silvino Louro, and chief scout André Villas-Boas that followed Mourinho from Porto to Chelsea in 2004.
He also specialized in audio-visual work to prepare the team for matches. As the special one left Chelsea early into 2007–08, so did Brito and other assistants.
Super Eagles goal pacher Victor Osimhen was named Man of the Match following Napoli’s hard-earned victory at SC Braga on Wednesday
The Serie A champions started their campaign in this season’s UEFA Champions League with a 2-1 win at the Estadio Municipal de Braga.
The FIFA Men’s Best and Ballon d or nominee Osimhen was a menace to the sporting Braga backline, didn’t score in the game, but he was recognized for his impressive display by the UEFA Technical Observer Panel.
Giovanni Di Lorenzo opened the scoring for Napoli on the stroke of halftime, While Bruma equalized for Braga four minutes from time.
However, Rudi Garcia’s Napoli won the game late on following an own goal scored by Braga’s defender to secure the victory.
Nigeria’s Super Eagles dropped a place in the latest monthly FIFA rankings released on Thursday.
The world soccer governing body has released the latest ranking for September 2023 with Nigeria’s Super Eagles dropping out African Top 5.
The Jose Peseiro tutored side slipped from the 39th position to the 40th place. In Africa the Super Eagles are ranked 6th behind Morocco (1st), Senegal (2nd), Tunisia (3rd), Algeria (4th, Egypt (5th) while Cameroon (7th), Mali (8th),Ivory Coast 9th and Burkina Faso completing the top 10th.
Jose Peseiro’s side thrashed Sao Tome and Principe 6-0 in their last fixture, but the result didn’t have any positive effect on their position on the ranking table.
The Eagles’ 2026 FIFA World Cup Group C qualifying opponents Lesotho, billed to face Eagles in November, did not fare much better either dropping to 152 on the ladder. If ranking were to translate to results on the pitch, it will be taken for granted that Eagles will make mincemeat of Lesotho when they come visiting in November.
South Africa and Benin Republic dropped to 65 and 94 places, respectively, while Zimbabwe stayed at 125 and Rwanda also remained at 139.
Also, Saudi Arabia, who will play the Eagles in a friendly in October, dropped to 57 spot.
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 26 October.
Fifa World Cup winner Argentina tighten their grip at the summit of the ranking, to remain the number one football nation in the world, Second place France lost some ground on Argentina after suffering a 2-1 friendly defeat against Germany.
Meanwhile, Brazil (3rd), England (4th) and Belgium (5th) retain their places in a top five that remains unchanged from the July 2023 edition of the global ranking.
The leading pack are followed by Croatia (6th), the Netherlands (7th) and Portugal (8th), the only team amongst the top ten to climb a position.
Italy (9th) slipped a spot after being held to a 1-1 draw away to North Macedonia in the sides’ UEFA EURO 2024 qualifier. The top-ten line-up is completed by Spain.
Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh, has congratulated Team Nigeria athletes for making the country proud at the 2023 ITTF Africa Senior Table Tennis Championships, held in Tunis, Tunisia.
Africa’s number 1 table tennis player, Aruna Quadri won Gold for Nigeria in the men’s singles after defeating familiar foe, Ahmed Saleh of Egypt by 4-0 (11-2, 12-10, 11-6, 11-6) in the final match played in Tunis.
Aruna however made a lightwork of the Egyptian to win his third continental title. He won the second title last year in Algeria with a 4-3 nerve-wracking win against Egypt’s Omar Assar.
In the Women’s Doubles event, Nigeria’s duo of Funke Oshonaike and Fatimo Bello combined their experience and youthful energy to overpower Cameroon’s Sarah Hanffou and Egypt’s Marwa Alhodaby 3-2 (11-8, 8-11, 11-4, 7-11, 12-10), as the Nigerians clinched gold in the pulsating final.
The Minister said “On behalf of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and all Nigerians, I heartily congratulate these incredible athletes for bringing glory to the country in far away Tunisia. Defeating all-comers on the continent, in a foreign soil takes resilience, hard work, strength, and discipline. While the path to success has not been easy, their sense of patriotism remained unwavering.”
He also congratulated Olajide Omotayo and Idowu Saheed who both lost in the men’s singles semi-finals, urging them to take pride in their outings and reflect on their performances.
With a few weeks to the start of the inaugural edition of the African Football League, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has increased the money involved.
Eight clubs were selected to be the pioneer clubs for the competition, Africa’s most famous and successful teams from the 3 African Regional Blocks which are: the North Region, the Central-West Region, and the South-East Region. Egyptian giants Al Ahly Football Club, Tunisia’s Espérance Sportive de Tunis, and Wydad Athletic Club from Morocco are the football clubs from the North Region.
The clubs from the Central-West Region are: Nigeria’s Enyimba Football Club and the DRC’s Tout Puissant Mazembe.
Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club from South Africa, Angola’s Atlético Petróleos de Luanda and Tanzania’s Simba Sports Club are the football clubs from the South-East Region.
The football body on Monday evening announced an increment of cash for the teams involved starting from the start.
According to CAF, all the teams will get $900,000 as the participation fee as against the $500,000 that was earlier scheduled.
The semi-finalists will get $1.7 million for reaching the final four of the competition and finalist to earn $2.8 million.
The African Football League is set to kick off in October, with Enyimba International hosting Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in the first leg.
This enhanced financial incentive is expected to provide further motivation for the participating clubs, fostering increased competitiveness and excitement for the inaugural season.
With the increased cash rewards, the competition becomes even more enticing, providing an added incentive for clubs to perform at their best and elevate the profile of African club football.
The Super Falcons of Nigeria have cruised into the second round of the qualifiers for the 2023 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations following the withdrawal of Sao Tome and Principe.
The game is originally scheduled for the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, for Friday, September 22nd, with the return leg slated for Tuesday, September 26th.
Meanwhile Sao Tome and Principe Football Association have notified the Confederation of African Football (CAF) of their decision to withdraw from their qualifying race.
With the withdrawal of Sao Tome, nine-time African champions will play host to the winner of another first-round match between Liberia and Cape Verde during the second-round stage, which is scheduled to take place from November 27 to December 5, 2018.
The biggest Women’s Football fiesta on the continent will once again be held in Morocco, which hosted it last year.
After their withdrawal from the qualifiers, and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) had to write the clubs to notify them about the latest development.
NFF had announced the Super Falcons squad for the games with confusion over the coaching crew status.
The Head Coach of Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC,) of Ibadan, Gbenga Ogunbote, has promised to solve the goal-scoring issues of the team.
Ogunbote popularly called the Oracle made this known after the team was held to a goalless draw by Sporting Lagos, in a pre-season friendly tie played at the Lekan Salami Stadium on Sunday morning, the 3SC gaffer, identified poor marksmanship as the major undoing of his team.
“This is one of our pre-season games. It has ended in a goalless draw, but we will take the positives from the game and make corrections where necessary.
“The good thing is that we were able to create a lot of chances in the game but we didn’t convert any of them, the only one we converted did not count.
It calls for worry but all things being equal, it is just a matter of getting it right”, said the former Remo Stars tactician, who however, expressed his team’s readiness for a good campaign in the 2023/24 season.
Nigerian club Rivers United drew 0-0 away to Etoile Filante of Burkina Faso on Sunday and boosted hopes of reaching the CAF Confederation Cup group stage.
The Pride of Rivers qualified for the second round of the preliminary round of the competition after they were drawn bye by the African soccer ruling body.
They joined the competition in the Second Round due to their decent performance last season finishing in the quarter-final.
Etoile on their part reached the second after they defeated Casa Ziguiqor of Senegal in the first round.
Meanwhile Ouagadougou-based Etoile were forced to play in the Ivory Coast city of Yamoussoukro because there is no international-standard stadium in their country.
Stanley Eguma Rivers side is the best bet for a Nigerian presence in the mini-league phase this season after compatriots Bendel Insurance were held at home by Renaissance Berkane of Morocco on Saturday.
Return matches in the last 32 qualifiers will be staged between September 29 and October 1 with Rivers enjoying home advantage while Bendel travels to North Africa.
The Confederation Cup – the African equivalent of the Europa League – offers Nigeria the only hope of CAF glory after the early exits of Enyimba and Remo Stars from the Champions League.
No Nigerian club has won the second-tier competition since its introduction in 2004 with Dolphins coming closest by losing the second final to Moroccan outfit FAR Rabat.
Super Eagles star Moses Simon has been ranked ahead of Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembélé on the list of fastest players in the French Ligue 1 this season.
With just four games into the start of the new Ligue 1 season, several players in the league have hit top speed in the French top flight.
Simon is into his fifth season with the French Ligue 1 side, including the one season he spent on loan from levante.
Simon, who is known for his dribbling skills on the left wing and also his pace, which is always difficult for defenders to cope with, has one assist to his name against Marseille.
According to 90mins, the Nigerian winger is the second fastest player in the French league with 35.97 km/h, with Olympique Marseille defender Jonathan Clauss owning the top spot with 36.11 km/h.
1. Jonathan Clauss
The Olympique de Marseille midfielder holds a top speed of 36.11km/hr and is the fastest player in the league so far.
2. Moses Simon
The F.C. Nantes winger comes in second place, hitting a top speed of 35.95 km/hr, alongside his teammate, Kader Bamba.
3. Jim Allevinah
The Clermont Foot winger hit a top speed of 35.88 km/hr.
4. Iliman Ndiaye
The Senegalese and Olympique Marseille winger has a top speed of 35.86 km/hr
5. Alidu Seidu
Another Clermont foot winger in the list, the Ghanian hit a top speed of 35.84 km/hr.
6. Terem Moffi
Another Nigerian on the list, the OGC Nice centre forward has a top speed of 35.82 km/hr.
7. Mousa Taremi
Taremi has a top speed of 35.80 km/hr.
8. Jérémie Boga Yet another OGC Nice player to make the list, Boga hit a top speed of 35.74 km/hr.
9. Caio Henrique
The Monaco left-wing back is the only defender on the list, with a top speed of 35.64 km/hr.
Simons’ however celebrated his rankings with a goal as Nantes pipped Clermont 1_0 to earn their first win of the Ligue 1 season, and Moses Simon, first goal of the season.
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