Sports development minister, Senator John Owan Enoh, has charged Nigerian athletes to compete favorably and achieve podium performances at the forthcoming 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France....Read Full Article

He gave the charge yesterday in Abuja during the official handover and farewell ceremony of the Team Nigeria contingent to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

He urged the contingent to strive for podium feat at the Games, emphasizing the importance of hard work and dedication.

He announced that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has fully approved the budget for the Games, demonstrating his unwavering commitment to excellence in sports. He therefore tasked members of Team Nigeria to make the President and the entire country proud in Paris.

“We have no excuse whatsoever,” said Senator Enoh. “The President has approved the entire budget for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, so it is up to us to try to reciprocate the goodwill of the President and give him reasons to continue to do more. It is not the first time he has done this. In December, he did the same for our male and female football teams by paying backlogs of salaries. He has done the same for our contingent going to the Olympics and Paralympics.”

Senator Enoh also highlighted the importance of the foreign training tours for different sports, aimed at ensuring the physical, technical, and tactical readiness of the athletes for the Games.

“Given the effort of both the Government and the Ministry, as well as well-meaning agencies, it is important that the athletes involved in this national call of duty regard themselves as performing an ambassadorial function, as ambassadors of Nigeria. We expect discipline, honesty, commitment, and responsibility to perform creditably well for podium placements.”

“Our expectations are high, and given my interactions with our athletes, I have no doubt that these expectations will be met,” he added.

The event was attended by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Sports Development, Atinuke Watti, President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Abu Gumel, President of the Paralympic Committee of Nigeria, Sunday Odebode, Charge  D’affaire  of the France Embassy in Nigeria, sports federations presidents, among others.

The ceremony also featured the official unveiling of Team Nigeria’s kits to be used in Paris.

Onyekachi Okafor is attracting interest from reigning Nigeria Premier Football League champions, Rangers and Enyimba, DAILY POST reports....Read Full Article

The Oriental rivals are desperate to add the player to their squad.

Okafor is a free agent after leaving Nigeria National League (NNL) side last season.

He recorded seven goals for the Naze Millionaires.

Rangers and Enyimba have made key additions to their squad in readiness for the new season.

The 30-year-old forward started his playing career with Enyimba.

Abia Comets have revealed the reason behind their decision to sack 21 players....Read Full Article

The Nigeria National League (NNL) side announced the sacking of the players on Monday.

Chairman of the club, Boniface Uche said that the gesture was aimed at re-engineering the team for a better performance next season.

Uche stressed that the players dropped were mostly those whose contracts have expired and those who are on loan with the club.

He assured that more quality players will be recruited ahead of the new season.

“I want to be quoted anywhere, Abia Comets is not owing any player nor staff. Everyone has been paid as at when due,” he told the media.

“We didn’t sack any of our staff, unless those whose contracts elapsed with the season. As we prepare for the new season, those of them that their services will be needed, will be recalled.”

Ex-England player Wayne Bridge has called on Gareth Southgate to drop Harry Kane in favour of Ivan Toney for Euro 2024 semi-final against Netherlands....Read Full Article

Bridge, who played for England 36 times between 2002 and 2009, suggested he would rather have seen Southgate drop Kane in a game that didn’t have much riding on it – like the third group stage fixture against Slovenia – but would still personally bench Kane in favour of Toney…or perhaps Ollie Watkins.

Kane has scored twice in five games at Euro 2024, including England’s extra-time winner against Slovakia in the last 16. But he has struggled to make a consistent impact with his overall performances, failing to fully click with the wingers and midfielders supporting him. Overall, England have progressed as far as the competition’s last four by grinding out results rather than blowing teams away, with Southgate and Kane in particular taking the brunt of frustrated criticism from fans and pundits.

Bridge told Betfred: “It would be a big statement for somebody to come out and say ‘drop Harry Kane’, but if you’re in the manager’s position, then can you really drop him? I would like to see it however, just to see how things change.

“I’d love to see either Ivan Toney or Ollie Watkins get more of a chance. It’s a big call to drop Harry Kane, but it’s one of them that I wish they did in the final group game which they didn’t desperately have to win because it would have been good to experiment and see how it goes. If you asked me whether or not to drop Harry Kane, then I’d probably say yes and have Ivan Toney up front but in Gareth’s position, it would be a very difficult call to make.”

UEFA have opted to stick with referee Felix Zwayer for the Euro 2024 semi-final between England and the Netherlands on Wednesday....Read Full Article

Zwayer’s appointment raised a lot of eyebrows because of his history.

The 43-year-old served a six-month ban for accepting a €300 (£253.82) bribe from fellow referee Robert Hoyzer in a 2005 scandal.

Mail Sport contacted UEFA for comment, querying why Zwayer would be chosen to officiate the fixture.

The UEFA bosses conducted a review and decided to go on with Zwayer for Wednesday’s semi-final.

The England vs Netherlands game kicks off 8pm in Dortmund.

UEFA has appointed a referee who previously confessed to match-fixing — and whose integrity was publicly questioned by Jude Bellingham — for England’s Euro 2024 semifinal against the Netherlands....Read Full Article

Felix Zwayer will officiate Wednesday’s clash in Dortmund despite being banned for six months in 2005 after taking a €300 ($325) bribe from another official, Robert Hoyzer.

A 2005 investigation found that Zwayer accepted a bribe to favour German club Wuppertaler SV in their match against Werder Bremen Amateure in May 2004.

Bellingham referred back to that incident in a postmatch interview in 2021 after Borussia Dortmund lost 3-2 to Bayern Munich in a huge Bundesliga game.

The England midfielder, who played for Dortmund at the time, said: “You can look at a lot of the decisions in the game.

“You give a referee, that has match-fixed before, the biggest game in Germany. What do you expect?”

Bellingham was subsequently fined €40,000 for his comments, which came after Dortmund were denied a penalty at one end and conceded one at the other.

Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke added at the time: “To be clear, Jude was not spreading lies, but what happened in the past. This statement shouldn’t have been, but I don’t see anything untrue there. I don’t expect that to have any consequences for Jude.”

Zwayer officiated the Netherlands’ 3-0 win over Romania in the Euro 2024 round of 16 on Tuesday.

The FA declined to comment on Zwayer’s appointment when contacted by ESPN.

England defender Luke Shaw was quick to dispel any thoughts of conspiracy when asked at a news conference Monday if the refereeing situation was uncomfortable.

“No, not at all,” the Manchester United player said. “We have to respect UEFA in whoever they decide to pick as the ref. That won’t change anything about us.

“We still just focus on the game in hand, not too much about what refs we’ve been given or this and that. For us, it won’t make any difference.”

Shaw went on to say he had never played in a game where he thought the officials were acting against his team.

“Sometimes in the heat of the moment, you get angry in games and you might think that, but no,” he said.

“Whatever ref has been picked has been picked. We just have to be ready and not focus on that.”

Opta’s Supercomputer has predicted the likely winners of the two Euro 2024 semi-finals....Read Full Article

It has also revealed which country has the best chance of becoming European champions on Sunday evening.

There are four teams left after a month of the tournament – France, Spain, the Netherlands and England.

According to Opta, England have a 51.51% chance of qualifying for the final as opposed to 48.49% for the Netherlands.

Spain are seen as slight favourites in the other game with a 53.51% chance of making the showpiece event in Berlin.

England have been given just a 22.58% chance of winning Euro 2024 – with only the Netherlands given less chance.

France are the new favourites and have been given a 30.49%, while Spain have a 30.3% chance of success in Germany.