championtobi

PRIDEOFLOBISTARS is a dedicated “Lobi Stars Community” by fans of the club.  Shoe Get Size! You can love him or hate him, you can't deny that fact that Dominic Iorfa is one of the greatest club administrators of all time in Nigeria. Iorfa's midas touch has made Lobi Stars one of the leading clubs in the domestic scene.  Playing away from home is a big challenge to any team, but Iorfa"s excellent administrative capacity ensured the team finished well and wormed their way into the hearts of new fans. For critics who may not realise this, Nasarawa United, played in Jos like Lobi, but got relegated. Not even Plateau United, who are the landlords in Jos made it to the playoffs.  Lobi reached the PlayOffs in Lagos as finished as the 6th best team in the country.  Remember Lobi Stars was in troubled relegation waters when Iorfa was called upon for a task described as "rescue mission" by the owners of the team, the Benue State government.  Knowing the challenges of a te...

  Rome, 05/07/2023 (MAP) - Italy commended Morocco's "serious and credible efforts" to find a solution to the Sahara issue, in the Action Plan for the implementation of the Multidimensional Strategic Partnership between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Italian Republic, signed on Wednesday in Rome. "Italy commends the serious and credible efforts made by Morocco", as reflected in Security Council Resolution 2654 of October 27, 2022," according to the Action Plan, signed by Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita and his Italian counterpart, Antonio Tajani. Referring to the Moroccan autonomy initiative, Italy also reaffirms "its support for the efforts of the UN Secretary-General to pursue the political process aimed at achieving a just, realistic, pragmatic, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution to the Sahara issue, based on compromise in accordance with Resolution 2654", the document st...

The National Handball Premier League will now be known as the Ardova Handball Premier League following the unveiling of the Ardova PLC as the sponsor of the top tier handball league. In a press conference held at Ardova PLC corporate office in GRA, Lagos, the Handball Federation of Nigeria led by the president, Mr. Sam Ocheho and the Ardova PLC team led by her Chairman, Chairman, Alhaji AbdulWasiu Sowami officially sealed the sponsorship of the league for another 3 years. Ocheho said since the sponsorship of the premier league by Prudent Energy and Services Ltd, the league has grown in leap and bound, positioning Nigeria handball to its highest pedestal and exposing the best players in the league to international reckoning for over five years He further said the league will get a better mileage and surpass its potential with Ardova PLC now as sponsor. Chairman of Ardova PLC, Alhaji Abdulwasiu Sowami said he and his team are confident that the satisfaction they got in the previous five ...

A total of 42 foreign long distance runners have indicated interest in competing at the 2023 edition of the Lotus Bank Abeokuta 10km Race, which has been scheduled to hold in the Ogun state capital city on September 9.  The 10km race will flag off at the Iyana Oloke, Onikolobo and finish at the entrance to the Alake of Egbaland Palace, Ake, Abeokuta. The foreign winners at the 2023 Abeokuta 10km Race, which is the third edition of the 10km race will go home with a total prize money of twelve thousand five hundred dollars. The breakdown of the prizes according to the Chief Executive Officer / Managing Director of Nilayo Sports Management Company, Chief Bukola Olopade, would see the champion of the 3rd Abeokuta 10km Race go home with a cash prize of five thousand dollars, second place winner $3000, third place $2,000 and fourth place $1,500 and fifth place $1,000 making a total of $12,000. The Chief Executive Officer of Nilayo Sports Management Limited, Chief Bukola Olopade, Wednesda...

    Imade Osarenkhoe’s strike from six yards on the dot of half time, after handball in the box by Rangers’ defender Chinemerem Ugwueze, handed Bendel Insurance this year’s NFF-TINGO Federation Cup title and a ticket to represent Nigeria in next season’s CAF Confederation Cup competition.   The ‘Flying Antelopes’ threw in all they could muster in an interesting encounter at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba on Wednesday, but the ‘Benin Arsenal’ were determined to hew something out of a see-saw season in which they remained unbeaten in the Nigeria Premier Football League regular season only to end up empty-handed in the Playoff Championship.   Insurance had come close in the 16 th  minute when Deputy Echeta hit the ball hard and goalkeeper Detan Ogundare spilled the shot, only for the rebound to be diverted.   A minute into the restart, Rangers’ Shedrack Asiegbu let fly from the left side, but the effort went over the bar. In the 55 th  minute, Insurance...

  Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye, Chairman of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) has praised the 20 Clubs that participated in the recently concluded regular season that was abridged to achieve alignment with International football calendar. Elegbeleye spoke on the sidelines of the contract signing ceremony with Propel Sports Africa (PSA) for live streaming of the NPFL in the 2023/24 season and noted that "without the cooperation of the clubs' leadership, the task would have been extremely tedious". He recalled some of the challenges the nascent IMC board encountered and how they were navigated with the support of diverse stakeholders and the Ministry of Sports and Youth Development to steady the course of the season. "Today, I would like to commend the clubs for their understanding and subsequent cooperation with us in implementing our strategies to meet the terms of reference issued to the IMC" "It obviously was a...

  A thrilled President of Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau on Wednesday night told Nigeria’s U20 boys, Flying Eagles to go for all three points against Brazil in their final group game at the FIFA U20 World Cup to sustain their winning mentality. The NFF supremo spoke minutes after the two-time World Cup silver medallists stunned Italy 2-0 in Mendoza to soar to the top of Group D at the ongoing global fiesta in Argentina, with a commanding performance that left the Italians and their thousands of supporters flustered and crest-fallen at the Estadio Malvinas Argentina. Pre-game, the bookmakers had the encounter all in favour of the Italians, who overran Brazil with three goals in a rapturous first 45 minutes on Sunday, before the South Americans reduced the tally by two in the second period. Against the Flying Eagles, the pacy Italians could not find their rhythm and simply watched the Nigerians dominate several sectors of the pitch, with two well-taken second ...

  The emergence of GTI Asset Management & Trust Ltd into Nigeria's football ecosystem has helped to restructure and reposition Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) for greatness following the chains of successes so far achieved in the execution of the 2022/2023 abridged league. Already, the NPFL will be entering another crucial stage of a playoff that will involve the six top clubs in the league to ascertain the ultimate winner of this highly contested soccer season.  Therefore, come June 1 to 11, 2023 the city of Lagos and Mobolaji Johnson Sports Arena, Onikan precisely, will be agog as the three top clubs in Groups A and B of the NPFL respectively will slug it out in what football analysts described as, “Mother of all soccer battles”.Here, all six teams will play each other in a round-robin format to decide the NPFL champions for the 2022/2023 season. Aside from the aforementioned, history will also be made this season as the winner of the NPFL Championship Playoff wil...

  MTN Nigeria, the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) and La Liga, the men's top professional football division of the Spanish football league system, have announced the 2023 edition of the U-15 youth league tournament. The tournament kicked off on April 13, 2023, after a press briefing at the Remo Stars stadium in Ikenne, Ogun State.   The U-15 tournament, which features 16 teams, will showcase the sport's best and brightest young talent. The tournament promises to be one of the most exciting sporting events of the year, with 16 youth football teams from across the country competing for a month to be crowned champions.  According to Harry Iwuala, Head of Communications for the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL), the tournament provides an opportunity to further invest in and develop grassroots football in Nigeria.    “The philosophy behind this tournament is the same as the philosophy behind every global youth football development progra...

The Interim Management Committee (IMC) has assured Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) Clubs and all stakeholders of fair, transparent and balanced decisions on all issues requiring the intervention of the league body. Davidson Owumi, the Head of Operations of IMC, in a statement said it's decisions has never been made to favour any club including those of Board members and cited an earlier sanction on Niger Tornadoes, whose Chairman, Hon Adamu Aliyu Mohammed is on the board of the IMC.  He therefore offered assurances that IMC interventions through the instrument of the Summary Jurisdiction will always apportion sanctions on, and reliefs to clubs based on findings supported by the rules. "Our rulings are blind to who or what clubs are involved as we only adhere strictly to the dictates of the Framework and Rules. In a MatchDay 6 ruling, we fined Niger Tornadoes who has their Chairman as our Board member. The rule was not bent to favour him", Owumi noted. With regards ...

  Two goals, one in each half, steered nine-time African champions Nigeria past Haiti’s senior women national team in an international friendly in Antalya, Turkey on Friday.   Returnee markswoman Asisat Oshoala had already seen her simple tap-in disallowed in the 22 nd  minute, and fellow Spain-based forward Rasheedat Ajibade has seen her shot miss by the whiskers, before Esther Okoronkwo caught the Haitian defence completely off-guard with a free-kick from the right that slipped past the goalkeeper in the 40 th  minute.   Haiti, who are also heading to the FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in Australia and New Zealand this summer, came back from the dressing room looking to take the fight to the Super Falcons, but goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie, former U20 captain Tosin Demehin and captain Onome Ebi warded off their incursions.   Two minutes before the hour-mark, Oshoala jabbed in from close range to make it two for the Falcons, in the process registering her fi...

  To hit the ground running, the Nationwide League One (NLO) has listed 33 Stadium League venues for the 2023 Division One season which is scheduled to kick off Wednesday, April 26. The NLO Secretariat via its Media Channel on Thursday informed of the development clubs. According to the nation's third-tier domestic league, the 33 Stadium League venues were strategically drawn each from the five geo-political zones, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. In keeping with commitments made to clubs to ensure a hitch-free season, Chief Operating Officer (COO) Olushola Ogunnowo said: "The 2023 NLO campaign will begin on April 26, with interesting fixtures in the 33 Stadium League venues that have been approved. "The NLO TV app will be very active with much content as matches will be on live streaming from 18 of the Stadium League Venues selected by the NLO. "Interestingly, NLO matches will also be live on blend TV, OTT which is majorly for sports. "The ...

The Confédération Africaine de Football (“CAF”) Executive Committee unanimously agreed on behalf of African Football to support Morocco’s FIFA World Cup 2030 bid.  Morocco recently announced at the 73rd FIFA Congress in Kigali, that it is bidding to host the FIFA World Cup 2030 in partnership with Spain and Portugal. The President of CAF Dr Patrice Motsepe said: “The unanimous decision that was taken by the CAF Executive Committee to support Morocco’s bid to host the FIFA World Cup 2030 means that the bid of Morocco is now the bid of the African Continent. We are now focusing on ensuring that Africa once more hosts the FIFA World Cup and are committed to working together with all Football National Associations and Confederations to make this happen.” A decision was also taken by CAF to open the bid for hosting the Africa Cup of Nations 2027 because of the requests by numerous CAF Member Associations and their Governments to host the AFCON competition. CAF will announce the suc...

Strategic partners of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), GTI Group have revealed that their mission is to put in place a structured, reformed and transparent football ecosystem in the country working with the Interim Management Committee (IMC). The Executive Director of GTI Asset Management & Trust Limited, Ine Nelson, gave the assurance while speaking to a section of the media recently in Lagos.  He affirmed that it is the vision of the company to also make the league contribute at least 0.5 percent to the nation’s GDP in the next couple of years.  Ine noted that the league is a national asset which belongs to Nigerians and if well nurtured would blossom into big business in the country.  Ine further stressed that GTI’s involvement is already yielding dividends given the gains the NPFL has made in just a few months of the IMC coming onboard.  “GTI took up the challenge of restructuring the league at a time we felt NPFL deserves better attention from Cor...

  Veteran sports journalist and Editor of longstanding Mitchell Obi has thumbed-up the strategic partnership that exists between GTI and Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye-led Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL).  Speaking during the well-attended IMC Media Parley held recently at GTI office in Lagos, the highly travelled and legendary sports journalist said the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) is undergoing a revolution that will see our beautiful game rise again in the continent. He charged the sporting media to support the laudable partnership between GTI and IMC and ensure that NPFL is given media visibility with their reports. Obi further noted that for the league to be accelerated to the next level, the sporting media need to put it on the front burner, insisting that the league is owned by Nigerians and must be well promoted and protected.  “The NPFL is owned by Nigerians and we must promote and protect it; therefore in the ne...

    Inspectors appointed by the Confederation of African Football are checking out the stadia and related facilities that Nigeria has put forward in a joint bid with Benin Republic to host the 35 th  edition of the Africa Cup of Nations in the year 2025.   On the cards for evaluation are the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja; Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo; Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba; Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos; Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City and; Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna.   Already, the four-man team of Jean-Louis Romain, Emma Bollet, Didier Levy and Timour Tawfik (accompanied by a couple of Nigeria football officials) has assessed the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in the nation’s capital; Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos; Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba and; the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City.   In the nation’s showpiece arena in Abuja, the team was received on Friday night by the Deputy Director (Facilities) of the Federal Mini...

Rangers continued their indifferent run of form this season with a 1-1 draw at home to NPFL Group B leaders, Lobi Stars, a result Coach Abdul Maikaba blamed on poor utilisation of many scoring opportunities in the game Coach Maikaba: “We have to blame ourselves for this result. We created over ten goal-scoring opportunities and scored only one while the opponent created one and scored from it. It is our problem but we are working seriously to see that we rectify all these issues"  "We can continue to fight from this result and continue to improve in coming games to ensure that we move up on the log.” It was truly a match of squandered chances and daring saves produced by goalkeeper Emmanuel Daniel, a former Rangers to frustrate efforts at winning by the Flying Antelopes on the day at the Awka City Stadium. Scores stood at 1-1 at the end. Osayande Austin, Esor Achibong, and Kingsley Maduforo were handed starts with another eight that started in Umuahia, midweek but the hosts s...

Bayelsa United stole the bright lights on a day leaders in both groups failed to win but retained their places atop both groups on MatchDay 12 of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL). The weekend saw drama aplenty with goals and surprise results. In Group A, Bendel Insurance's stretched their unbeaten run to 12 after drawing 1-1 with Plateau United at the New Jos Stadium, Jos. Izuchukwu Chimezie gave Plateau United the lead in the 43rd minute but Echeta Ugonna rescued the point for Insurance when he scored the equalizer in the 72nd minute.  Akwa United moved to second on the log after beating Enyimba 1-0 at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo. Uche Collins scored the all important goal in the 72nd minute to seal all three points for the Promise Keepers. Shooting Stars revived their chances of  moving into the championship playoff after grabbing a vital away win at Kwara United with a 0-1 win. Joshua Akpan scored in the 94th minute for Shooting who are now four points from ...

Su per Eagles’ captain, Ahmed Musa was the surprise visitor to the camp of Nigeria’s U17 team, Golden Eaglets at ParkView Hotel in Abuja on Wednesday. Nigeria’s most capped international admonished the players to endeavour to maintain the rich culture of Nigeria football and also make a name for themselves and their families, adding that he regrets not ever playing for the U17 team in his football trajectory. "You have to work hard. Listen and obey your coaches if you want to succeed at this stage of your football. Sometimes, I regret that I never played for the Golden Eaglets . Y ou have to make use of this opportunity. You are not the best in Nigeria. Many players out there are better than you. The only difference is that you have the opportunity. "So, you have to work hard. Pray a lot and be determined to make a name for Nigeria and also for yourselves and your families. Do not miss this great opportunity.   I was only given five minutes in my debut game for the Super Eagl...