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  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 ...