Author: Chief Editor

Leicester reached the FA Cup final for the first time in 52 years as Kelechi Iheanacho’s solitary goal earned a 1-0 win over Southampton in front of 4,000 fans at Wembley on Sunday. The biggest crowd for a football match in England for 13 months was made up of key workers and local residents as part of a test event for the return of fans in bigger numbers in the coming weeks. An 8,000 crowd will be in attendance at Wembley next Sunday for the League Cup final between Manchester City and Tottenham, while 21,000 will welcome Leicester back to…

Andrea Pirlo’s Juventus missed Cristiano Ronaldo’s “killer instinct” as the Italian champions fell to their first league defeat in two decades to Atalanta on Sunday. Ruslan Malinovskyi struck late as Atalanta won 1-0 to move third in Serie A with Portugal forward injured. Atalanta is two points behind second-placed AC Milan who beat Genoa 2-1 to claim their first win at the San Siro in over two months. Juventus were playing without injured Ronaldo, the top scorer in Serie A with 25 goals this campaign, in the match between the Champions League rivals in Bergamo. “We knew it would be…

It all started like a play. But over a year after, the world has yet to fully recover from Covid-19 pandemic destruction. When the coronavirus broke out in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China at the end of 2019, no one could have predicted what was to come. But by January 2020, as the coronavirus spread its wings from China across international borders, it started to gain international attention, which, of course, has yet to wane. By the end of January 2020, China took unprecedented lockdown measures affecting its over a billion people. But that measure failed to contain the virus.…

South and Middle Belt leaders under the aegis of Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS) yesterday insisted that Nigeria should cease to exist demanding for several ethnic nations. The alliance, also, disclosed that it would be observing a 120-day ultimatum to consult with the people in the involved regions on its five-point demand to the federal government. The Chairman of the alliance, Prof. Banji Akintoye made this demand during a world press conference held in Ibadan yesterday. At the conference, Akintoye listed the five demands as follows: “To formally acknowledge the sovereignty dispute as declared by NINAS; to formally…

A state that is the home state of people, who have achieved distinctions in their respective careers and endeavours, deserves to be led by its best and brightest politicians, who possess probity, leadership qualities, forbearance, and knowledge. And Anambra State is such a state. It is not for nothing that Anambra State is called “the light of the nation’’. And the state has been living up to that appellation and epithet owing to the good political leadership, which the people of the state have been enjoying. However, at the inception of the fourth republic, Anambra’s politics was dogged and characterized…

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Southwest Zone, yesterday commended a former Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose for the resolve of his group to unite the aggrieved party members in the zone. The party, also, commended Fayose for prevailing on Dr. Eddy Olafeso and other candidates that lost out in the just concluded PDP Southwest Congress held in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, from challenging the outcome of the congress in court. This was contained in a statement by Publicity Secretary, Southwest PDP, Chief Sanya Atofarati, thanking Fayose for displaying maturity and yielding to calls and appeals from the…

UEFA is expected to formalise radical reforms to the format of the Champions League at a key meeting of its executive committee on Monday which could also see some cities removed as hosts of the delayed Euro 2020. Plans to reform Europe’s elite club competition from 2024 onwards were initially set to be approved last month before being put on hold after the powerful European Club Association (ECA) said it was “not yet in a position to formally endorse key changes”. According to sources close to the negotiations, certain leading clubs wanted greater control of UEFA Club Competitions (UCC), the…

Hakim Ziyech has challenged Chelsea to make it a “special” end to the season as the Blues chase Champions League and FA Cup glory. Thomas Tuchel’s side booked their place in the FA Cup final with a 1-0 win over Premier League leaders Manchester City on Saturday. Morocco forward Ziyech bagged the winner for Chelsea with a cool finish from Timo Werner’s pass. As well as a second successive FA Cup final appearance, Chelsea also have a Champions League semi-final to look forward to. The Blues will face Real Madrid over two legs after winning 2-1 on aggregate in the…

Goalkeeper Joaquin Pucheta was shown a red card in Ecuador’s Serie A for urinating behind his goal as his team Macara beat last-place Orense, 1-0, according to local media. “Joaquin Pucheta, went behind the advertising boards and urinated while the ball was in the opposition half. At that point, Orense players and management complained to referee Roberto Sanchez, who ended up giving the goalkeeper a straight red card,” online newspaper Primicias reported. Television footage captured only the moment of the Argentine’s dismissal in second-half stoppage time. “The goalkeeper was sent off for unsporting behaviour,” newspaper El Comercio reported in its…

Norwich City were promoted to the Premier League without kicking a ball on Saturday as draws for Swansea and Brentford sent the Championship leaders back into the top-flight. Norwich City promoted to the Premier League Daniel Farke’s side have dominated the second tier with 27 wins from their 41 games so far, earning an immediate return to the Premier League following last season’s relegation. The Canaries’ promotion was guaranteed after third-placed Swansea were held to a 2-2 draw by bottom of the table Wycombe, while fourth-placed Brentford drew 0-0 with Millwall. Norwich are 14 points clear of Swansea, who have…