Red hot Nigerian striker Paul Onuachu has now made it six goals in four consecutive matches as his brace helped KRC Genk defeat Royal Antwerp 3-1 away at the Bosuilstadion.

Onuachu have been in rich vein of form and it seems like there is no stopping him at the moment.
He was not the only star of the match as Belgian winger Tresor Ndayishimiye, who pulled the strings from the flanks for Genk, registered a hat-trick of assists.

Bryan Heynan was the first beneficiary of the Belgian magic as he finished brilliantly after receiving a well placed lofted pass into the box to give Genk the lead.

Paul Onuachu wasn’t to be denied as he rose highest to head from a perfectly delivered corner from Tresor in the 33rd minute to double Genk’s advantage.

Antwerp responded with a goal of their own as Vincent Janssen beat the offside trap to coolly slot in the goal behind the keeper and halve the deficit heading into the second half.

Genk extended their lead beautifully from another dead ball situation as Tresor floated the ball into the box and connected with Onuachu’s header for the third goal and extended Genk’s winning run to 7 games to stay on top and extend their lead over second place Antwerp to 4 points.
Alhassan Yusuf played the full 90 minutes for Royal Antwerp.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said the creation of a centralised clearing house will bring “transparency and accountability” as the sport’s governing body looks to crack down on the multi-billion dollar global transfer market.

Infantino, speaking after Saturday’s FIFA Council meeting in Auckland, said the new Paris-based entity would focus on ensuring smaller clubs receive compensation owed for developing players before tackling the broader market.

“This will change the lives of these small clubs because it’s big, big money and it’s due and we’re very proud to do this,” said Infantino.

“This will bring finally some transparency and accountability in the whole transfer market.”

Infantino said only $60 million to $70 million of the estimated $400 million owed to clubs who have developed players for the professional game reaches the relevant parties

The creation of the clearing house is the latest step in FIFA’s effort to reform the way transfers are conducted and ensure money is not redirected outside the sport.

“Whenever you deal with transfers of players, whenever some police authorities go and dig into transfers they find some strange payments to some strange places linked and connected with transfers,” said Infantino.

“Well, this is not going to happen any more as far as training compensation is concerned but also, as a next step, as far as all transfer payments are concerned.

“Payments to the agents and payments from one club to another club, all this will be processed through this FIFA clearing house.

“Payments to strange places will not be allowed any more. Payments to strange bank accounts, strange countries will not be tolerated any more.”

Infantino said the global transfer market is worth between $6 billion and $7 billion annually and projected the value would increase to about $10 billion, with money circulating “a bit like in the Wild West”.

“We want to control that,” he said. “To clean that and make sure the money goes where it’s has to go with clear rules and the FIFA clearing house … will guarantee this is going to happen.”

Nigeria’s Flamingos did the unexpected and humbled out of the Women’s U-17 World Cup, the big favourites, USA.

In doing so, they qualified for the semi-finals for the first time ever.

Here is an highlight of how the feat was executed.

Aug 29, 2022; Flushing, NY, USA; Simona Halep of Romania reacts during a match against Daria Snigur of Ukraine on day one of the 2022 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Two-times major winner Simona Halep of Romania has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for the banned blood-booster roxadustat, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said on Friday.

Halep, ranked ninth in the world, was tested during the U.S. Open and both her A and B samples confirmed the presence of roxadustat, an anti-anaemia drug that stimulates the production of red blood cells much like the prohibited substance Erythropoietin (EPO).

“Simona Halep, a 31-year-old Romanian tennis player, has been provisionally suspended under Article 7.12.1 of the 2022 Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP),” the body said in a statement.

“The sample was split into A and B samples and the subsequent analysis found that the A sample contained FG-4592 (Roxadustat), which is a prohibited substance listed in the 2022 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.”

The 2019 Wimbledon champion later requested for her B sample to be analysed, which confirmed the initial findings.

Former world number one Halep described the ban as the “biggest shock of her life” and denied knowingly taking any banned substance.

“Today begins the hardest match of my life: a fight for the truth. I have been notified that I have tested positive for a substance called Roxadustat in an extremely low quantity, she wrote on Twitter

“Throughout my whole career, the idea of cheating never even crossed my mind once, as it is totally against all the values I have been educated with. Facing such an unfair situation, I feel completely confused and betrayed.”

Halep, who also won at Roland Garros in 2018, added that her fight was not about “titles or money” but her honour and she hoped that the truth would eventually come out.

Maria Sharapova was the last high-profile tennis player to be involved in a doping scandal after the Russian tested positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open and was initially banned for two years before it was reduced to 15 months.

Halep’s suspension means that she cannot compete in or attend any sanctioned events organised by the governing bodies of the tennis.

Halep, the winner of two titles this season, ended her season early after undergoing nose surgery last month to treat breathing difficulties.

Nigeria will play joint-hosts Australia, Canada and Republic of Ireland in Group B of the 9^th FIFA Women’s World Cup finals happening in the summer of next year.

At the draw ceremony held in Auckland/Tâmaki Makaurau on Saturday, it emerged that Nigeria will play Canada in her first match of the competition to be staged in a total of nine cities (five in Australia and four in New Zealand), and which will boast 32 teams – the biggest in the history of the FIFA Women’s World Cup since it began in China in 1991.

Joint-hosts New Zealand will battle Norway, Philippines and Switzerland in Group A.

Nigeria, alongside USA, Brazil, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Japan are the only seven countries to have featured in all previous editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, between China 1991 and France 2019.

The Falcons were on tour of Canada six months ago, where they played two matches against Olympic champions Canada, losing one narrowly and drawing the other. 

Two penalties, one in each half and at opposing sides, guaranteed that Saturday’s Africa U23 Cup of Nations qualifying match between Nigeria and Tanzania in Dar es Salaam ended in a 1-1 draw.

Captain Success Makanjuola netted for Nigeria in the 29^th minute, after Qudus Akanni was fouled in the hosts’ vital area, and the 1996 champions thereafter created a number of chances that with a little more precision, would have put the match to bed by half time.

The home team piled on the pressure in the second period at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium, and hit the crossbar on two occasions before Djiboutian referee Souleiman Ahmed Djama awarded them a penalty that was brilliantly converted in the 74^th minute.

The Olympic Eagles fought tenaciously to earn a winner, with their minds on the $20,000 pledge for victory by the Chairman of NFF’s task force for youth competitions, Aminu Balele Kurfi, but it was not to be. However, the boys return to the country on Sunday with their heads held high and determined to finish off the task with success when they host the Tanzanians at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan on Saturday next week.

The winner on aggregate will proceed to the next round of the Africa U23 Cup of Nations qualifying campaign. The Africa U23 Cup of Nations to be held in Morocco in November 2023, will determine Africa’s flag bearers at the Men’s Football Tournament of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Nottingham Forest v Liverpool – The City Ground, Nottingham, Britain – October 22, 2022 Nottingham Forest’s Taiwo Awoniyi scores their first goal

Taiwo Awoniyi said scoring Nottingham Forest’s winner against Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday was a moment he would never forget as he returned to haunt his former club.

The 25-year-old Nigerian forward joined Liverpool as a teenager in 2015 but spent the majority of his Anfield career out on loan in Germany and Belgium before being sold in 2021.

Awoniyi joined Forest from Union Berlin for around 18 million pounds ($20 million) in June, heralding a frenzied summer of spending by the former English champions as they returned to the top flight for the first time since 1999.

But of all the 20 plus signings the club has made, Awoniyi might just prove to be the most important.

His third goal for Forest on Saturday was an instinctive poacher’s effort from close range but he ran Liverpool’s defence ragged at times with his pace and power.

He also scored the winning goal in Forest’s only other league win so far this season, against West Ham United, and if Forest are to survive he will be a key factor.

“For me I’m happy but the most important thing is the three points. Now we have to build on it,” he said.

“To score against Liverpool is a day I will never forget. I will always to be grateful to Liverpool for scouting me from Nigeria and scoring against them is amazing.

“This kind of game we have to look back on it and build on it. The game is over and now we concentrate on the next one.”

Awoniyi, who barely celebrated his goal, was congratulated by Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp

Nigeria celebrate beating Colombia in 2012

South America runners-up, Colombia on Saturday beat a depleted Tanzania side at the quarter finals of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India.

The result has pitched the South Americans against Nigeria in the semi finals coming up on Wednesday.

It will be the third time both teams will clash as Nigeria had twice beaten the South Americans in 2012 and 2014.

In 2012 at the tournament in Azerbaijan, Nigeria beat Colombia 3-0  in a Group A match played in Baku.

Halimatu Ayinde scored a in the 32^nd and 75^th minute while an own-goal by a Colombian, Diana Duarte in the 80^th minute completed the Nigerian victory.

They met again at Costa Rica 2014 in the Group D.

In the match played at the Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto in Alajuela, Nigeria came from behind to win 2-1.

Angie Rodriguez shot Colombia ahead in the third minute before Joy Bokiri levelled up for Nigeria in the 26^th minute and Uchenna kanu scored the winner in the 59^th minute.

Vengeance may be in the mind of the South Americans when they face the ‘flaming’ Flamingos on Wednesday.

They made hays while the sun was shining when they faced Tanzania on Saturday thus denying the tournament the first all-African clash.

They scored all their three goals in the first half while Tanzania ended the encounter with just nine girls.

In the day’s other quarter final, Spain rallied to beat Japan 2-1 and make the semifinals of the tournament.

Momoko Tanikawa put Japan ahead with his 66th minute strike, but Vicky Lopez (87′ and 90+3) scored twice to seal the issue in his team’s favour.