With the dire need for policy direction to catalyze sports development and repositioning in Nigeria, Minister for Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare has restated his commitment to ensuring total implementation of the Policies and Plans to drive sports development in Nigeria.

Dare stated that two major all-encompassing documents which would further catalyze his sports development drive will be ready in time and implemented to the letter.

The Minister said: “The National Sports Industry Policy (NSIP) and Football Masterplan Committee will be producing two wholesome documents that will further foster sports development, as well as provide a comprehensive framework to guide sports development in the country.”

According to him, “We have been able to successfully re-classify sports as a business and this is just a small part of a larger plan. The final draft of the National Sports Industry Policy has been submitted to the Federal Ministry of Justice and we are positive it would change the face of sports in the country. Policies are well-thought, necessitated by a need for direction and wholesome in its approach, so while it may take a lot of time, it would leave a lasting impact,” the Minister added.

The Minister further stated that the Committee on Football Masterplan development which was set up to develop football in the country will submit its report in the first week of May, as part of the plans to re-think Nigerian football.

Recounting the distance covered so far, through the Minister’s Adopt-a-Sports Facility Initiative, after 11 years of neglect, the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja has enjoyed comprehensive rejuvenation, getting CAF/FIFA’s pass mark, as well as hosting major national and international sports activities.

Also, the National Stadium, Surulere is currently under revamp after suffering 19 years of abandonment. Sports infrastructure in Daura, Abuja, and Lagos have all benefitted from the drive.

Dare said this initiative was conceived to revitalize sporting infrastructures in the country and ensure their proper maintenance.

The Federal Government is set to build 150 new shops at the ‘new look’ National Stadium in Surulere Lagos as part of the ongoing refurbishing process of the edifice.

President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to endorse the proposal which is part of the plans to make the complex a befitting sports arena in under the new arrangement.

The Ministry of Sports led by Sunday Dare is currently working with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to put the stadium in the expected standard.

The ICRC is an agency of the Federal Government responsible for the development and implementation of the Public-Private Partnership framework for the provision of infrastructure services.

It was learnt that there will be petrol station, banks and other notable essential services at the complex when it eventually opens very soon to the public

It will be recalled that over 100 shops were cleared out by the ministry of sports over a year ago in an effort to sanitize operations at the complex.

Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, said it was indeed tough to get all those illegal occupants and structures out of the stadium.

Dare said: “We were strict with only one mandate to clear out the place because our athletes need the facility to train and keep fit. There were various drink joints and other things being done at the stadium which primarily is a sports arena.

“It was tough but we have done it. Now, we are bringing back the glory. It will take a gradual step but first we are to bring back new shops and we are working with the ICRC just to ensure we do the right thing. Nigerians will be happy with the progress at the stadium quite soon.

“Under two years, we are bringing the stadium back after over 19 years of neglect.”

As part of its objective to accelerate the professionalisation and development of women’s football, FIFA has published its first-ever Guide to Club Licensing in Women’s Football.

Recognising the key role that clubs play in the development of the women’s game and creating specific tools and programmes that support the unique women’s football environment, the new Guide to Club Licensing in Women’s Football will provide for the first-time ever a dedicated resource to enhance club licensing in women’s football. This, in turn, will strengthen player pathways for women and girls at club level and raise the overall standards in clubs around the world.

As a comprehensive and practical tool that will support all 211 FIFA member associations in establishing and implementing a club licensing framework for their respective women’s football competitions, the publication comprises a ten-step guide that member associations can follow in order to set up a club licensing system, as well as an additional eight steps that will empower leagues to maintain their club licensing structures on a season-by-season basis.

Sarai Bareman, FIFA’s Chief Women’s Football Officer, said:

“The development of strong and sustainable leagues where players are in a competitive professional environment is a key area for the future development and professionalisation of women’s football.

“One of the most effective ways to empower clubs to raise overall standards and performance pathways for female players is through club licensing, thus helping them to achieve long-term, sustainable growth. Alongside FIFA’s significant ongoing investment into existing club licensing and FIFA development programmes, this new guide – which is a first of its kind – is yet another important tool we are providing to our member associations to help accelerate the growth of women’s football globally.”

Under the Women’s Development Programme banner, FIFA also works one-on-one with member associations to establish club licensing frameworks for women’s football, one of which is the Jordan Football Association. Soleen Al-Zou’bi (Head of Women’s Football, Jordan FA) spoke about the importance of club licensing for the women’s game.

“The Club Licensing programme was an excellent tool for supporting elite women’s football in Jordan and raising the level of competition,” said Ms. Al-Zou’bil.

“With FIFA’s assistance, we worked with the clubs to develop the league and assist them in producing higher standards and better players. And this was demonstrated when Amman Club was crowned AFC Women’s Club Championship 2021 Champion.”

Enhancing the professionalisation of women’s football on and off the pitch is a key objective of Goal 8, Accelerate the Growth of Women’s Football, in FIFA’s Vision 2020-2023.

The guide complements Setting the Pace: FIFA Benchmarking Report Women’s Football and the FIFA’s Women’s Development Programme dedicated to club licensing, which demonstrate FIFA’s commitment to raising the standards of women’s football clubs and leagues.

Mike Tyson was involved in a scuffle with another passenger on an airplane at San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday, his spokesperson confirmed to ESPN.

TMZ posted a video that purported to show Tyson punching the passenger, who was seated behind him and previously was seen trying to get Tyson’s attention. The other man was shown subsequently in the video with bloody cuts on his head.

Tyson’s spokesperson told ESPN, “Unfortunately, Mr. Tyson had an incident on a flight with an aggressive passenger who began harassing him and threw a water bottle at him while he was in his seat.”

San Francisco Police told ESPN that “officers were dispatched to a physical altercation on board an airplane” on Wednesday night, with two subjects detailed and then released. One of the two people sustained injuries but “provided minimal details of the incident and refused to cooperate further with the police investigation.”

Tyson eventually traveled to Miami, where he was photographed on Thursday in a nightclub with former wrestling star Ric Flair, who tweeted the picture.

Match-by-match facts and statistics ahead of the 34th round of the Premier League from April 23-25 (all times in GMT):

SATURDAY, APRIL 23

• Arsenal v Manchester United (1130)

* Manchester United have lost their last three away games in the Premier League.

* Arsenal have won three of their last six league games against United (D2 L1).

* United have not won at the Emirates Stadium since January 2019 when the teams met in the FA Cup, with the visitors claiming a 3-1 victory.

• Leicester City v Aston Villa (1400)

* Leicester have won three of their last five home games against Aston Villa (D1 L1) in all competitions.

* Aston Villa have lost their last four league games in a row.

* Leicester have won their last three home league games by a single-goal margin.

• Manchester City v Watford (1400)

* Manchester City have yet to lose to Watford in the Premier League, having won 11 of the 13 meetings between the clubs.

* Four of Watford’s six wins this season in the Premier League have come from away games.

* Watford have failed to score in five of their last seven away league games.

• Norwich City v Newcastle United (1400)

* Bottom side Norwich have won only one of their last nine league games.

* Newcastle last beat Norwich in the Premier League in October 2015, claiming a 6-2 victory at home.

* Newcastle have lost their last three away league games.

• Brentford v Tottenham Hotspur (1630)

* The two teams have met only once in the Premier League, with Tottenham winning 2-0 in December.

* Brentford have won five of their last six games in the Premier League.

* Spurs have won four of their last six away league games (L2).

SUNDAY, APRIL 24

• Burnley v Wolverhampton Wanderers (1300)

* Burnley have won only one of their nine Premier League games (D4 L5).

* Wolves and Burnley played out a goalless draw in the reverse fixture earlier this season.

* Wolves last won against Burnley in September 2018, claiming a 1-0 victory in the Premier League.

• Chelsea v West Ham United (1300)

* Chelsea have kept a clean sheet in five of their last eight Premier League games but have conceded four in each of their last two home games.

* West Ham are winless in their last five away games in the league (D1 L4).

* West Ham forward Michail Antonio has not scored in the league since their 3-2 win at Crystal Palace on New Year’s Day – a run of 12 games.

• Brighton & Hove Albion v Southampton (1300)

* Brighton are winless in their last seven home Premier League games (D3 L4) and have not scored in the last five.

* Southampton have won three of the nine Premier League meetings between the two teams (D5 L1).

* The reverse fixture earlier this season ended in a 1-1 draw.

• Liverpool v Everton (1530)

* Liverpool have won their last 11 home Premier League games and kept a clean sheet in nine of them.

* Everton have lost their last six away games in the league.

* Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah leads the league’s goalscoring charts with 22 goals, five ahead of Tottenham’s Son Heung-min.

MONDAY, APRIL 25

• Crystal Palace v Leeds United (1900)

* Crystal Palace have won only one of their last six home Premier League games.

* Leeds have conceded the most number of goals this season (68).

* Only one Premier League meeting between the two teams has ended in a draw. Palace have won three times while Leeds have won five, including a 1-0 victory earlier this season in November.

Twelve of Europe’s top football launch a breakaway Super League – Madrid, Spain – April 20, 2021 A man wearing a face mask walks past a kiosk selling Real Madrid and Barcelona memorabilia as twelve of Europe’s top football clubs launch a breakaway

A Spanish judge has lifted measures that prevented UEFA and FIFA from taking action against clubs that wanted to create a European Super League.

In the ruling, published on Thursday, the commercial court in Madrid said it was lifting measures that had been adopted in April last year as even if clubs were punished by FIFA and UEFA it would not stop them going ahead with their Super League plans.

Of the 12 clubs that originally backed the breakaway Super League, only Spanish sides Real Madrid and Barcelona and Italian club Juventus remain.

The three clubs did not respond when contacted by Reuters for comment. World soccer’s governing body FIFA also did not comment. Newspaper AS reported that the Super League would appeal the decision.

“UEFA has today received the order of the Madrid court, lifting the precautionary measures in their entirety,” a UEFA spokesperson said.

“UEFA welcomes this decision and is considering its implications. UEFA will not be making any further comment for the time being.”

The proposed league threatened to upend the long-established order of elite soccer in Europe by guaranteeing its founding clubs places, rather than making them qualify through their domestic competitions.

Judge Sofia Gil Garcia wrote in her ruling that at the time of the project’s development, the Super League clubs were “perfectly aware of the possible consequences, which did not prevent the adoption of financing commitments, which cannot be assumed or presumed to be frustrated by possible sanctions.”

Last April, a different judge said that FIFA and UEFA must not adopt “any measure that prohibits, restricts, limits or conditions in any way” the creation of the Super League.

That decision came after both UEFA and FIFA warned they would impose sanctions on clubs and players competing in the new league, which was being set up as a rival to UEFA’s established Champions League.

Legendary Brazilian soccer player Pele

Brazilian soccer great Pele was discharged from hospital on Thursday, Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein hospital said, three days after he was admitted to continue receiving treatment for a colon tumor.

Pele’s clinical condition is good and stable, doctors said.

Widely considered to be the best footballer of all time, the 81-year-old had surgery to remove the tumor in September, 2021 and has since been in and out of hospital for treatment on a regular basis.

In February, Pele was admitted for a round of chemotherapy when a urinary infection was identified, keeping him in longer than planned.

The former Brazil, Santos and New York Cosmos forward has suffered a series of health issues in recent years, including a hip surgery that left him with recurring pain and trouble walking unaided.

Pele has reduced his public appearances but remains active on social media.

The board of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) has now attained a cruising altitude after some turbulences that prevented it from taking off last October when it was initially scheduled to be inaugurated along with the other national sports Federations.

The initial problem occasioned by litigations came to an abrupt end last month leading to reconciliation and consolidation of interests and programmes. The board has since had an inaugural  meeting in which their 2022 calendar was rolled out.

The BFN president,  Francis Orbih urged all to sheath their sword as reconciliation of aggrieve parties has taken place.

The board was further strengthened with the drafting of co-opted members such as  Yahaya Faruk,  Sam Addingi and Gabriel Gbayan.

Also, a suspended player, Abdulfatai Salaudeen who hitherto headed the Players’ Association was pardoned following the acceptance of a letter of apology from him.

His suspension as well as that of the other executive members of the Players’ Association was lifted. At the inaugural meeting of the BFN, existing subcommittees were reconstituted while some new ones were created.

The Women Development Committee, Welfare Committee and Ethics and Disciplinary Committee were the newly created arms of BFN.

According to the president, the Women Development Committee was created to provide solutions to the dearth of women players and administrators as well as to encourage more participation of the feminine gender in badminton.

The committee is to also assist  in discovering and developing female players for better performance. Another addition to the arm of government is the Ethics and Disciplinary Committee which is saddled with the responsibility of instilling discipline among players and officials as well as the review of the existing Code of Conduct.

The Welfare committee is to cater for the welfare needs of stakeholders especially the players.

The list of the new Committee Chairmen and Chairperson are:

1. Mrs Esther Gidado – Chairperson, Women Development Committee

2. Mr Gabriel Gbayan Chairman, Welfare Committee

3. Mr. Yusuf Lawal Bello

 Chairman, Ethics and Disciplinary Committee

The president, Francis Orbih, rolled out the BFN’s programmes and called on all to support it having its core thrust to  grassroots sports development, women and disabled persons inclusions as well as expanding the frontiers for national and international participation.

To achieve the objectives, he pointed at the legacy project of a Badminton Complex which has to be given prime attention as the BFN is collaborating with the Chinese partners and the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development to deliver the project which will be the first of its kind in Africa.

Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Braut Haaland is “very close” to reaching an agreement to join Manchester City, according to Guillem Balague.

Haaland’s contract expires in 2024 but a release clause allows him to leave for 75m euros (£62.8m) this summer.

Balague believes City have sold the Norway forward, 21, the idea of joining now before moving on to Real Madrid.

“He will be at Manchester City, I feel,” said Balague, BBC Sport’s European football expert.

“There’s no agreement but they’re very close.”

City, Real and Barcelona have all spoken to Haaland but the former Red Bull Salzburg striker ruled out Barca before Karim Benzema’s recent form for Real apparently made up his mind to join the Premier League leaders.

The France striker, 34, has scored successive hat-tricks in the Champions League knockout stage, helping him to a career-best 39 goals so far this season.

“Haaland has known for a while what Real Madrid and Manchester City are offering, and others, but those are the two clubs that are left,” Balague said

“Something has happened in the last couple of weeks, something called Benzema, that has turned the mind of Haaland into ‘you know what, I can go to Madrid in two or three years’.

“And that, by the way, was the proposal City put to him. Not only was it the most attractive financial proposition, they also said ‘you’re young, stay with us for two or three years, we’ll use you well, meanwhile Real Madrid will always be there’.”

‘If Benzema wasn’t there, Haaland would be a Real player’

As it stands Benzema, who has taken over as Real’s leading scorer since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018  has another year on his contract.

Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola is also under contract until 2023 but the reigning Premier League champions hope the arrival of Haaland will “convince him to stay another year at least,” says Balague.

“If Benzema was not there, [Haaland] would be a Real Madrid player,” he added. “The attractiveness of Real Madrid – I would add Barcelona as well – goes beyond any money Manchester City can offer.

“But Manchester City have played their cards. One of them is financial, the other is ‘Pep Guardiola’s here – if you come in, he’ll probably stay for a bit longer’. That’s something Pep is considering.”

Guardiola has managed without a traditional central striker for much of the last two seasons, with Sergio Aguero making just 12 Premier League appearances in 2020-21 before joimimg Barcelona last summer.

“He has been desperate for a striker,” said Balague. “They just don’t score enough goals compared with the amount of times they shoot.

“For a time, they thought it could be Lionel Messi. Obviously they tried for Harry Kane. They also thought it could be Cristiano Ronaldo.

“It will be fascinating to see how Haaland will adapt to what Pep wants from him. He’s very good on transition but when there’s no space, he may initially struggle.

“I think, though, he will do work to open space for other players on the team. He is a perfect fit – like a glove to a hand.”