D’Tigress will face France, China, and Mali in Group B of their 2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup qualifiers billed for February 10 to 13 at the Ranko Žeravica Sports Hall, Belgrade, Serbia.

The World Cup is billed to hold from September 22 to October 1 2022 in Australia with a total of 12 teams.

Australia and the United States have already qualified for the competition as hosts and Olympic champions, while a total of 16 countries will slug it out in four groups for the final 10 slots.

The top two teams qualify automatically for the competition while the two best losers in the groups will join the World Cup train.

D’Tigress will open their encounter at the qualifiers against China on February 10 before slugging it out with France on February 11. Their final game comes up against Mali who they defeated in the final of the 2021 Afrobasket Women’s Championship in Cameroon.

Nigeria and Mali both qualified for the qualification playoffs after finishing first and second at the 2021 Afrobasket.

Nigeria had an impressive performance at the 2018 World Cup  in Spain where they became the first African country to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup. The team after their opening group game loss to Australia bounce back to record wins over Turkey and Argentina to qualify out of the group stage.

They beat Greece in the qualification round before losing to eventual champions, the US in the quarter-final.

Former FIFA president Josep Blatter considered that the award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar “was a big mistake”.

According to Spanish publication, AS, the former FIFA boss under whose regime the 2022 World Cup was awarded turned to blame the former president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy as the person who influenced FIFA members to vote for Qatar.

There is great influence of Qatar in French football as even the PSG is owned by a Qatar business man.

Blatter was reported to have remarked that Nicolas Sarkozy was the one who intervened for the emirate to achieve that competition.

“He was disappointed by the victory of Qatar,” Blatter said in an interview published this Sunday in the online edition of the French daily Le Monde. Blatter, who was forced to resign on June 2, 2015 by a corruption scandal, four days after being re-elected as FIFA president, believes that Sarkozy convinced then-UEFA president Michel Platini to support him.

Qatar and not the United States, as they had agreed up to that point. To this was added that on that occasion two World Cups were attributed to a blow, that of 2018, which fell on Russia – which was also chosen by Spain and Portugal in a joint candidacy – and that of 2022, for which the favourite was the United States. but Qatar finally stayed.

Blatter pointed out that there were many questions about the Qatari World Cup, such as the size of the country or the dates on which the competition should be held, since it is too hot in summer. 

“I thought that so much danger would not jeopardize our agreement in principle to attribute the two World Cups to Russia and the United States,” he said. 

But Sarkozy’s intervention, he added, “changed everything,” according to the former FIFA president, who does not rule out that “money circulated” throughout that operation, without directly accusing anyone. 

“In decisions as important as the attribution of a World Cup it is very possible that the money circulates and that someone puts it in his pocket,” said Blatter, that it considered that the investigation opened by FIFA to detect it was not “sufficiently strict”. 

“Without Sarkozy’s last-minute intervention on Platini, Qatar would never have had the World Cup,” said the former FIFA president, who linked this support to the purchase of PSG by a sovereign wealth fund of the emirate and to “major economic activities between Qatar and France “. 

“It is the first time that a political intervention changes a great decision in football,” he said, while reiterating that “on the social and climatic level it was a great mistake to give the World Cup to Qatar.” 

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel said his side produced an “amazing performance” as the holders progressed to the last 16 of the Champions League with an impressive win against Juventus at Stamford Bridge.

Trevoh Chalobah, who was making his first European start for the Blues, scored the opener before Reece James controlled a clearance and volleyed across Wojciech Szczesny to give Chelsea the advantage their dominant performance deserved.

A third soon followed with Juventus looking shell-shocked as a short, sharp interchange of passes gave Callum Hudson-Odoi the chance to slot home at the back post.

The scoring was completed when Hakim Ziyech capitalised on a mistake from Juve midfielder Weston McKennie to cross for Timo Werner to tap home in added time.

It is the Italian club’s heaviest defeat in the Champions League and demonstrated Chelsea’s status as a serious contender to retain the trophy they won against Premier League rivals Manchester City in May.

The three points send Chelsea to the top of Group H but they must match Juventus’ result in the final matchday on 8 December – when they travel to Zenit St Petersburg and the Turin club host Malmo – in order to stay there.

Tuchel, who has claimed 35 wins from 50 games as Chelsea boss, said the performance was “sharper” than the 1-0 defeat the Blues suffered in Turin in September.

Chelsea dominated that game, having 73% possession and 16 shots, but only had one effort on target and were undone by a Federico Chiesa strike 10 seconds after half-time.

“We took more risks – that was something we lacked in Turin,” Tuchel told BT Sport.

“By control you cannot hurt them – you need to penetrate with runs off the ball.

“It’s so tough to create and score but we created so much. An amazing performance and a fantastic result.”

The only concern for Tuchel and Chelsea were the withdrawals of N’Golo Kante in the first half and Ben Chilwell in the second period through injury, with the Blues playing Manchester United on Sunday (16:30 GMT).

Record-breaking defence, creative in attack

Chelsea have justifiably had a lot of praise for their defensive efficiency in the opening three months of the season and indeed since Tuchel arrived in January.

They have now conceded only 24 goals in the German’s first 50 games in charge – a record for a manager in charge of a British club.

Tuchel’s side started on the front foot and were rarely threatened at the back apart from an outstanding acrobatic clearance from Thiago Silva after former Blues striker Alvaro Morata had dinked onrushing keeper Edouard Mendy shortly after Chalobah’s opener.

This performance also showcased Chelsea’s attacking threat and other teams will note that was the case even with Romelu Lukaku – included for the first time since 20 October – Werner and Mason Mount all starting on the bench and Kai Havertz absent completely.

Chilwell should have opened the scoring in the first two minutes but had an air shot at a loose ball, before Chalobah sent a header wide and James saw a free-kick saved.

Chalobah’s goal was another glimpse of his impressive instinct in front of goal – he has already scored twice in the Premier League this season – as he latched on to a loose ball and thumped the ball into the roof of the net.

James, Hudson-Odoi and Silva all saw efforts saved either side of the break before the England right-back superbly controlled a headed clearance, taking it away from the defender as he did so, before volleying past Szczesny and a couple of defenders who were attempting to get back.

The England defender joins Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah as the only Premier League player to have scored five goals and provided five assists in all competitions this season.

Hudson-Odoi rounded off an excellent Chelsea performance with a composed finish after James, Hakim Ziyech and Ruben Loftus-Cheek combined in a slick move.

Werner’s goal was mere decoration, because it had long been certain that Chelsea’s unbeaten run in all competitions would be extended to 10 games.

It was a performance that delighted a boisterous Stamford Bridge crowd, enthused by a team that is top of the Premier League by three points, is in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals and is in the box seat to win their Champions League group.

Ethiopian Olympic heroes Haile Gebrselassie and Feyisa Lilesa say they are ready to go to the front line in the war against rebel forces.

Their announcement comes after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said he would go to the front to lead the war.

Tigrayan rebels say they are advancing towards the capital Addis Ababa.

The UK has urged its nationals to leave Ethiopia immediately, saying the fighting may move closer to Addis Ababa in the coming days.

The rebels earlier this week said that they had taken control of Shewa Robit, a town about 225km (140 miles) north-east of Addis Ababa. There is no independent confirmation of the claim.

Communication Minister Legese Tulu said the military has had “many successes” since Mr Abiy’s decision to lead the battle, and victory was “so close”.

Earlier, Gebrselassie, 48, was quoted by state television as saying: “I am ready to do whatever is required of me, including going to the front line.”

Gebrselassie is regarded as a legend in Ethiopia, and his comments were seen as an attempt to rally public support behind the war effort.

During his 25-year career as an athlete, he claimed two Olympic gold medals, eight World Championship victories and set 27 world records. He announced his retirement from competitive running in 2015.

Expressing his support for the war, Feyisa, 31, was quoted by the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporation website as saying that he was ready to draw inspiration from the “gallantry of my forefathers” and go to the front line to “save my country”.

The athlete won the marathon silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

He became famous for holding up his crossed wrists as if they were shackled to draw global attention to the crackdown on demonstrators demanding political reforms in Ethiopia.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) was the dominant party in government at the time. Following the protests, Mr Abiy became prime minister and the TPLF lost the grip on the country it had held for 27 years.

It later retreated to its stronghold of Tigray, from where it launched a rebellion last November after a huge fall-out with Mr Abiy over his reforms.

The war has created a massive humanitarian crisis, leaving thousands dead, forcing millions from their homes, and several hundred thousand in famine-like conditions as aid agencies battle to get food in war-affected areas.

The African Union is leading efforts to find a negotiated end to the fighting, but neither side has committed to talks.

The TPLF are advancing towards Addis Ababa on the A2 highway.

On Tuesday, Germany and France advised their citizens to leave Ethiopia.

The prospect of some of Ethiopia’s most venerated sporting figures heading to the front lines to fight captures something profound and powerful about the mood in Addis Ababa and beyond.

At a time of intense crisis, many Ethiopians are clearly rallying behind their flag and prime minister, and are keen to play their part in galvanising public support for a military campaign that has suffered undeniable setbacks in recent months, though much remains in dispute in terms of casualty figures and battlefield momentum.

It is clear many people see the military threat posed by the TPLF and their assorted allies as an existential one for Ethiopia.

Added to that is a profound dislike of the TPLF itself, which stems from its decades heading an authoritarian national government. But there is more to it than that.

The prime minister has sought to portray his country as a victim, not just of Tigrayan aggression, but of a vast international conspiracy designed to weaken Ethiopia and punish it for, allegedly, challenging Western colonial interests on the continent.

Western media are portrayed as enthusiastic backers of that conspiracy theory – one which appears to have gained widespread credibility in a country struggling to explain how the rebel group could have made such startling headway.

France and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has been found guilty of conspiring to blackmail a fellow French footballer with a sex tape.

A judge handed Benzema a one-year suspended jail term and ordered him to pay a €75,000 (£63,000; $84,000) fine.

Benzema, 33, was one of five people put on trial last month over an attempt to extort Frenchman Mathieu Valbuena.

The scandal has stunned the football community in France and both players lost their national team places.

The case dates back to June 2015, when the two footballers were at a French training camp.

At the camp, Benzema put pressure on Valbuena to pay off the blackmailers, whom he had conspired with to act as an intermediary, prosecutors said.

Benzema has always denied the allegations and insisted he was only trying to help Valbuena get rid of the compromising video.

Benzema has since returned to the France team and is expected to start for Real Madrid on Wednesday night when they play FC Sheriff Tiraspol in the Champions League.

Benzema was not present in court in Versailles for the verdict, nor was Valbuena, who plays for Greek club Olympiakos.

Four of Benzema’s co-defendants in the trial were also found guilty on Wednesday. They were handed jail sentences ranging from 18 months suspended to two-and-a-half years in prison.

Benzema’s lawyers said they would appeal his conviction. “The reaction is ultimately an angry one to this judgment which is perfectly contradictory,” his lawyer, Sylvain Cormier, told reporters outside court.

But when delivering the verdict, the judge said Benzema had “implicated himself personally, through subterfuge and lies, to convince his teammate to submit to the blackmail”.

Benzema made a surprise comeback to the French national team in May, five years after he was exiled from the side when the allegations first surfaced in 2015.

But last month, the French football federation said a guilty verdict would not necessarily jeopardise Benzema’s position in the national side.

Since being called back by France manager Didier Deschamps, Benzema has been in prolific form, scoring nine times in 13 games for his country. He’s also scored 10 goals this season for his club, Real Madrid, who are yet to comment on the verdict.

For his performances on the pitch, Benzema was named a candidate for the Ballon d’Or footballer of the year award which will be announced next week.

Case leaves Real Madrid status intact

There are two ways of dealing with the private lives of footballers and we have seen that in the case of Benzema. The story hasn’t been given much importance in the sports media in Spain, but it has been hugely prominent in France.

In France, Benzema will be questioned professionally because of his behaviour off the pitch, much more so than in Spain. In France, private lives are more relevant, not just in sport but also in politics.

Benzema – who is of Algerian descent – has suggested there was an element of racism in this case. He felt that, had he been a white player, he would have been treated differently.

But none of it affects his status at Real Madrid, at all. In Spain, there is a view that your private life is your private life, and there has even been a strong campaign in the Madrid media for him to win the Ballon d’Or.

What is this case about?

It began in 2015 when Valbuena, now 37, asked a man in Marseille, Axel Angot, to upload the contents of his mobile phone to a new device.

Mr Angot found sexually explicit material on the phone. He and another defendant in the trial, Mustapha Zouaoui, were accused of trying to blackmail Valbuena by threatening to make the tape public.

Mr Zouaoui told reporters he had shared the tape, but there had never been an attempt to extort money.

Valbuena described being approached by another defendant, Younes Houass, who told the court he had warned the player about the issue without asking for money.

When the footballer went to the police, they set up a sting operation involving an undercover agent.

Prosecutors said another defendant was then brought into the scam – Karim Zenati, who is a childhood friend of Benzema. At this point, Benzema was asked to act as a “middleman” in the scheme, prosecutors said.

In October 2015, Benzema approached his fellow France player in his room at the national team’s training camp.

Benzema said he had merely tried to help his teammate dispose of the x-rated video, warning him: “Be careful, Math, they’re big, big thugs.”

He then offered to put him touch with someone he could trust – his childhood friend, Mr Zenati.

Police were by now tapping their phone calls and recorded Benzema telling his friend: “He’s not taking us seriously.”

Mr Zenati is said to have replied: “We’re here to sort it out; if he doesn’t want that he’ll have to deal with the piranhas.”

Giving evidence at the start of the trial, Valbuena said he had never considered handing over money to stop the video getting out.

Unlike his former teammate, Valbuena has not played for France since the scandal began.

Testifying during the trial, Valbuena told the court that football was his life.

“I knew if that video got out it would make things difficult with the French team,” he said.

The 35-year-old admits he has counted himself fortunate to earn a starting spot for Amakhosi in seven straight top-flight matches

Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi has admitted he does not believe he is the current first choice for the Premier Soccer League giants.

The 35-year-old Nigeria custodian has managed to play seven straight matches for Amakhosi in the top-flight this season. Against Maritzburg United in their last league assignment, he kept his 50th PSL clean sheet.

When the new season kicked off, the first four games saw Chiefs prefer either Bruce Bvuma or Brandon Peterson but he has been the first choice since then.

Akpeyi has now admitted he always considers himself fortunate to be playing these days despite Chiefs having a solid goalkeeping department which also includes veteran custodian Itumeleng Khune.

Chiefs no.1 keeper

“If someone would tell me that I am the No.1 keeper, I would ask him to rephrase that. I am just one of the four great keepers at the club who’s been given opportunities of late. We have a solid goalkeeping department,’’ Akpeyi said as quoted by Sowetan.

“I consider myself fortunate to be playing these days but again that doesn’t mean I am comfortable and relaxed. Tomorrow it can be someone else who’s playing, so I am not the No.1 at all.”

Akpeyi, who arrived in the PSL from Nigerian side Warri Wolves and signed for Chippa United in 2015, also believes he should be having more clean sheets in the top-flight.

‘I would say that is not a good record’

“I knew about this milestone through a friend yesterday. I would say to myself that it’s not a good record. In as much as I think it’s good to keep this amount of clean sheets, I think I should have kept more than 50,” Akpeyi continued.

Ahead of the team’s league match against AmaZulu at FNB Stadium on Wednesday, Akpeyi is predicting a tough game against the Benni McCarthy-led side.

The 35-year-old admits he has counted himself fortunate to earn a starting spot for Amakhosi in seven straight top-flight matches

Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi has admitted he does not believe he is the current first choice for the Premier Soccer League giants.

The 35-year-old Nigeria custodian has managed to play seven straight matches for Amakhosi in the top-flight this season. Against Maritzburg United in their last league assignment, he kept his 50th PSL clean sheet.

When the new season kicked off, the first four games saw Chiefs prefer either Bruce Bvuma or Brandon Peterson but he has been the first choice since then.

Akpeyi has now admitted he always considers himself fortunate to be playing these days despite Chiefs having a solid goalkeeping department which also includes veteran custodian Itumeleng Khune.

Chiefs no.1 keeper

“If someone would tell me that I am the No.1 keeper, I would ask him to rephrase that. I am just one of the four great keepers at the club who’s been given opportunities of late. We have a solid goalkeeping department,’’ Akpeyi said as quoted by Sowetan.

“I consider myself fortunate to be playing these days but again that doesn’t mean I am comfortable and relaxed. Tomorrow it can be someone else who’s playing, so I am not the No.1 at all.”

Akpeyi, who arrived in the PSL from Nigerian side Warri Wolves and signed for Chippa United in 2015, also believes he should be having more clean sheets in the top-flight.

‘I would say that is not a good record’

“I knew about this milestone through a friend yesterday. I would say to myself that it’s not a good record. In as much as I think it’s good to keep this amount of clean sheets, I think I should have kept more than 50,” Akpeyi continued.

Ahead of the team’s league match against AmaZulu at FNB Stadium on Wednesday, Akpeyi is predicting a tough game against the Benni McCarthy-led side. Article continues below

“AmaZulu have been a decent side in the past few months, so beating them would need us to come with our A-game. It won’t be easy at all but we’re ready to fight,” Akpeyi concluded.

The shot-stopper managed 92 league games at Chippa and kept 32 clean sheets before he moved to Chiefs where he has kept 19 clean sheets from 52 matches.