Israel Adesanya will defend his middleweight title against Sean Strickland at UFC 293 in Sydney, Australia on 10 September.

Adesanya, 34, last fought in April beating long term rival Alex Pareira, to regain the belt he had lost five months earlier.

The Nigerian-born New Zealander was set to fight Dricus du Plessis next but the South African is injured.

American Strickland, 32, will be competing in his first UFC title fight.

He stepped up a division on short notice to beat Nassourdine Imavov in January before knocking out Abusupiyan Magomedov in July.

FIFPRO is assisting the Nigerian women’s team in their fight with the country’s football federation (NFF) to receive wages owed since 2021, the global players’ union said on Tuesday.

Nigeria arrived at the Women’s World Cup having been at loggerheads with the NFF over pay and conditions, with coach Randy Waldrum saying he was owed seven months’ wages and some of his players had not been paid in two years.

Nigeria reached the knockout stages at the World Cup where they were eventually eliminated by England on penalties after a 0-0 draw in their last 16 match on Monday.

“FIFPRO can confirm it is assisting players in a disagreement with the Nigeria Football Federation concerning bonus payments, camp allowances and expenses, some of which date back to 2021,” it said in a statement.

“During the World Cup, the players expressed the desire to remain focused on their performance without making public statements or facing other distractions.

“However, the Super Falcons believe that it is now time for the Nigeria Football Federation to honour their commitments and pay the outstanding amounts.”

Reuters has contacted the NFF for comment. They did not respond when asked about the issue last month.

Nigeria are 11-times Women’s Africa Cup of Nations champions and the outspoken Waldrum said he was not confident the dispute would be resolved by the end of the tournament.

“The team is extremely frustrated that they have had to pursue the Nigeria Football Federation for these payments before and during the tournament and may have to continue doing so afterwards,” FIFPRO added.

“It is regrettable that players needed to challenge their own federation at such an important time in their careers.

“FIFPRO will continue to work with the players to ensure their contractual rights are honoured and the outstanding payments are settled.”

Nigeria forward Ifeoma Onumonu revealed the squad have no access to a gym in their training camp in Nigeria and that the players were forced to share beds.

“There’s a lot that needs to be done. Hopefully more people start to talk about it. Coming here it’s hard to adjust,” she was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

“We do what we can because we love playing for our country but hopefully they make it easier for us to do our best.”

Nigeria defender Michelle Alozie says the gallant fight that the Super Falcons put up against England in the FIFA Women’s World Cup round of 16 was for Africa. 

The Super Falcons bowed out of the competition on Monday after a goalless stalemate concluded with England advancing to the quarter-finals, courtesy of a 4-2 penalty shootout.

For the first time in the history of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, three African nations progressed to the round of 16, with Nigeria, Morocco and South Africa flying the African women’s football flag.

Speaking after the tightly contested affair, Alozie said they were disappointed, but proud of the fight they put up for Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

“I mean yeah, obviously this isn’t how we wanted our World Cup to end. We really had a lot of opportunities early on, myself included. We should have put them away sooner instead of letting it go to PK’s, especially with us being up one person but I can’t be more proud of this team” said Alozie.

“We probably had one of the hardest groups, some say the group of death. We came out and no one believed in us. We played over 90 minutes, going to PK’s with England, Europe’s top team, and so everyone kind of counted us out and put us as the underdog”.

“We kept fighting, we fought for Africa, we fought for Nigeria and I just hope everyone is proud of us but this isn’t the end, this is really only the beginning of the wave of Nigerian soccer” conclude Alozie.

Super Falcons coach, Randy Waldrum echoed her player’s sentiments, saying that he was proud of his sides performance, even though they could have won it had they buried their chances.

“I’m so proud of them, to come in and play like we did tonight. We had every opportunity to get it done. Unfortunately, we couldn’t quite get it done. We had the best chances, we hit the crossbar twice. When it gets to penalties, it’s anyone’s game,” said Waldrum.

CAF has received written statements from several Cameroonian football stakeholders to look into and investigate certain alleged improper conduct by football legend,  Samuel Eto’o who is President of the Fédération Camerounaise de Football (“FECAFOOT”).

CAF is looking into these requests based on and in accordance with the CAF Statutes and Regulations. Whilst the allegations are prima facie serious, Mr. Samuel Eto’o is presumed to be innocent until an appropriate judicial body concludes otherwise.

CAF will make no further announcement while the investigations are ongoing and will only make public statements when the proceedings have come to an end.

Samuel Chukwueze made his long-awaited debut for AC Milan and won his first trophy with the club in their victory over Monza in the first edition of the Silvio Berlusconi trophy played on Tuesday night.
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The game ended 1-1 but the seven-time European champions edged Monza 6-5 on penalties to win their first title of the season.

Chukwueze came on in the 80th minute alongside Noah Okafor, Davide Bartesaghi and Lorenzo Colombo as Stefano Pioli’s side searched for the winner which they failed to get before the end of the normal regulation time.

The 24-year-old was confirmed as a Rossoneri player last month but could not join the rest of the squad in their United States Tour.

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He waited behind at the Milan Sports Centre to get into match fitness but finally got to meet his new teammates and manager on Sunday when they resumed training.

The Athletic Federation of Nigeria (AFN) on Tuesday released Nigeria’s squad list for the 2023 World Athletics Championship in Budapest, Hungary with World record holder in 100m hurdles Tobi Amusan excluded.

Her exclusion is not unconnected with recent doping charge slammed on her by Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for allegedly missing doping tests.Doping Charge: I will fight to the finish -Amusan

Amusan was charged with three missed drug tests in a 12-month span, which can lead up to a two-year suspension if proved beyond reasonable doubt. She has already pleaded her innocence as the issue lingers.

At the 2022 World Athletics Championship in Oregon, USA, Nigeria finished joint 13th with one gold and one silver.

Amusan got Nigeria’s only gold in the women’s 100 metres hurdles while Brume won silver in women’s long jump.

Headlining the AFN list dished out on Tuesday are notable Nigerian male athletes like Itshekiri Usheoritshe, Ashe Favour, Seye Ogunlewe, Alaba Akintola, Fakorede Adekalu, Karlington Anunagba, and Enekwechi Chukwuebuka (shot put) were listed.

In the women category Ese Brume, George Patience Okon, Sucess Umukoro, Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma and Ruth Usoro made the cut. Also included are Deborah Oke, Imaobong Uko, Nse Uko and Pamela Amaechi.

This year’s Championship will hold from 19 to 27 August.

There were indications last night that Delta State may be given the green light to host some of the matches at the 2027 African Cup of Nations being jointly bided by Nigeria and Benin Republic.

This fact unfolded at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, where a team of CAF officials was taking round the sporting arena facilities to have a first hand information on their functionality.

The team which included renowned sports caster, Mainasara Iloh was taken round the facilities by top officials of the Delta State Sports Commission, led by the Director General, Sir Chris Anaziah.

The inspectors who seemed forbidden from speaking to the media, were however all smiles after seeing things for themselves because of the good state of the facilities that have been in constant use for top flight Sporting activities since the stadium was remodeled in 2018 by the preceding administration of Gov. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa for the hosting of the elite African Athletics Championship.

Earlier, the team was led by the Executive Chairman of the commission, Chief Tonobok Okowa on a courtesy visit to governor of the state, Elder Sheriff Oborevwori.

The governor had assured the August visitors of willingness of the state to be a host city if the opportunity would be offered.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has admitted it is “broke” as their standoff with the women’s national team over outstanding monies continues.

The football house says it could only disburse the funds if they get additional payments from FIFA.

This was revealed by a former media officer of the Super Eagles, Colin Udoh, via his Twitter feed.

According to him, the NFF has already written to the federal government asking for funds to be approved.

Udoh wrote: “Late last week, I had a chat with NFF president @IbrahimMusaGus1. Among the many questions I asked him was the Super Falcons’ outstanding payments.

“He told me the NFF is flat broke, but would pay them from the federation share of the FIFA World Cup funds. He also mentioned that they had requested for funds from the FG, which had been approved, but had not been disbursed yet.

“Btw, anyone who has dealt with the Nigerian govt (state or FG) will know the term “approval is not the same as release”.

“I also spoke with another senior NFF official today after seeing the @FIFPRO statement. And he told me that their involvement changes nothing.

“The players would get paid their outstanding once either of those two monies come in first.

“He explained that the NFF had not received any funding since and their last payment from FIFA was used to settle part of the national teams’ coaches wages (Peseiro and Waldrum). And that the FIFA funds had already been earmarked for paying the players outstandings.”

Randy Waldrum and his ladies have been at odds with the NFF over unpaid salaries and bonuses.

This led to the global players’ union, FIFPRO, releasing a statement on Tuesday in solidarity. The body noted that “it is regrettable that players needed to challenge their own federation at such an important time.”

Ligue 1 club, Lens have expressed interest in signing Middlesbrough forward, Chuba Akpom.

According to football daily, the former Ligue 1 champions have submitted a bid in the region of £8m for the striker.

Akpom has one-year left on his contract and seems not ready to sign a contract extension at Middlesbrough.

Boro need to cash in now or risk losing him on a free next summer.

The Nigerian-born forward was top scorer in the Championship last season with 28 goals.

Southampton, Leeds United and Everton all shown interest in him during the January transfer window.