Morocco is set to replace Ukraine in the preliminary joint bid that Spain and Portugal announced last year.

Unfolding events have made Ukraine, an unlikely joint candidate with the Iberian penisular countries of Portugal and Spain.

In what could have been the most expansive World Cup in terms of space between venues.

Ukraine is almost 3,000 kilometres north-east of Spain. In contrast, Morocco is separated from Spain by a 14 kilometre Strait of Gibraltar.

The 2030 World Cup is a milestone, marking the 100 years since the competition started.

The on-going war in Ukraine makes it an unlikely desitination for World Cup as even if the conflicts end, the country will need a huge amount of money to rebuild.

Besides, the Ukraine football federation recently has been in tumoil.

There are  issues at the Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF)  whose President Andriy Pavelko was arrested in November last year for allegedly misusing international aid funds.

A court in Kyiv suspended Pavelko for one month until March 17, but the UAF insisted he would retain his position after filing an appeal.

Ukraine had increasingly been viewed as unlikely to be in a position to stage matches at the 2030 World Cup.

Morocco appears to enjoy good relations with FIFA, stepping in to host the men’s Club World Cup in February at less than two months’ notice.

They enjoyed a historic run to the semi-finals of last year’s World Cup in Qatar, knocking out both Spain and Portugal.

A host for the 2030 World Cup is set to be decided at next year’s FIFA Congress.

A South American bid including Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile is set to rival the Iberian bid, and Saudi Arabia hopes to lead a joint proposal with Egypt and Greece.

UEFA backed the Spanish and Portuguese bid when Ukraine joined it last year, but Greek involvement in a Saudi bid could appeal to some European nations.

Ambassador of Nigeria to the Arab Republic of Egypt, His Excellency Ambassador Nura Abba Rimi has honoured the Flying Eagles who scooped the bronze medals in the just-concluded Africa U20 Cup of Nations tournament in Egypt. 

Ambassador Rimi received the entourage of the Nigeria U20 boys at the town hall of the Nigeria Embassy in Cairo, Egypt on Saturday .

The diplomat expressed satisfaction with the performance of the team during the tournament while congratulating players and officials for successfully qualifying for the forthcoming FIFA U20 World Cup finals in Indonesia.

Rimi further charged the Flying Eagles to make Nigeria proud in the global tournament slated for 20th May – 11th June.

Responding, NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, represented by Chief Technical Officer and former international player, Garba Lawal commended the Embassy for the support rendered to the team throughout its stay in Cairo, which helped in steering the team to third place and a ticket to the FIFA World Cup.

Also speaking, Flying Eagles Head Coach, Ladan Bosso assured the Nigerian Embassy officials that the team is motivated to do better at the World Cup.

A total of 21 players and 10 officials of the Flying Eagles received a plaque of honour from the diplomat for representing the nation creditably in Egypt.

Not fewer than five Confederation of African Football (CAF) will arrive Abuja to inspect four stadiums to choose a home ground for Nigeria representative, Enyimba International Football Club ahead of the CAF African Super League.

While four officials will arrive on Monday, the last official will touch down in Abuja on Tuesday.

A reliable source from the Ministry of Sports who pleaded anonymity exclusively informed BSN Sports that everything are in place to receive the CAF officials in Abuja.

We will receive five CAF officials who will inspect four stadiums ahead of the CAF African Super League. We are working with the Nigeria Football Federation in making sure that there is no hitches while carrying out their duty.” Four will arrive tomorrow (Monday) while the last one come into the country’s capital on Tuesday. The source exclusively told BSN Sports.

“Four stadia have been tipped for inspection. The stadium are; Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja, Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Amasiemaka Stadium and Enyimba International stadium. CAF has already ruled out Amasiemaka for disallowing Rivers United using the pitch for their CAF Confederation Cup campaign while Enyimba International has also been ruled out.” He added.

“Two times CAF Champions League champions, Enyimba International are one of the 24 teams picked based rankings to participate in the maiden edition.

The Africa Super League will be an annual continental club football competition run by the CAF that is set to kickoff in August 2023. It was announced on 28 November 2019 by Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA. It was launched on 10 August 2022 in Tanzania, and will include twenty-four elite African clubs with a promotion/relegation system.

The essence of holding this tournament is the huge financial returns, projected to exceed $100 million, to be used to develop and improve stadiums, infrastructure and the promotion of African football.

The competition will have 24 teams divided into three regionalized groups (North, Central/West, South/East), for eight teams per group, and there will be a maximum of three teams per country. The teams will be from 16 countries, representing approximately 1 billion people. The competition will have 197 matches (with a maximum of 21 matches played by the finalists) and promotion/relegation play-offs.

The final will be played in a single match, with the final designed to become “the Super Bowl of Africa”.

The total prizemoney for the Africa Super League will be US$100 million, with the winner receiving US$11.5 million, and each participating club receiving an initial cash injection of US$2.5 million. Some of the funding from the Africa Super League will be used to allocate US$1 million per annum to each of CAF’s 54 member countries, for a total investment of US$54 million per annum to develop football in Africa.

CAF will also receive US$50 million per annum to develop football for boys and girls, employ world-class staff, as well as to improve and to make all its other competitions attractive and appealing to football spectators, TV viewers, sponsors and other partners.

The Africa Super League will also support the growth of club football, the construction and maintenance of football infrastructure and facilities, and the training and the retention of football talent in Africa.

Paris Saint-Germain forward, Lionel Messi, on Saturday became the first player to reach 300 club assists.

Messi achieved the feat after setting up a last-minute winner for teammate Kylian Mbappe in their 2-1 French Ligue 1 win against Brest on Saturday.

Incidentally, Messi, back in 2005, provided his first of many club career assists to Barcelona legend Ronaldinho wearing the number 30 jersey.

However, in 2023, the Argentina captain provided his 300th milestone club career assist to Mbappe, wearing the same jersey number.

Mbappe beat the offside trap to collect a through ball from Messi in the 90th minute and rounded goalkeeper Marco Bizot to slot it into an empty net as PSG defeated Brest at the Stade Francis-Le Blé.

Messi, a former Barcelona captain, now has 13 Ligue 1 assists this season and has 31 assists across all competitions for PSG.

Nigerian forward, Gift Orban scored four times as KAA Gent thrashed Zulte Waregem in their Belgian Pro League clash on Sunday night.

Orban is now the first Gent player to score four goals in a league game this century.

The forward scored all four goals in the second half of the game.

The 20-year-old was on target in the 53rd, 68th, 75th and 83rd minutes respectively.

Orban has now scored nine goals in seven league outings for Gent.

The striker linked up with Gent from Norwegian club, Stabaek in January.

It was cream de la cream night gathering of sports journalists, veterans and administrators at the prestigious Sportshaq at Adamu Orisa Crescent, Adeniran Ogunsanya Street, Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria as a UK based sports Production and Communication Company Moor Sportz brought home ‘Project African Stars’ – to showcase and celebrate African sports legends and heroes both at home and in the Diaspora.

Speaking at the unveiling of the concept, the Chief Executive Officer of Moor Sportz, Kehinde Fagbuaro stated that over the years, the stories of African sports men and women who had made tremendous impact globally had been told from the perspectives of Europeans and outsiders, a development he said was not in depth enough to capture their real essence.

Fielding questions as to what inspired the concept of showcasing the African sports legends from the African perspective, Mr Fagbuaro said, “We saw the gap in the sports industry especially in Africa. Most of our stories, the story of the athletes, the icons and legends of African heritage both in Africa and in the Diaspora are being told by the Europeans and outsiders for us and the gap is always there and there’s not enough in-depth research about these stories.

“So we want to come in because I personally live in the United kingdom but I was born here. So I can stand as a bridge because I live between here and in the Diaspora. I know the content of what is happening in Africa, I know the content of what is happening in Europe, so I can be a bridge to bring a proper perspective to the stories of the African heritage.

“We are very specific, Athletes of African heritage both at home and in the Diaspora, we want to promote them. So, by the launch today, we have exposed the intent, it will cover all sports. We have mentioned some of the athletes we want to cover, Athletes like Tobi Amusan, Segun Odegbami, things that people do not know about them which we want people to know.

“For instance, I did a documentary about the first African to win a gold medal in the Olympics. Abebe Bikila ran barefooted in the Olympics and won the first gold medal at the Olympics for Africa. People want to know why Bikila ran barefooted. Was he just a jungle man who could not wear his fine shoes? People want to know. We researched and found out that he actually had a pair of shoe that was hurting his legs and he tried to train with it but discovered that he could not maximize it and the time was too short to get the proper shoes for the contest, he had to run barefooted.

“When I wrote that story, it started attracting a lot of attention. So, there are a lot of things that are behind the scene that are not common in daily journals, in day to day news that we go behind the scene to research. So, that is the essence of what we are doing, celebrate the African essence both at home and in the Diaspora.”

On his part, a renowned sports administrator, Dr Mumuni Alao commended Moor Sportz for the initiative and expressed excitement.

“I’m excited about the originality of the concept, the idea. I like the creativity and as far as telling the African story is concern, we have not even scratched the surface. So there’s a very big nitch in that area which I’m very excited about and I’m happy that it is not just a Nigerian project, it’s an African project which means there’s a lot of potential content. So,

“I’m excited about the prospect in terms of the kind of content that we will be receiving, that’s no one. Number two, because today’s world is more video-centric. When you talk about content now, I’m a specialist in writing,” he stated.

Also speaking, ex-international, Chief Segun Odegbami commended Moor Sportz for the initiative and promised to support whenever called upon.

His words, “Well, I’m excited about the prospects; I have seen glimpses of the future of what this organization wants to do and I believe that if it is done the way they said it will be done, then, we are in for some true entertainment in football.

“Beyond the entertainment, there’s also the documentation, the historical perspective and when you combine history with entertainment, it’s a winner! So, I just want to use this opportunity to congratulate More Sports and to wish them the very best of luck. As much as we possibly can, we shall render our support.”