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15 facts about Yakubu Aiyegbeni as he retires from professional football.

Former Super Eagles, Portsmouth & Everton striker, Yakubu Aiyegbeni has retired from professional football after 2 decades in the game. The Yak as fondly called hung his boots today November 22nd, his 35th birthday.
“I would like to officially announce my retirement from professional football today,” he told SkySports.
“Firstly, I would like to thank God for the career I have had. I would like to thank the entire Nigerian Football Federation and my Nigerian national team-mates for all the memorable years I had playing for the Super Eagles. I would also like to thank all the football clubs I played for. The managers, all club staff, owners, fellow players and my dearest family and friends who immensely supported me throughout my career.
“When I started my career at Julius Berger in Nigeria all those years ago (1997) I could only have dreamt of the success that was to follow years after. Also playing in England especially helped me grow as a player and as a person so much that I am now settled here. I feel the time is right for me to now focus on the next chapter in my life.”

FACTS ABOUT THE PLAYER

  1. He was born in Benin, Edo State.
  2. He retires as Nigeria’s 3rd highest scorer.
  3. His nickname was ‘The Yak’
  4. The Yak scored 21 goals in 57 appearances for Nigeria.
  5. He is the first African player to get a hat-trick in the Champions League, against Greek giants Olympiakos.
  6. He has featured in 250 English premiership games with 96 goals.
  7. He played for 14 different clubs namely; Julius Berger, Gil Vicente, Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel Kfar Saba, Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Everton, Leicester City, Blackburn Rovers, Guangzhou R&F, Al-Rayyan, Reading, Kayserispor, Coventry City
  8. He scored 17 Premier League goals in the year Blackburn were relegated (2011/2012)
  9. He is the second highest African goalscorer in Premier League history
  10. He represented Nigeria at four African Cup of Nations finals, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the football at the 2000 Summer Olympics.
  12. The Yaks started his career with Julius Berger FC in Lagos as a teenager
  13. Yakubu helped Portsmouth win the 2002–03 Division 1 title, scoring at a rate of one goal every two games (7 in 14 matches).
  14. He scored his first Premier League goal in his second match, opening a 1–1 draw versus Manchester City on 23 August 2003
  15. He Portsmouth’s highest ever scorer in the Premier League, with nine more than their second-highest scorer Benjani Mwaruwari.
  16. He finished his first season with 15 Premier League goals to his name, and 21 goals in all competitions for Everton. He achieved his highest goal tally for a single season, and also became the first Everton player since Peter Beardsley to net 20 goals in a season

Thank You for all the beautiful memories, The Yak!
 
Additional information from Wikipedia

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Sports

UEFA Announce Nominees For 2017 Team Of The Year

UEFA have announced the 50 nominees for the official 2017 Team of the Year.  Real Madrid have the highest number of nominees, 11. With Manchester United, Juventus, Barcelona etc all coming behind. The list also features one African, which is Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The 50-man shortlist is selected by UEFA’s journalists for the best performers in European club competition, domestic competitions and international tournaments, and now UEFA.com users can vote for their favourite team online.
 
COMPLETE NOMINEES LIST
Goalkeepers:
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), David de Gea (Manchester United), Keylor Navas (Real Madrid), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid)
Defenders:
Dani Alves (Juventus/Paris Saint-Germain), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/AC Milan), Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Kamil Glik (Monaco), Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Benjamin Mendy (Monaco/Manchester City), Thomas Meunier (Paris Saint-Germain), Gerard Pique (FC Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Davinson Sanchez (Ajax/Tottenham Hotspur), Alex Sandro (Juventus), Antonio Valencia (Manchester United)
Midfielders:
Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur), Marco Asensio (Real Madrid), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur), Fabinho (Monaco), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Andres Iniesta (FC Barcelona), Isco (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Manchester United), Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Miralem Pjanic (Juventus), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Saul Niguez (Atletico Madrid)
Forwards:
Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain), Paulo Dybala (Juventus), Radamel Falcao (Monaco), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Dries Mertens (Napoli), Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona), Neymar (FC Barcelona/Paris Saint-Germain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Luis Suarez (FC Barcelona), Kylian Mbappe (Monaco/Paris Saint-Germain)

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Sports

Nigeria Women's Bobsled Team make Winter Olympics history.

 

Nigeria women’s bobsled team recently made the Winter Olympics history by becoming the first men’s or women’s African team represented in the category at an Olympics. Consisting of Seun Adigun (Driver) who represented Nigeria in 100mH at London 2012 and began training for bobsled in 2014, Ngozi Onwumere (Breakmen) won a Silver & Gold medal at the 2015 AAG Akuoma Omeoga (Breakmen), the bobsled event will be held at the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang.

The trio completed the fifth of their required five qualifying races on Wednesday, becoming the first African team, men or women, to qualify in the Bobsled category.
“This is a huge milestone for sports in Nigeria,“Nothing makes me prouder than to know that I can play a small role in creating opportunities for winter sports to take place in Nigeria. Our objective now is to be the best representation of Africa that the Winter Olympics have ever witnessed.” Adigun told KweséESPN.
 “I commend the personal dedication and commitment of these women. Their hard work was inspiring and I hope Nigerians can appreciate what it took for them to achieve this – the work, the discipline, and the personal sacrifices. They were amazing throughout this journey. They are all very successful people in their own right – in sports and out of it, and somehow they are still motivated and still push for more success.

“I have watched them train and work hard to represent Nigeria at the Winter Olympics in a very technical and high risk sport and they have achieved that. They should be very proud, and I am very proud of them.” Solomon Ogba, President of the Bobsled and Skeleton Federation of Nigeria, said in a media statement:
 
Additional Information from ESPN.

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Sports

Lionel Messi donates €70k to charity after libel case win

Last year, Barcelona talisman, Lionel Messi won a libel case against Spanish newspaper, La Razon who published an article following Argentina’s World Cup final defeat to Germany in 2014, criticizing the player and claiming he wore a wig and had used performance-enhancing drug Nandrolone.
Spain’s Supreme Court agreed with the Barcelona court’s ruling that  the article went outside the bounds of an opinion piece and ordered that La Razon, its editor, Francisco Marhuenda and Ussia should pay €72,783.20 to Messi. The case was closed today, with Messi donating the money won in the case to medical charity, Doctors Withour Borders.
 
“The football player Lionel Andres Messi Cuccittini has donated a total of €72,783.20 to the organisation Doctors Without Borders. It corresponds to the full amount of compensation requested by the player in the conflict arising from the publication of the article ‘Sonatina’ in La Razon by the journalist Alfonso Ussia. The decision made by a Barcelona court [last year] has now been declared inadmissible by the Supreme Court. [Messi] will continue to defend himself against false and inaccurate accusations which attempt to dishonour him.” Messi’s management company confirmed in a statement.

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Sports

Victor Moses, Troost-Ekong, others nominated for CAF African player of the year award.

Nigerian duo, Victor Moses and William Troost-Ekong have been shortlisted for the 2018 edition of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) player of the year award. Both Nigeria Internationals ply their trades in England and Turkey respectively.
A statement from CAF released on Wednesday reads thus. “The winner will be decided by votes from the head coaches/technical directors of the national associations affiliated to CAF, members of the CAF technical and development committee and a panel of media experts,” said CAF.
“The awards gala will be held on Thursday, 4 January 2018 in Accra, Ghana.
“Nigerian energy giants, Aiteo, are the headline sponsors of next year’s edition that will see players, officials and administrators who distinguished themselves exemplary during the year under review being honoured for their efforts towards the development of the game on the continent.”
FULL NOMINEES LIST
African Player of the Year

1. Ali Maaloul (Tunisia & Al Ahly)
2. Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso & Lyon)
3. Cedric Bakambu (DR Congo & Villareal)
4. Christian Atsu (Ghana & Newcastle)
5. Christian Bassogog (Cameroon & Henan Jianye)
6. Denis Onyango (Uganda & Mamelodi Sundowns)
7. Eric Bailly (Cote d’Ivoire & Manchester United)
8. Essam El Hadary (Egypt & Al Taawoun)
9. Fabrice Ondoa (Cameroon & Sevilla)
10. Fackson Kapumbu (Zambia & Zesco)
11. Jean Michel Seri (Cote d’Ivoire & Nice)
12. Junior Kabananga (DR Congo & Astana)
13. Karim El Ahmadi (Morocco & Feyenoord)
14. Keita Balde (Senegal & Monaco)
15. Khalid Boutaib (Morocco & Yeni Malatyaspor)
16. Mbwana Samata (Tanzania & Genk)
17. Michael Olunga (Kenya & Girona)
18. Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool)
19. Moussa Marega (Mali & Porto)
20. Naby Keita (Guinea & RB Leipzig)
21. Percy Tau (South Africa & Mamelodi Sundowns)
22. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon & Borussia Dortmund)
23. Sadio Mane (Senegal & Liverpool)
24. Thomas Partey (Ghana & Atletico Madrid)
25. Victor Moses (Nigeria & Chelsea)
26. Vincent Aboubakar (Cameroon & Porto)
27. William Troost-Ekong (Nigeria & Bursaspor)
28. Yacine Brahimi (Algeria & Porto)
29. Youssef Msakni (Tunisia & Al Duhail)
30. Yves Bissouma (Mali & Lille)

African Player of the Year – Based in Africa

1. Achraf Bencharki (Morocco & Wydad Athletic Club)
2. Ahmed Fathi (Egypt & Al Ahly)
3. Alkhaly Bangoura (Guinea & Etoile du Sahel)
4. Ali Maaloul (Tunisia & Al Ahly)
5. Aristide Bance (Burkina Faso & Al Masry)
6. Ayman Majid (Morocco & FUS Rabat)
7. Aymen Mathlouthi (Tunisia & Etoile du Sahel)
8. Ben Malango (DR Congo & TP Mazembe)
9. Dean Furman (South Africa & Supersport United)
10. Denis Onyango (Uganda & Mamelodi Sundowns)
11. Elsamani Saadeldin (Sudan & Al Merreikh)
12. Fackson Kapumbu (Zambia & Zesco)
13. Fawzi Chaouchi (Algeria & MC Alger)
14. Geoffrey Serunkuma (Uganda & KCCA)
15. Jeremy Brockie (New Zealand & Supersport)
16. Junior Ajayi (Nigeria & Al Ahly)
17. Karim Aouadhi (Tunisia & CS Sfaxien)
18. Mohamed Meftah (Algeria & USM Alger)
19. Mohamed Ounnajem (Morocco & Wydad Athletic Club)
20. Muaid Ellafi (Libya & Ahly Tripoli)
21. Nasr Eldin Ahmed (Sudan & Hilal Obeid)
22. Oussama Darfalou (Algeria & USM Alger)
23. Percy Tau (South Africa & Mamelodi Sundowns)
24. Sabelo Ndzinisa (Swaziland & Mbabane Swallows)
25. Saber Khalifa (Tunisia & Club Africain)
26. Saladin Said (Ethiopia & Saint George)
27. Sylvain Gbohouo (Cote d’Ivoire & TP Mazembe)
28. Tady Etekiama (DR Congo & AS Vita)
29. Taha Yassine Khenissi (Tunisia & Esperance)
30. Tarek Hamed (Egypt & Zamalek)

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Sports

England beat Spain 5-2 to win the U17 World Cup.

 In what can be described as an astounding victory, England win their first U-17 World Cup after turning an 0-2 deficit into a resounding 5-2 victory over Spain. Manchester City’s Phil Foden‘s double strikes inspired the incredible comeback victory at the Salt Lake Stadium in India.
England now double world youth football champions in 2017, having won U20 WC earlier this year.
It has been a rollercoaster  year for England’s youth teams.
U17 Euros – Final
U18-20 Toulon – Winners
U20 WC – Winners
U21 Euros – Semi
U17 WC – Winners
Liverpool FC/England player, Rhian Brewster won the Man of the match award.

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Asamoah Gyan obtains license to operate private airline in Ghana.

Ghana national team captain, Asamoah Gyan, has obtained a license from the government of Ghana, to operate an airline in the country. The airline, which is called Baby Jet Airlines,  is expected to commence operations soon. The announcement was made by President Akufo-Addo at the 2017 African Airshow at the Kotoka International Airport.
 
The ex Sunderland striker will focus initially on cargo trips and grow from there.
“I’ve been reliable informed that the Captain of our senior national football team, the Black Stars, Asamoah Gyan, Baby Jet has obtained an air carrier license and is working feverishly to establish an airline, obviously called Baby Jet airlines. I want to call on other Ghanaians both home and abroad to invest in the rapidly growing aviation sector.” President Akufo-Addo said.
 

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Highlights from The FIFA best player awards 2017 held in London

 









 
Cristiano Ronaldo was named the world’s best player at the 2017 FIFA Football awards in London last night. The striker who stepped out in style with his son Cristiano Jnr and his pregnant girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez, received the maximum votes in the best player category with 43%. Barcelona star Lionel Messi who was also present with his wife  Antonella Roccuzzo came second in the category.
Also present at the high-profile gala were PSG stars, Neymar and Dani Alves,  Argentine icon Diego Maradona, Brazilian legend, Ronaldo, Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, former Leicester manager, Claudio Ranieri, Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka and many more.

Asides the 32-year-old,  Ronaldo who led Portugal to Euro 2016 glory as well as helped Real Madrid win the La Liga and the Champions League last season, other winners include Lieke Martens, who bagged  FIFA Women’s Player 2017, the Blancos coach, Zinedine Zidane who was  named best men’s coach, Arsenal forward Olivier Giroud’s scorpion strike vs. Crystal Palace bagged the Puskas award. The fair play award was given out to Togolese player Francis Kone, who performed life-saving first aid on Bohemians 1905’s goalkeeper Martin Berkovec in February. Gianluigi Buffon was named The Best FIFA Goalkeeper 2017.


















 





  

 

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Nwankwo Kanu Launches Jackpot Lotto To Support His Foundation

Legendary Nigerian footballer and philanthropist, Nwankwo Kanu, is launching the biggest lotto in Africa to raise funds for the Kanu Heart Foundation (KHF)  and help build a specialist cardiac hospital in Abuja.
The KHF lotto offers a jackpot starting at N1 billion and will be run in conjunction with AfroMillonsLotto. It offers twice-weekly draws with bigger jackpots than all the lotteries in Nigeria combined, as well as being the largest jackpot anywhere in Africa. Twenty percent of every ticket sold will go directly to KHF to help it continue its work ensuring underprivileged children across Africa with heart problems get the treatment they need.
Since its launch in 2000, KHF has helped not just people in Nigeria, but also paid for 538 children to be treated at facilities throughout the world. Commenting on the lotto initiative, Kanu said:
“We are excited to launch this major fund-raising initiative for the Kanu Heart Foundation and hope people support it by buying tickets, helping us to build a new heart hospital for Nigeria.”
“Not only could people change their own life with the potential to win the jackpot of over N1 billion, they can help to change the lives of other people by supporting our Foundation”.
The first KHF Lotto draw takes place on Wednesday 18th October and the website also offers nine, ‘Candy Crush’ style, Instant Win games, which can be played for fun or to win cash prizes of up to N12 million. If there isn’t a jackpot winner, the prize money rolls over, increasing by N100 million with each draw until it reaches a maximum of over N2 billion.

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Craig Shakespeare sacked as manager of Leicester City.

Leicester City have fired manager, Craig Shakespeare following the club’s 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion on Monday. The 53 year-old who was appointed in June contract succeeded Claudio Ranieri on a caretaker basis. The decision comes after the foxes slipped into the bottom three and 18th on the PL log.
Leicester’s performances have been below par this season. The club recorded six winless matches and 1 victory in 10 Premier League games, against newly promoted Brighton in August.  Shakespeare who signed a 3 year-deal with the club was given money to spend during the summer transfer window, bringing in the likes of Harry Maguire for £17million and Kelechi Iheanacho for £25m.
He gained 15 points from his first 5 PL games with the club. His assistant, Michael Appleton will replace him temporarily.
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