The Confederation of African Football (CAF) have unveiled the top three nominees for the 2016 Glo-CAF African Footballer of the year Awards.
The three players who made the shortlist for African Player of the Year include current title holder, Borussia Dortmund winger, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon), Liverpool midfielder, Sadio Mane (Senegal) and Riyad Mahrez of Leicester City of England and Algeria.
The three finalists of the African Player of the Year (Based in Africa) category are; Rainford Kabala of Zambia and T.P Mazembe F.C and Mamelodi Sundowns F.C of South Africa duo of Dennis Onyango from Uganda and Zimbabwean, Khama Billiat.
The outright winners will be decided by votes from the Head Coaches or the Technical Directors of the National Associations affiliated to CAF and the announcement will be made at a ceremony scheduled to take place at the International Convention Centre, Abuja on 5th January, 2017.
Petr Cech and Laurent Koscielny cancel Arsenal's Christmas party
Arsenal will not be having their annual Christmas party this year.
The decision to cancel the ceremony was at the suggestion of Petr Cech and Laurent Koscielny. And it was reportedly done to avoid a backlash from irate fans. After falling nine-point back of Chelsea, the two decided that no one at the club deserves to have any fun in their lives, thus they canceled the players’ annual Christmas party.
Shanghai SIPG complete the signing of Oscar from Chelsea.
Chelsea have agreed terms with Shanghai SIPG for the sale of Oscar for a fee of between £52m-£60m.
The Blues wrote on their website.
“Chelsea Football Club and Shanghai SIPG have agreed terms for the permanent transfer of Oscar. The 25-year-old will join the Chinese Super League team at the beginning of the January transfer window. He has been a Chelsea player for four-and-a-half years, helping us lift the Premier League, League Cup and Europa League as well as scooping two Chelsea Goal of the Season awards after stunning strikes against Juventus in 2012, on his full debut, and QPR in 2014. Skillful and tenacious, Oscar has been highly regarded by fans, players and staff during his time as a Blue, scoring 38 times from 203 Chelsea appearances.
“A summer 2012 arrival from Internacional in his native Brazil, Oscar made his debut as a sub away at Wigan before announcing himself with a dipping, bending effort against Antonio Conte’s Juventus at Stamford Bridge. He now heads to Shanghai to link up with former Chelsea coach Andre Villas-Boas. “We thank Oscar for his wonderful service and wish him the very best of luck for the future.”
Oscar‘s transfer fee will be the seventh biggest of all time, behind Paul Pogba, Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Higuain, Luiz Suarez and James Rodriguez
Photos from Olamide's novelty 'OLIC Football Challenge'
Ahead of the biggest and most anticipated music concert this December, OLIC 3, rap star, Olamide hosted fans to an all stars football match which held at the Lekki Fun Turf on Tuesday, the 20th of December, 2016.
Largely to intimate the fans on the celebrities billed to perform at the concert, the Olamide Football Challenge saw four celebrity teams consisting of OLIC lead organizers; Right Entertainment, Achievas Entertainment, YBNL Nation and top Lagos football team, LEKKI All Stars, battle for supremacy on the pitch.
The novelty match kicked off at 9:00pm with an impressive delivery of the national anthem by YBNL princess, Temmie. Seyi Law, who was the host for the night announced the first team to play; YBNL Nation and Right Entertainment. The 40 minutes game ended with YBNL Nation emerging as winners with 2 goals to nil.
The second half of the game between Achievas and Lekki All Stars Kicked off almost immediately and ended with Achievas winning also with 2 goals to nil.
The excitement from the audience intensified during the final game between YBNL and Achievas . After the 40 minutes game, Achievas Entertainment which was led by singer Solid Star emerged the ultimate winners of OLIC Footballl Challenge with 3 goals to 1.
Some of the celebrity players for the night include ID Cabasa, AY Makun, Oristefemi, Solid Star, Akpororo who scored one of the winning goals for Achievas, Mc Shakara,, Pheelz, Young Jonn who scored 2 goals among others. Coaches for the night were Funny Bone, Olamide’s manager; Alex Okeke, AY Makun and Ossy Achievas.
Super Falcons reportedly get cash gift from Ogenyi Onazi
Moved by the plight of the Super Falcons who recently embarked on a protest in Abuja over their unpaid bonuses and allowances, Super Eagles/Trabzonspor midfielder, Ogenyi Onazi, has reportedly donated the sum of N1million to the squad.
A source close to the team was quoted thus, “Onazi is a fantastic man and supported the Falcons with the sum of one million Naira, that really helped the ladies. “He also gave one of the injured players N200,000 for her treatment. He is a wonderful guy. I was aware some of the girls called him to complain about their plight and he helped them.”
Nike honours Cristiano Ronaldo with special golden boots
Following his latest Ballon d’Or win, Cristiano Ronaldo has been honoured with a pair of special golden boots by footwear manufacturing company, Nike. The Nike Mercurial Superfly CR7 ‘Vitorias’ – Portugese for ‘victories’ – feature metallic gold soles and the CR7 logo. Only 777 pairs of the boots have been produced and they will be available for purchase in early 2017.
Christmas came early! Rio Ferdinand donates £500,000 toy sack to underprivileged children.
Rio Ferdinand is set to put smiles on faces this December as the Manchester United legend donates £500,000 worth of toys & 11,500 sleeping bags to to underprivileged children in Manchester this Christmas. The gesture was part of Manchester radio station Key 103’s ‘Cash for Kids’ campaign.
The former England centre-half who didn’t want to be appreciated for the donation said
”As a father myself I couldn’t see children going without opening a present this Christmas Day – the work that Cash For Kids at Key 103 do is truly amazing.”
Real Madrid reach the Club World Cup final.
Real Madrid beat Club America in the Club World Cup on Thursday to qualify for the Club World Cup final. The European Champions have extended their unbeaten streak to 36 matches. The Zinedine-led men have now scored 100 goals, recorded 27 wins and 9 draws, won 2 trophies and have not lost a game since April. Goals from Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo sealed the victory for the Los Blancos.
Boy who became an internet sensation for wearing a plastic-bag Lionel Messi jersey meets his hero
Remember that boy who became a viral star after wearing a . Read it here here and here. Murtaza Ahmadi met the Argentine in Doha where Barcelona played a friendly match against Saudi Arabian club, Al-Ahli.
‘I’m very happy to meet my hero. It is a dream for me.’ The 6 year-old said.
Riyad Mahrez named BBC African Footballer of the Year 2016
Algeria midfielder, Riyad Mahrez has been named BBC African Footballer of the Year. He won it ahead of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Andre Ayew, Sadio Mane and Yaya Toure.
The 25 year-old told BBC Sport: “It means a lot, it’s something big for African players so I am very happy, I am very proud.
It’s always good to receive awards and for African players it’s a huge honour. To all the fans, thank you very much.”
“Also I want to thank the Algeria fans and dedicate this to them as well and for my family. I just have to carry on and keep going with my football and see what I can do.”
Riyad Mahrez in 2016:
– African Player of the Year
– Premier League Winner
– PFA Player of the Year
– 7th place in the Ballon d’Or