Edo Queens, champions of the 2023/24 Nigeria Women’s Football League (NWFL), defeated Commercial Bank of Ethiopia FC 3-0 in the 2024 CAF Women’s Champions League opener.

Emem Essien, Folashade Ijamilusi and Chukwuamaka Osigwe secured the Nigerian club’s first-ever win in the competition at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca on Sunday evening.

Edo Queens were off the mark as early as the fifth minute when Ijamilusi’s well-taken cross found Essien, and her effort was caressed into the back of the net.

The striker wrote her name in history as the club’s first player to score at the Women’s Champions League.

Shortly after half-time, Ijamilusi grabbed the second spot for the NWFL champions. She sent the shot into the roof of the net after a good combination play between her and Esther Moses in the box.

Ijamilusi continued her impressive form after scoring a hat trick on her debut for the Super Falcons in late October.

In the 80th minute, substitute Osigwe put the game to bed with Moses, who also assisted the 17-year-old in finishing eloquently to ensure Edo Queens’ emphatic victory.

Edo Queens are at the top of Group B of the competition and will face Egypt’s FC Masar on Wednesday before playing Mamelodi Sundown on November 17.

Kylian Mbappe has been left out of the France squad for their upcoming UEFA Nations League matches against Israel and Italy after coach Didier Deschamps omitted the Real Madrid superstar from his list of players named on Thursday.

It is the second successive France squad from which the national team captain has been absent after he also missed the October double-header against Israel and Belgium.

The 25-year-old was rested for last month’s matches in order to help him recover from a minor thigh injury suffered playing for Real.

However, that quickly became a source of controversy when he returned to action for Real days later, before France had even played.

Mbappe was absent for France’s 4-1 win over Israel in Budapest and a 2-1 win in Belgium, and instead travelled to Stockholm for a short break with members of his entourage.

It was following that trip that Swedish media reported he was being investigated for an alleged rape.

Mbappe himself said those reports were “fake news” while his lawyer said the player would take action for libel.

A Swedish prosecutor confirmed that an investigation had been opened, without naming Mbappe.

Since then, the ex-Paris Saint-Germain forward has made four appearances for his club, scoring one goal.

However, he remains short of his explosive best form.

An investigative committee set up by the federal government has identified the officials of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) whose inactions led to Favour Ofili‘s non-registration for the women’s 100 meters at the Paris Olympics.

The panel was inaugurated by John Enoh, the recently departed minister of sports development, in September. The committee was tasked with probing Nigeria’s negative exposure at the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics in Paris.

Team Nigeria had a poor outing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning zero medals. In addition to the abysmal performance, the country also dealt with a handful of controversies at the Games.

The most prominent was the exclusion of Ofili from the women’s 100 meters race despite the athlete qualifying. Another was the revelation by Ese Ukpeseraye that she had to borrow a track bike from the German team to perform in the Keirin cycling event.

In a report released to journalists on Monday, Mumini Alao, the committee chairman, highlighted the panel’s findings and recommendations after its investigations.

The document said “conflicting evidence” showed that the omission of Ofili’s name “is traceable to any one of the following organisations: Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), World Athletics (WA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC)”.

The committee added that Rita Mosindi, the secretary general of AFN, was “negligent in her duty of communicating to the Ministry of Sports Development and the Nigeria Olympic Committee information about Favour Ofili’s event status in a reliable and timely manner”.

The panel also faulted Samuel Onikeku, AFN technical director, for demonstrating “poor judgement” by not acting on information about Ofili’s non-registration “when he first got a ‘hint’ of the ‘rumour’.”

The committee added that Ofili’s situation might have been rescued had Onikeku reported or acted immediately on the information he received.

The report then recommended that the officials be penalised by the appropriate authority.

The committee said AFN should pay Ofili N8 million “for the disappointment and depression that she suffered on account of her omission”.

“The cyclist, Ese Ukpeseraye, should write a formal apology to the Nigeria Cycling Federation (NCF) for the embarrassment that she caused the Federation and the Nigerian contingent to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on account of the unauthorised that she made on social media X (Formerly Twitter) about the bicycle that she used for the Cycling track event at the Olympics,” the report reads.

The committee presented its findings to ministry of sports on October 22, a day before President Bola Tinubu scrapped the ministry and transferred its functions to the resuscitated National Sports Commission (NSC).

Enoh then handed over the report to Shehu Dikko, the newly appointed chair of NSC, on October 30.