Sports
FIFA rankings: Falcons move up 8 spots globally, remain 1st in Africa
The Super Falcons of Nigeria have moved up eight spots from 40th to 32nd in the world based on FIFA’s women’s latest rankings.
According to the list released on Friday by the world football governing body, the eleven-time African champions also remained rooted as the foremost female national team on the continent.
The significant improvement in the team’s global ranking is due to the impressive outing at the just concluded 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The Falcons drew against Canada in their first game and defeated Australia, the co-hosts, in their second match before holding the Republic of Ireland to a goalless draw to qualify out of group B with five points.
The Nigerians played England, the European champions, in the second round and were defeated 4-2 on penalties.
In the latest ranking, South Africa and Cameroon also maintained their slots as the second and third-best teams in Africa.
Sweden became the number one in the world, followed by Spain, the newly crowned world champions. The US dropped to third, while England and France remained unmoved in the fourth and fifth spots, respectively.
The next FIFA women’s world ranking will be released on December 15, 2023.
Sports
Iheanacho, Ndidi promoted back to EPL with Leicester City
Leicester City gained promotion back to the English Premier League (EPL) on Friday night.
The 2016 EPL champions were relegated last season. The Foxes’ promotion was confirmed following Queens Park Rangers’ 4-0 win over promotion-chasing, second-placed Leeds United.
Leeds United’s defeat means Leicester have an unassailable points haul that ensured they have picked up one of the two automatic promotion tickets.
Straight back up, Leicester City! 🦊 pic.twitter.com/j89S1qiuqB
— Leicester City (@LCFC) April 26, 2024
The Midlands club earlier put their foot at the door with a 5-0 win over Southampton on Tuesday night in a match where Wilfred Ndidi, the Super Eagles of Nigeria midfielder, scored a goal.
Ndidi, who will return to the EPL with Kelechi Iheanacho, his international teammate, also congratulated the club via a post on X.
“Congratulations to me, the boys, the staff the club and the amazing fans.. 2 more to go!!! We back!! 😁,” the 27-year-old midfielder wrote.
Congratulations to me, the boys, the staff the club and the amazing fans.. 2 more to go!!!
— Ndidi Wilfred (@Ndidi25) April 26, 2024
We back!! 😁
Enzo Maresca’s team tops the championship table with 94 points and is well-placed to win an eighth championship title.
The King Power side have a four-point lead with two matches left in the 44-game season.
Leicester can now claim the championship title on Monday with a victory at Preston if third-placed Ipswich fail to beat Hull City on Saturday.
Sports
No talks with Peseiro over Eagles return, says sports minister
John Enoh, minister of sports development, says there is no ongoing negotiation to return Jose Peseiro as Super Eagles head coach.
On Thursday, there were reports that the minister had contacted Peseiro and was negotiating a potential return of the Portuguese to the helm of Nigeria’s men’s national team.
Reacting to the claims in a statement signed by Diana Mary-Nsan, his media aide, the minister described the reports as “entirely false” and “fabricated to create sensation”.
The statement added that Enoh “does not interfere or influence critical decisions of the federations” and “ensures that the federations meet the required expectations and standards in the discharge of their duties”.
Peseiro exited the Eagles role in February after leading the team to a silver medal-winning campaign at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote d’Ivoire.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is yet to announce a permanent replacement for the Portuguese since then.
The federation had called for public applications from interested and qualified candidates to fill the role, but little has been let out after.
On April 19, Enoh announced that a new coach would be named within the next two weeks.
Finidi George was the Eagles’ interim head coach for two international friendlies against Ghana and Mali in March.
Finidi led the Eagles to a 2-1 victory over Ghana in his first game at the helm but lost 2-0 to Mali in the second game.
Sports
Juventus ordered to pay Ronaldo €9.7m unpaid salaries
Juventus must pay Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo 9.7 million euros ($10.4 million) in back wages for the 2020-21 season, the Italian courts announced on Wednesday.
The Court of Arbitration, to which Ronaldo appealed, “orders Juventus Turin to pay the sum of 9,774,166.66 euros”, plus interest and procedural costs, it stated in its decision.
The sum equates to the difference between the salary actually received by Ronaldo and that which he should have received after tax and other deductions.
Ronaldo, who spent three seasons in Italy with Juventus (2018-21) before joining Manchester United (2021-22) and then the Saudi club Al Nassr, was claiming 19.5 million euros but the arbitration panel reduced that by 50 per cent.
Contacted by AFP, Juventus declined to comment, but said it would be issuing a statement “shortly”.
According to the rankings drawn up by the American business magazine Forbes, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner was the world’s highest-paid sportsman in 2023, with $136 million, including $46 million in wages.
Juventus, who are listed on the stock exchange, recorded losses of 123.7 million euros in the 2022-23 financial year, which ran to the end of June, it announced in October.
No provision has been made in the accounts of Italian football’s most successful club, currently third in Serie A, for the payment of this wages backlog.
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