July 22, 2022
The winners of the men’s and women’s categories for the CAF Player of the Year awards are Senegal’s superstar Sadio Mane and Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala.
Mane’s victory on Thursday was his second overall, while Oshoala’s was her fifth overall, breaking not just her own record, but becoming the first African to with 5 CAF POTY. Despite suffering from ailments all season, Oshoala was still able to demonstrate her talent as Africa’s top player.
Oshoala excelled for Barcelona La Femeni last season, guiding her team to a perfect league victory.
Oshoala won the Golden boot after scoring 24 goals in Liga Femeni, despite missing weeks of action due to injury. She emerged as the highest scorer in the Spanish female division.
She beat Ajara Nchout Njoya of Cameroon and Zambia’s Chanda to clinch this 5th.
Mane, who won the top award when it was last staged in 2019, successfully retained it at the 2022 edition that took place Thursday in Rabat, Morocco.
Now with the German club, Bayern Munich, Mane has always been a key member of both his former club, Liverpool, as well as the Senegal national team whom he helped earlier in the year to their first Africa Cup of Nations title after many years of futile attempts. He beat Mohammed Sallah of Egypt and Liverpool, as well as his Senegal teammate, Eduoard Mendy to emerge winner.
July 18, 2022
The “Pride of Rivers”; Rivers United have been crowned Winners of the 51st Edition of the Nigeria Professional Football League in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Despite losing their match-day 35 fixture in Lafia, losing 2-1 to Nasarawa United last month, the Port Harcourt-based club retained a 10-point gap at the top of the table after second-place Plateau United suffered a 2-1 defeat at Akwa United the same day. And with just three games left before the end of the season, they were assured of their first-ever league title.
Rivers United ended the season’s campaign with a 1-0 win over Gombe United in Port Harcourt in the presence of the Governor, Barr. Nyesom Wike to finish the season with 77 points from 38 games.
Rivers United will lead the Nigerian Contingent on the African continent with opportunity for exploits in the CAF Champions League, alongside Plateau United while Remo Stars of Ikenne will settle for the last automatic slot in the CAF confederations Cup.
At the Bottm of the table, Dakkada FC of Uyo beat the drop on the last day with a 3-0 Victory over Sunshine stars in Uyo on Match day 38 to condemn MFM, Kano Pillars and Heartland, who all dropped to the Nigerian National League, where they’ll ply their trade next season.
July 4, 2022
Brazillian forward Gabriel Jesus has signed a long-term contract with North London side, Arsenal from Premier League champions Manchester City for £45m.
He moves to the Emirates after undergoing a medical and agreeing personal terms. Jesus will wear the No 9 shirt recently vacated by Alexandre Lacazette, who left for Lyon of france on a free transfer.
The Gunners put in nearly six months of work with Jesus’ representative Marcello Pettinati to ensure they were in pole position to recruit him from City this summer.
He becomes the north London club’s fourth signing of the summer following the additions of Fabio Vieira, Matt Turner and Marquinhos.
July 1, 2022
FIFA says it will use semi-automatic offside technology at the November to December World Cup to make video assistant decisions faster and more reliable.
Football’s world governing body said on Friday that the system would be used in all 64 matches in Qatar.
The new offside technology was tested at the Arab Cup and the Club World Cup in February.
Using a signal in the ball and a dozen cameras that record players’ movements, the position of players is recorded even more accurately than before.
The data will be reviewed by a video assistant and immediately relayed to the referee on the field.
“The match officials are still involved in the decision-making process, as the technology gives an answer only when a player is in an offside position.
“In other words, the assessment of interfering with an opponent remains a match official’s responsibility,” FIFA referees’ chief, Pierluigi Collina, said in a statement.
In addition to more precise measurements, it is also hoped that the technology speeds up video assistant reviews for offside.
Currently, it takes an average of 70 seconds but the new system could cut that to 25 seconds.
“I’ve heard a lot about ‘robot referees.’ I understand sometimes this is very good for headlines, but this is not the case,” Collina said.
Video screens will be used to inform fans in the stadium about decisions.
