Category: LATEST NEWS

Nigeria hired German coach Bruno Labbadia on Tuesday to lead the men’s national soccer team in a bid to get its flagging World Cup qualifying campaign back on track.

“The appointment is with immediate effect,” said Mohammed Sanusi, the general secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation.

The 58-year-old Labbadia has been out of work since April 2023 when Stuttgart fired him after failing to arrest its slide to the bottom of the Bundesliga.

Nigeria is second from bottom in its 2026 World Cup qualifying group after failing to win any of its opening four games.

The Super Eagles drew 1-1 with both Lesotho and Zimbabwe in November last year before Portuguese coach José Peseiro led the team to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations. Nigeria lost the final to host nation Ivory Coast in February.

The NFF promoted Peseiro’s assistant, Finidi George, to the top position in April after the Portuguese departed, but the former right winger was unable to improve the team’s fortunes in World Cup qualifying.

George oversaw a 1-1 draw with South Africa followed by a 2-1 defeat in Benin in June. George then reportedly resigned after not being told of the NFF’s plans to appoint a technical advisor to oversee his work. The NFF did not publicly acknowledge the resignation.

Labbadia only oversaw two wins from his 12 games in charge of Stuttgart during his second stint at the club — one each in the league and German Cup.

His successor, Sebastian Hoeneß, ultimately saved Stuttgart from relegation and led the team to a club-record points total last season.

Labbadia previously coached Hertha Berlin, Wolfsburg, Hamburger SV, Bayer Leverkusen and Darmstadt. As a goal-scoring forward, he helped Bayern Munich and Kaiserslautern win Bundesliga titles in the 1990s.

Labbadia’s first two games in charge of Nigeria will be in 2025 Africa Cup qualifying against Benin and Rwanda on Sept. 7 and 10, respectively.

Despite strained relations following last year’s coup in Niger, Nigeria and Niger have signed a new security cooperation agreement. Announced by the Nigerian army on Thursday, the accord aims to bolster regional stability and security.

“Both parties reaffirmed their commitment to resuming and strengthening collaboration for regional stability and security,” stated a Nigerian army communiqué following the signing of the memorandum of understanding by defense chiefs from both countries in Niamey, Niger’s capital, on Wednesday.

The coup in July 2023, which ousted Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum, strained relations between Nigeria and Niger and caused divisions within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The coup raised concerns about efforts to combat Islamist violence in the region.

ECOWAS had threatened military intervention in Niger if diplomatic efforts to restore the democratic government failed, prompting Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali to withdraw from the 15-member bloc in January. These countries criticized ECOWAS for not aiding in their fight against Islamist violence and subsequently formed the Alliance of Sahel States with a military agreement.

Niger, though reducing its participation, remained part of the Nigeria-led Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) fighting Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region. The new agreement signals Niger’s intention to re-engage actively in security cooperation within the MNJTF framework, according to the Nigerian communiqué.

Senegalese Foreign Minister Yacine Fall met her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Thursday (Aug. 29).

During the bilateral meeting in Moscow education, investments, and energy, were high in the agenda.

The dire security situation in the Sahel was also discussed.

During a joint press conference, Lavrov reiterated Russia’s readiness to provide military support.

“Russia is ready to assist Senegal and other African countries in strengthening the defence capabilities and improving the anti-terrorist readiness of their armed forces and special [task] services,” Lavrov said.

According to Russian news agency Tass, Yacine Fall called for mutually beneficial cooperation in the sphere of mineral fertilizers and exchange of technologies.

A Russia-Senegal business forum is set to take place in october.

Uruguayan football is in mourning. 27-year-old player Juan Izquierdo died Tuesday (Aug. 27) at a hospital in Brazil five days after collapsing during a game.

On social media, his club Nacional, and former clubs expressed their “deep pain” and extended their sympathies to Izquierdo’s family.

Sao Paulo’s Hospital Albert Einstein said in a statement that he passed away following “cardiorespiratory arrest associated with his cardiac arrhythmia.”

The player was hospitalized last Thursday (Aug. 22) after he collapsed before fulltime in a Copa Libertadores match in Sao Paulo.

Copa Libertadores is the equivalent of the Champion’s League.

Consequently, Uruguay’s first- and second-division football leagues were postponed last weekend.

The career of the defender began in 2018 at local club Cerro.

His athletic form and sharp tackles caught the attention of Mexico’s San Luís in 2021, but he quickly returned home.

Izquierdo was one of local Liverpool’s best players in the historic campaign that led the team to a Uruguayan league title in 2023.

He was married and had two children.

Six Polish students and a lecturer from the Warsaw University who were detained in Nigeria during protests there have been released, the Polish foreign ministry said Wednesday. They are in good health and will be returning home this week.

The ministry’s spokesman, Pawel Wronski, said the seven Polish citizens have had their passports, laptops and belongings returned and were staying at the university campus in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, waiting for the trip back.

The seven were in northern Nigeria to take part in a program to study the Hausa language. They were detained earlier this month in the state of Kano during a political protest, allegedly for carrying Russian flags, Nigeria’s secret service said.

Officials in Poland, which has frosty relations with Russia, said that was unlikely and that the whole situation was a misunderstanding. The seven were held at a hotel in Kano while Warsaw was actively seeking their release.

“Our students were at the wrong time at the wrong place,” Wronski said, urging people to be cautious when traveling to distant locations.

Wronski said the ministry posts warnings and advice to travelers on its website, including a warning about the Nigerian state of Kano, where it described the political situation as being “quite complicated.”

Pro-Russian sentiment is rare in the Central European nation, which has bad memories of suffering under Russian rule in the past. Polish society is today deeply critical of Russian aggression in Ukraine and strongly backs Ukraine.

The protests in Nigeria saw thousands, mostly young people, rally against the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation and against alleged bad governance that has stifled development even though the country is a top oil producer.

In several northern states, a few protesters were seen waving Russian flags, a trend that until now was only common in Africa in coup-hit countries where pro-Russian sentiments are growing off the back of coups by militaries severing ties with the West.

Tunisian opposition politician, Abdellatif Mekki, will be allowed to resume his bid for the presidency after the country’s administrative court on Tuesday upheld his appeal.

The electoral commission had excluded the prominent politician from the race saying there was a lack of popular endorsements for his candidacy.

But the court’s decision means Mekki, who leads the Action and Achievement Party, will now be added to the list of accepted candidates.

He founded the organisation in 2022 after leaving the Islamist Ennahda party and still enjoys widespread support among its followers.

Mekki’s campaign manager, Ahmed Nafati, says Tuesday’s decision highlights the integrity of the administrative court.

Opposition parties, politicians, and human rights groups have accused the authorities of using “arbitrary restrictions” and intimidation to help ensure the re-election of incumbent President Kais Saied.

They say the electoral commission is not neutral and is seeking to eliminate all serious competitors to pave the way for Saied’s victory, an accusation the body denies.

In 2021, Saied dissolved parliament and took control of all powers in a move described by the opposition as a coup.

The presidential poll is expected to take place on 6 October.

Nigerian-born Napoli striker, Victor Osimhen’s future is still uncertain as rumours swirl about where he will move to next.

After four seasons at Naples it appears that top clubs are not rushing to sign him up despite expectations that they would queue up to nab him.

With the transfer deadline day in sight … there is still talk about the possibility of a move to Chelsea.

The British club had baulked at the idea of paying the about 130 million dollars demanded by Napoli’s owner.

But at least one English newspaper is reporting that talks appear to be ongoing still between the two clubs.

To complicate matters, the Saudi Pro League club Al-Ahli  reportedly submitted a close to 73 million dollar offer on Sunday.

And it’s being reported that Paris Saint Germain are also part of discussions to get the 25-year-old player.

But they also don’t agree on the financial terms demanded by Napoli’s owner who has been adamant about receiving the full amount of the Nigerian’s release clause.

With an exit expected shortly, Osimhen, has not been playing for Napoli so far this season.

Thousands of migrants have attempted to cross the border from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in the last few days, including hundreds of youth who tried to swim their way around controls, Spanish authorities said Monday.

Videos broadcast on Spanish media over the weekend showed Spanish police intercepting migrants in the water at night amid a thick fog but also in broad daylight, struggling to separate the new arrivals from crowds of beachgoers.

Cristina Pérez, the Spanish government’s representative in Ceuta told journalists Monday that since Aug. 22 an average of 700 people had attempted to breach the border daily, with a peak of 1,500 attempts Sunday.

Pérez did not disclose how many had successfully reached Ceuta but Pérez explained that following Spanish law that allowed for “border rejections” authorities were sending back to Morocco between 150 and 200 people a day. She thanked Moroccan authorities for their “loyal cooperation.”

Ceuta and Melilla two tiny Spanish territories in North Africa bordering the Mediterranean have long been targeted by migrants and refugees seeking better lives in Europe. Many attempt to climb over barbed wire fences encircling the autonomous cities or reaching the exclaves by sea.

Due to geography, Spain relies largely on Morocco’s goodwill to control those borders and keep migrants out. In 2021, following a diplomatic spat between the two nations, thousands of people, including many unaccompanied Moroccan children poured into Ceuta in a matter of days overwhelming Spanish authorities.

While Spain and Morocco have since normalized their relations and have been working together to tackle irregular migration, authorities in Ceuta say they are again under pressure this year. There have been 1,622 migrant arrivals to Ceuta from January to mid-August compared with just 620 in the same period last year, according to statistics released by the Spanish interior ministry.

In February, residents of the nearby Moroccan town of Belyounech attempted to swim to Ceuta after the Moroccan government demolished unauthorized beachside homes for new development.

While the number of migrants to reach Ceuta represents just a tiny fraction of the more than 31,000 irregular arrivals to Spain this year, Pérez said the 18.5 square kilometers (7.14 square miles) territory was under “extreme migratory pressure.”