Category: Sport News
Micahel Owen, the world-famous former Manchester United striker, has named Real Madrid stars Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior as the favorites to win the 2024 Ballon d’Or.
Bellingham and Vinicius were impressive for Real Madrid last season.
They helped Los Blancos won both the Champions League and the LaLiga.
“Bellingham has obviously done great. If England go and have a great Euros then he would be the obvious one. Vinícius Júnior has done equally well,” Owen said, as quoted by DAZN.
“You have just got to wait for the Euros, haven’t you? If Mbappe goes and scores a hat trick again in a final, like he did in the World Cup, he could be a late runner.
“As things stand, it probably looks like it is a toss-up between those two, Vinicius Junior and Bellingham, but there is still the biggest tournament to go of the year, so things can change.”
CAF Fixes Date For AFCON 2025
The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is scheduled to take place from December 21, 2025, to January 18, 2026.
The Confederation of African Football, CAF, took the decision at its virtual executive meeting on Friday.
The competition was originally fixed for summer in 2025 but CAF had to look for a new date with the expanded FIFA Club World Cup scheduled for the same period.
The draw for the 2025 AFCON will hold in Johannesburg, South Africa next month.
The qualifying matches will run from September to October, 2024.
Morocco has been picked as the host of the competition.
Frank Lampard, the world-famous England and Chelsea legend, has revealed why he avoided Cristiano Ronaldo on holiday.
Lampard spoke in a chat with BBC Sport.
He said: “I actually bumped into Cristiano Ronaldo on a holiday a few months ago. I was in the same hotel on the beach.
“Unfortunately, his sunspot every day was a bit down from me and I made sure to stay away from him because he was in incredible shape, so I gave him a little bit of distance! I pulled him over as I wanted my son to have a picture because of the player he’s been. I quickly put my t-shirt on and had a nice picture with him.”
The Englishman further explained that the former Real Madrid and Juventus ace had been going to the gym twice with his trainer even on vacation.
“I noticed he was going to the gym twice a day with his personal trainer. Just shows you his dedication to what he does. I might have been sipping a beer watching him and I did give him a ripple of applause as he walked back,” he said
Ronaldo and Lampard will go down as two of football’s greatest players.
Both players faced off several times while playing for Chelsea and Manchester United respectively.
Ronaldo is currently with the Portugal team at EURO 2024 in what could be his last international tournament.
Sergio Aguero, the world-famous Manchester City legend, has named Real Madrid’s Vinicius as the player that deserved to win the 2024 Ballon d’Or award.
Aguero said the Brazilian international had a great 2023/24 season.
According to the Argentine, Vinicius won both the La Liga and the UEFA Champions League trophies.
“I think the award should be Vinicius. He had a great season, winning the La Liga title and the Champions League, too, with a goal to go with it,” Aguero told Stake.
“Bellingham started out really well, towards the final, after his injury, his performance waned a little.”
Vinicius scored 23 goals and registered 11 assists across competitions for Los Blancos
NFF Accepts Finidi’s Resignation
The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has officially accepted the resignation of the head coach of the Super Eagles, Finidi George.
The decision came after an initial hesitation due to procedural issues with the resignation letter, which was reportedly unsigned at first.
The resignation process faced a hiccup when Finidi George’s initial resignation letter was found to be unsigned, leading to delays in its acceptance by the NFF.
However, the matter was promptly resolved as the letter was subsequently signed and made available to all members of the executive committee.
The official acceptance of his resignation was confirmed following the Sallah holidays, as reported by ScoreNigeria.com.
Finidi decided to step down following the NFF’s decision to appoint a foreign technical adviser to oversee his work.
In his resignation letter addressed to NFF President, Ibrahim Gusau, Finidi expressed his concerns about the changes to the technical crew, which included several appointments made without his input.
He stated that under these circumstances, he preferred to resign from his position.
With Finidi’s departure, the NFF is now faced with the task of finding a suitable replacement before the commencement of the 2025 AFCON qualifiers, which are set to begin in the first week of September.
On Tuesday morning, the Premier League confirmed the opening-day fixtures for the 2024/2025 season.
The new season will run from Saturday August 17, 2024 to Sunday May 25, 2025.
Champions, Manchester City begin the campaign away at Chelsea. Arsenal welcome Wolves.
Manchester United are at home to Fulham and Liverpool travel to Ipswich Town.
2024/2025 opening day fixtures:
Arsenal vs Wolves
Man Utd vs Fulham
Everton vs Brighton
Ipswich vs Liverpool
Newcastle vs Southampton
Nottingham Forest vs Bournemouth
West Ham vs Aston Villa
Brentford vs Crystal Palace
Chelsea vs Man City
Leicester City vs Tottenham
Nigerian striker, Victor Osimhen, has taken a swipe at Finidi George, who has resigned as the head coach of Nigeria.
It is claimed that Finidi accused Osimhen of pulling out of games for the national team with minor injuries.
Osimhen, who netted 15 goals for Napoli in Serie A this season, claims he suffered an ankle injury against Lecce on May 25.
And although he was planning to travel to the Super Eagles camp ahead of their two 2026 World Cup qualifiers, he was told not to by Finidi.
In an Instagram Live video, Osimhen said he would not accept disrespect and opened up on why he was not taking part in the World Cup Qualifiers.
He said;
: “I won’t let anyone believe anything about me.
“I don’t just address anything, everybody knows when I play for Nigeria I play my heart out, I just let everything go.
“But I won’t take disrespect from anybody
“I’ll share the screenshot and videos of my conversation with Finidi for the sake of those believing what Finidi said.
“I’ve lost respect for that man because before I disrespect anybody, I always respect them.”