A study by research outfit, CIES Football Observatory, has revealed that Nigeria is the fifth highest exporter of football talents in the world and the biggest in Africa. The report, the eight in the CIES Football Observatory’s monthly report, which focuses on international migration in football, reveals that Nigeria’s figure of 596 players scattered in leagues across the world, is only lower to biggest exporter, Brazil (1,784), Argentina (929), France (758) and Serbia (607). The analysis includes a record number of 6,135 clubs and 458 leagues of 183 countries worldwide.
While Brazil is the most represented origin among foreigners both in Europe (1,137 players) and in Asia (437 players), Argentina is the main exporting country at Latin American level (511 players compared to only 124 Brazilians). The CIES Football Observatory report entitled “Exporting countries in world football” provide an overview of migration of footballer’s around the world.

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Cristiano Ronaldo received his record fourth Golden Boot award on Tuesday for being the leading goalscorer in all of Europe’s domestic leagues last season. The Portuguese superstar scored 48 goals in 35 Spanish league games to claim his third Golden Boot playing for Real Madrid. His other award came with Manchester United in 2007-08 – while no other player has ever won four. The 30-year-old also became Madrid’s all-time leading scorer on Sept. 30 with 324 goals, surpassing Raul Gonzalez’s previous mark. ‘This is another great moment in my career. Receiving the fourth Golden Shoe is a great honour and a privilege,’ Ronaldo said after receiving the award. ‘But without my team-mates, I would not be able to win individual awards. ‘I always want to win more. I want five, six or seven Golden Shoes if possible. ‘Real Madrid are the biggest club in the world and we always have to win titles. ‘I want the Champions League, La Liga and the Copa del Rey.’ Real Madrid president Florentino Perez hailed his star player for making history, while thanking him ‘on behalf of all Madridistas’ ‘This award goes back to show that we have a unique and exceptional player in Cristiano Ronaldo,’ the Madrid president said. ‘Cristiano Ronaldo is the only player in history to win the Golden Boot four times.

FIFA on Wednesday banned former top South African official Lindile Kika for six years for his role in a major match-fixing scandal with Asian betting syndicates before South Africa hosted the 2010 World Cup. Kika, the former South Africa Football Association director of national teams, was one of five officials named in a FIFA report on match-fixing. FIFA’s ethics committee adjudicatory said it had banned Kika “from all football-related activities at national and international level for six years.” It said the action followed an inquiry into “several international friendly matches played in South Africa in 2010.” An earlier FIFA report told how Singapore-based convicted match fixer Wilson Perumal and his Football 4U organisation had linked up with officials in South Africa to fix matches before the country held the 2010 World Cup in 2010. FIFA found the results of warm-up matches against Thailand, Bulgaria, Colombia and Guatemala were fixed.