Swansea striker Bafetimbi Gomis says he is “fine” after fainting during his side’s 3-2 league defeat at Tottenham. Gomis, who collapsed three times in 2009, appeared to fall down immediately after Spurs took a sixth-minute lead. The Frenchman, 29, received treatment before leaving the pitch on a stretcher and was later taken to hospital. Gomis later said:  “I have been under a great deal of stress and fatigue due to my father’s health that requires me to go back and forth to France.” He added: “I wanted to reassure you concerning my health. It actually looks much more scary than physically dangerous. I am feeling well now.” Gomis, who joined Swansea from Lyon last summer, had a series of medical tests in 2009 after three episodes of fainting while a Lyon player. They indicated no serious threat to his health. Swansea manager Garry Monk told BBC Radio 5 live: “We understand his history. He has had all the tests but it’s just part of his life, it’s what he’s been through growing up.” A Swansea spokesman said they were aware of the vasovagal condition (a form of low blood pressure) and “had all the medical and cardiology tests with us.” Players from both sides looked concerned as Gomis was treated but he left the pitch conscious and speaking. Later on Wednesday, Gomis said on social media: “I was disappointed that I couldn’t help my team tonight but now everything is back in order.” Tottenham’s ground was the venue where Fabrice Muamba, now 26, suffered a cardiac arrest playing for Bolton against Spurs in an FA Cup quarter-final in 2012. Muamba recovered but never played again.

Major League Soccer players are on the verge of strike action, two days before the beginning of the season, BBC reports. Discussions over a new collective contract, which expired on 31 January, have stalled between the league and the players’ union. The agreement is a contract to promote the mutual interests of MLS, the players and their union. There was a similar dispute in 2010, although that was resolved with five days to go. The first game of the 2015 season is scheduled to kick off on Friday evening between Robbie Keane’s champions Los Angeles Galaxy and Chicago Fire. Chicago have flown out to LA despite the doubts. Despite not knowing whether the season will kick off, Orlando coach Adrian Heath – whose side face fellow new franchise New York City – confirmed that clubs were getting ready for their games. “We’re preparing as if we’re kicking off on Sunday evening,” he said.

Nigeria’s Under-20s have been challenged by the country’s football federation to win the upcoming African Under-20 Championship in Senegal. The bulk of the squad won the Under-17s World Cup two years ago. Nigeria Football Federation deputy secretary general Emmanuel Ikpeme said: The target is for the team to win the AYC and confirm that winning the U17 World Cup was not a fluke.” The Flying Eagles begin their campaign against the hosts on Sunday 8 March. Ikpeme told the team: “Do not expect it to be an easy match but we believe you are up to the task going by what you showed in your recent test matches in Ghana. “We should not take any match or opponent for granted and so you should resolve as a team to make Nigeria happy and proud in Senegal.” Coach Manu Garba assured the NFF the team are fired up for glory in Senegal. “We as a team always want to win every game we play and that is the attitude we will take to the AYC,” Manu said. “We will not underrate any team in Senegal, but we are confident we will do the nation proud.” Eight teams will take part in the tournament, to be played between, 8 and 22 March, with the semi-finalists qualifying for the 2015 U-20 World Cup.

Stefano Colantuono has been sacked as Atalanta coach after the club slumped to their fourth successive league loss at the weekend. He is the fifth Serie A coach to lose his job this season, following Eugenio Corini (Chievo), Walter Mazzarri (Inter Milan), Pierpaolo Bisoli (Cesena) and Zdenek Zeman (Cagliari).

Chelsea midfielder John Mikel Obi will be out of action until April after undergoing minor knee surgery.  The Nigeria international has been absent for Chelsea’s past four matches, including Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Tottenham in the League Cup final. Manager Jose Mourinho has subsequently confirmed that Mikel has had an operation to correct the issue and expects him to be absent until April.  “Mikel had a little surgery on his meniscus,” he told the press.  “We are expecting him to be out for about a month – one week is already gone. There is not too much optimism or pessimism.  “I would say he will return first week of April.”  Mikel is now likely to miss the Premier League matches against West Ham, Southampton and Hull City as well as the home leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain.

The 2015 African U-20 Championship (also called African Youth Championship) will be the 20th edition of the football tournament for Under 20 players. The competition will take place in Senegal and is starting on Sunday the 8th of March 2015 . The Flying Eagles of Nigeria, coached by Manu Garba, will be participating (infact they will depart Nigeria today for Senegal). The semifinalists will participate in 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup slated for New Zealand in May.

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Tuesday 3 March:

Aston Villa 2 – 1 West Brom

Hull 1 – 1 Sunderland

Southampton 1 – 0 Crystal Palace

Wednesday 4 March:

Man City v Leicester 8:45 pm

Newcastle v Man Utd 8:45 pm

QPR v Arsenal 8:45 pm

Stoke v Everton 8:45 pm

Tottenham v Swansea 8:45 pm

West Ham v Chelsea 8:45 pm

Liverpool v Burnley 9 pm

Chelsea forward Diego Costa has joined social networking site Twitter. The controversial Spanish international, who joined Chelsea from Atletico Madrid in the summer, has been involved in a number of unsavoury on-the-field incidents this season. The 26-year-old has netted 17 goals for the London outfit, however, with his form a big contributor to the team’s success. On Wednesday, Chelsea’s official Twitter account welcomed their striker to the networking site, with Costa operating under the tag @diegocosta.

The Nigeria Premier League kicks off on Saturday 7th March, 2015. The Match Day 1 fixtures are:

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The Nigeria Professional Football League teams will face opponents from Tunisia and Ethiopia in the first round of the 2015 Caf Confederation Cup. Dolphins will face Tunisian outfit, Club Africain, in the first round of the 2015 Caf Confederation Cup. The fixtures for the 12th Caf Confederation Cup first round had earlier been drawn on 22 December, 2014 at the Caf headquarters in Cairo before the preliminary round of the competition. The Port Harcourt outfit will travel to Tunisia to face the 2011 Confederation Cup runners-up, who were drawn in the preliminary round for the first leg, before hosting them in the return leg two weeks later. While another Nigerian representative Warri Wolves, who thrashed RC Bobo Dioulasso 4-0 on aggregate, will take on Ethiopian Premier League winners Dedebit in the first round of the competition. The Seasiders will host the Ethiopians, who advanced after a 5–2 aggregate win against Ivorian outfit Côte d’Or, in the first leg in Warri before traveling to Addis Ababa for the return leg in a fortnight. The first leg matches will be played in the weekend of March 13th-15th, while the second leg games will be played in the weekend of  3rd-5th April, 2015. No Nigerian side has ever lifted the Caf Confederation Cup since its name was changed from the Caf Cup Winners Cup in 2003.

Nigeria Professional Football League champions Kano Pillars will face Moghreb Tetouan of Morrocco in the 2015 Caf Champions League first round with the country’s second representative Enyimba paired against Smouha of Egypt.

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Dave Whelan has resigned from his position as chairman of Championship side Wigan Athletic. The 78-year-old will stay as owner but his grandson, 23-year-old David Sharpe, will take over the running of the club.

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McLaren driver Fernando Alonso will miss the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on 15 March on medical advice. Doctors say Alonso is not injured following his crash in testing on 22 February, but advised him not to race in Melbourne because of the risk of suffering a second concussion. Suffering another concussion injury while a patient is still suffering from the first can have serious consequences, which can extend to prolonged coma or even death.

A Tottenham fan was left a little red-faced after throwing a £2 coin at Chelsea’s Diego Costa during the Capital One Cup final. Instead of kicking off and get riled up, like the Spurs fan clearly wanted, Costa instead picked the coin up and put it on his shorts for later.

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Chelsea captain John Terry, 34, posted a picture of his two children sleeping with the League Cup trophy following his side’s 2-0 victory over Tottenham at Wembley on Sunday. He took the cup home???

John Terry insists he has “a few years left” at Chelsea and says he will not play for another club. The Blues captain, whose contract is up at the end of the season, scored the opener in Sunday’s 2-0 Capital One Cup final win over Tottenham at Wembley. “If this is my last year, then I hope it goes out on a bang,” said Terry. “But I am feeling great at the minute and it would be the wrong time to go.” Asked if he would play for another club, the 34-year-old insisted: “No.” The former England captain added: “I have my little target to play next year, but, beyond that, two or three years, I don’t know.” It is Chelsea’s policy for players over the age of 30 to be offered only 12-month deals. But Terry, who signed his current deal 48 hours after the end of last season, is unfazed by the prospect of again having to wait for the chance to extend his 17-year stay at Chelsea. “The uncertainty has helped me,” he said. “The roles have reversed and now the power is in the club’s hands. That has inspired me.”

England and Sunderland footballer Adam Johnson has been arrested on suspicion of having sex with a 15-year-old girl. Durham Police said a 27-year-old had been arrested on suspicion of sexual activity with a girl under 16. An officer later said he had been bailed. Sunderland AFC said he had been suspended pending the outcome of the police investigation. News of the arrest of a Premier League footballer was revealed earlier in The Sun newspaper. The Sunderland-born winger joined Middlesbrough’s youth academy and made his senior debut at the age of 17, in a 2005 Uefa Cup game. He was loaned out to Leeds United then Watford, returned to Middlesbrough and then in 2010 made a £7m move to Manchester City. In 2012 he signed for Sunderland on a £10m deal, and was handed the Barclays Player of the Month award in January 2014 after scoring a hat-trick in an away win against Fulham. He has also represented England at under-19 and under-21 levels, and at senior level 12 times. His last England appearance was in a friendly win over Italy in August 2012. His arrest came shortly before he was due to travel with Sunderland to Hull for Tuesday night’s Premier League fixture. Sunderland said it would make no further comment on the arrest.

Argentine Hector Cuper is the new coach of Egypt, the country’s Football Association said on Monday. “The Egypt FA board, after a meeting held by his president Gamal Allam, has appointed Hector Cuper as national team coach,” the EFA said on its website. In his career Cuper has led Valencia to the Champions League final in 2000 and 2001, and in 2003 he finished second in Serie A with Inter Milan. Egypt’s previous coach, Shawki Gharib, left the job in November. The Pharaohs missed out on the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations have not qualified for the World Cup since 1990. Cuper, is believed to have been tasked with qualifying the team for the 2018 World Cup – and local media have reported that his contract will be terminated if he does not meet that target. The 59-year-old has had some previous experience as an international coach, but he failed to win a match when in charge of Georgia boss between August 2008 and December 2009.

* As Nigeria lose third place match….

Mali beat South Africa 2 – 0 in the final game played yesterday in Niger to clinch the 2015 African U-17 Championship trophy. Siaka Bagayoko opened scoring for Mali in the 67th minute while Aly Malle made it two nil in the 79th minute.

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Chelsea won the League Cup by beating Tottenham 2-0 and had its Premier League title chances boosted by Manchester City’s loss at Liverpool on Sunday, raising the prospect of a second trophy-laden era under Jose Mourinho. Two deflected shots settled a tight cup final between London rivals at Wembley Stadium, with Chelsea captain John Terry opening the scoring in the 45th with the aid of a ricochet off Eric Dier. Diego Costa’s attempted shot then span into the net off Kyle Walker’s outstretched leg in the 56th, propelling Mourinho to his first piece of silverware in his second spell at Chelsea. The Premier League title could also be heading to Stamford Bridge after City lost 2-1 at Anfield to leave Chelsea with a five-point lead and a game in hand.