Europe’s top four domestic leagues are to be guaranteed four places each in the group stages of the Champions League from the 2018-19 season. The current top four according to European governing body UEFA’s rankings are Spain, Germany, England and Italy. Under the present system, England, Germany and Spain have three places each while their fourth-placed teams must win a play-off to qualify. Italy has only two guaranteed places, plus one in the play-off round. UEFA, which controls the Champions League, says the Europa League winners will also automatically qualify for the Champions League group stage under the new system. But it has stopped short of guaranteeing places for named clubs, such as AC Milan, Liverpool, Inter Milan and Manchester United. They all missed out on this season’s group stage after performing poorly in their respective leagues last season. UEFA has also revealed the financial distribution to clubs will be “increased significantly” for the Champions League and Europa League. It also said “historical success in the competition” will also be acknowledged to calculate where a league sits in its rankings. Points will be awarded for previous European titles but weighted towards more recent success in the Champions League and Europa League. UEFA has called the changes “an evolution not a revolution”. According to UEFA competitions director Giorgio Marchetti, the format for the Champions League will remain the same. Following a qualifying stage, 32 teams will be drawn in eight groups of four for the right to be one of 16 sides to make it through to the knockout competition.

Real Madrid and Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo was named UEFA Best Player of Europe following the Champions League draw ceremony on Thursday. European football’s governing body whittled a shortlist of 10 down to Real Madrid duo Gareth Bale and Ronaldo and Atletico Madrid star Antoine Griezmann. Ronaldo, who won after the 2013-14 season, joined Barcelona star Lionel Messi as the second player to win the award twice. Ronaldo captained Portugal to glory at Euro 2016, when he was taken off injured during the final, and scored the winning shootout penalty for Real Madrid as they won the Champions League for an 11th time. “Of course, I feel happy because it was an unbelievable season,” Ronaldo said. “But it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t mention these two amazing players [Bale and Griezmann]. Griezmann, I am sorry for your loss to Portugal in the final, but you are an amazing player. It was an unbelievable season.”

Group A: PSG, Arsenal, Basel and Ludogorets Razgrad.

Group B: Benfica, Napoli, Dynamo Kiev and Besiktas.

Group C: Barcelona, Manchester City, Borussia Monchengladbach and Celtic.

Group D: Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, PSV Eindhoven and FC Rostov.

Group E: CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen, Tottenham Hotspur and Monaco.

Group F: Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Sporting Lisbon and Legia Warsaw.

Group G: Leicester City, Porto, Club Brugge and FC Copenhagen.

Group H: Juventus, Sevilla, Lyon and Dinamo Zagreb.

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There was a story last week where the keeper for Swedish club Ostersunds was attacked in the final minute of a game by a fan who ran on the pitch. The match against Jonkoping Sodra was abandoned at 1-1. Well, the Sweden FA has awarded Ostersunds a 3-0 win. “The disciplinary committee’s majority believes that the supporter who attacked the Ostersund goalkeeper should be considered a Jonkoping supporter, and for that reason Jonkoping are responsible for what happened and lose the match,” the FA said. Jonkoping director Kjell Lundgren said the club would probably appeal against the decision.

Barcelona have signed Ajax goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen for £11.1m to replace Manchester City-bound Claudio Bravo. Netherlands international Cillessen, 27, has signed a five-year deal with the Spanish champions, who could pay another £1.7m in variables. He started his career with NEC Breda before joining Ajax in 2011. Cillessen’s move was confirmed hours before Chile international Bravo, 33, joined Pep Guardiola at City for an initial £15.4m.

Manchester City have signed goalkeeper Claudio Bravo from Barcelona for 18m euros. The fee for the 33-year-old Chile international could rise with £1.7m of add-ons, say the Spanish club. Bravo, who has signed a four-year contract, is expected to start ahead of England goalkeeper Joe Hart and Argentine Willy Caballero. Bravo said: “I’m very proud to be joining Manchester City. “I know the club is building something very special and I hope I can be part of many successes in the coming years.” Bravo joined Barcelona in 2014 and won two La Liga titles and the FIFA Club World Cup. He was also part of the Champions League-winning squad in 2015, but never played in the competition for Barca. “It is not easy to leave a club like Barcelona where I had two fantastic years, but the opportunity to work with Pep Guardiola was too good to refuse,” he added. Guardiola, who became City manager in the summer, said: “Claudio is a fantastic goalkeeper and an excellent addition to our squad. “He has experience and great leadership qualities and is in the prime of his life. He is a goalkeeper I have admired for a number of years and I’m really happy he is now a City player.” Guardiola has signed Bravo as he has major reservations about Hart’s ability to play as the kind of ‘sweeper-keeper’ his preferred system demands.

Roger Federer is aiming to be fit for next year’s Australian Open after injury wiped out the last half of his 2016 season. Federer, 35, has been out of action since late July – his last match was a Wimbledon semi-final loss to Milos Raonic. The 17-time Grand Slam winner had surgery in February before a back issue ruled him out of the French Open. “I’m working for the Australian Open,” the Swiss said. “I’m doing well.”

The Champions League group-stage is this evening. It’s set to begin at 5pm Nigerian time. The following are the Pots for the draw:

Pot 1: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Leicester City, Bayern Mnich, Juventus, Benfica, Paris St-Germain and CSKA Moscow

Pot 2: Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Manchester City, Sevilla, Porto, Napoli and Bayer Leverkusen

Pot 3: Basel, Tottenham, Dynamo Kiev, Lyon, PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, Club Brugge and Monchengladbach

Pot 4: Celtic, Monaco, Besiktas, Legia Warsaw, Dinamo Zagreb, Ludogorets Razgrad, Kobenhavn and Rostov

Pot one are teams that won their domestic title. And the other pots are arranged by UEFA coefficient ranking. No two clubs from the same country can be in the same group – and neither can clubs from Russia and Ukraine.

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Leicester City’s England midfielder Danny Drinkwater has signed a new five-year deal with the Premier League champions. “I’ve loved playing for this Club, it’s been perfect for me and my career and I want to be here for a long time to come. I couldn’t be happier,” he said. “I’ve grown a lot as a player and a person in the last four years and Leicester City has been a massive part of that. I owe a lot to the staff here for helping me get to this point – they’ve been quality.”

United States goalkeeper Hope Solo has been suspended for six months by US Soccer for describing Olympic opponents Sweden as “a bunch of cowards”. The 35-year-old was speaking after Sweden knocked her side out of Rio 2016 in the quarter-finals, winning 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. US Soccer president Sunil Gulati said her comments were “unacceptable”. World Cup winner Solo, writing on her Facebook page, said she was “saddened” by the decision. “I could not be the player I am without being the person I am, even when I haven’t made the best choices or said the right things,” she added. Solo will not be eligible for selection until February. In January 2015, she was suspended for 30 days following an incident during a training camp. Media reports claimed she was in the car when husband Jerramy Stevens was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. Sweden lost 2-1 to Germany in the Olympic final.

Three Olympic champions from China are among 11 weightlifters who face being stripped of their medals after failing retests of their Beijing 2008 doping samples. The 11 medallists tested positive for a range of banned substances, says the International Weightlifting Federation. Among those to fail are gold medallists Cao Lei, Liu Chunhong and Chen Xiexia. The other eight medallists to test positive are from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Ukraine. Andrei Rybakou of Belarus, who holds the 85kg world record with a 187kg snatch and won silver in 2008, tested positive in the retests. The others to fail are Anastasia Novikova of Belarus, Kazakhstan’s Maria Grabovetskaya and Irina Nekrasova, Russia’s Khadzhimurat Akkaev and Dmitry Lapikov and Ukraine’s Natalya Davydova and Olha Korobka. They are all provisionally suspended until the cases are resolved.

Senegal international midfielder Henri Saivet has signed for French side St Etienne on a season-long loan from Championship club Newcastle United. The 25-year-old joined Newcastle in January but made only two appearances for the club, who were relegated from the Premier League. Saivet told the club’s website: “I am very happy and relieved to have the chance to play again. “I want to win the Greens. I will do everything to show I am motivated.”

Winger Victor Moses says Chelsea are targeting domestic cup success as the club are not in European competition. Antonio Conte takes charge of his first knockout game as Blues boss when League One Bristol Rovers visit Stamford Bridge later. “We want to carry on winning matches but this won’t be an easy game, they’re a League One side and it’s often difficult to play against teams from the lower leagues,” says Moses, 25. “This season every trophy is important, whether it’s the League Cup, FA Cup or Premier League. I think it’s going to be a very interesting season for us.”

Barcelona goalkeeper Claudio Bravo has arrived in Manchester ahead of a proposed move to join Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. His joining Man City is likely to result in goalkeeper Joe Hart leaving the team.

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Manchester City’s teenage forward Kelechi Iheanacho says he does not feel under pressure from Sergio Aguero. Aguero, 28, has scored six goals in three Premier League and Champions League games this season. “Sergio is a great striker and I am learning from him. It’s not pressure, it’s a dream come true,” added 19-year-old Iheanacho ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League play-off with Steaua Bucharest. “Pep [Guardiola] has brought his own style. It’s going to look easy on the pitch when you have lots of players to pass to. I haven’t had any private discussions with Pep. He has the final decision on the team and I have to work hard to be in his team.”

On the 15th of August 1945, the axis nations fighting in the Pacific theater defeated imperial Japan and two weeks later, Japan formally surrendered to allied forces led by the U.S. General, Douglas McArthur, who formally accepted the signed articles of surrender. But though the U.S. defeated Japan, they never decimated Japan’s great technological and industrial complex. They were visionary enough to distinguish these from Japan’s military industrial complex, which they scrapped.  Realizing that Japan was decades ahead of the West in many technologies, the allied powers, led by the US, allowed those  industries to remain as a going concern and took the unique step of enacting legislation and policies to enable them flourish.  What they did in Japan, they also did in Europe. In Europe, the US, acting unilaterally, even went a step further by introducing the Marshall Plan through which America sent financial and other types of aid to help Europe (and especially Germany) recover from the ravages of the Second World War.  The point of the allied and American actions in Japan and Europe is that technological advancement belongs to the human race and should not be allowed to suffer because of a quarrel or war amongst humans.  This lesson was thoroughly established in 642 AD when the Library of Alexandria was burnt to the ground during the Muslim conquest of Egypt.   It has been argued that that act set the world several centuries back in technological advancement and has become something to watch out for during the prosecution of a war.  A war is a quarrel between or amongst people that is settled by means of violence. It is not a quarrel between or amongst technology, so civilized nations have pursued the policy of fighting wars while preserving technology.  Gone should be the days of the scorched earth policy which is why despite the bestiality of the apartheid regime, President Nelson Mandela did not do a Mugabe, but rather left intact White owned farms, industry and universities and only insisted that they be opened to Blacks and other races.  This brings me to Nigeria. I would like to state a fact that will be argued against, but still a fact that even those who would argue against it know to be true.
The Igbo (or Ibo) ethnic nationality of Nigeria are the most technologically advanced Black race on planet earth, bar none!  This is a fact. A fact that was proven to be true for 30 months while they were landlocked in their constantly shrinking enclave known as Biafra.

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Team Great Britain arrived Heathrow airport London aboard British Aireys this morning to a grand welcome by the people. The team came overall second (behind Team USA) in the Rio Olympics with 27 Gold, 23 Silver and 17 Bronze medals.

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Nigeria captain John Obi Mikel expressed his pride after Nigeria U23’s 3-2 victory over Honduras ensured they won the 2016 Olympic Games bronze medal. The victory was secured by Sadiq Umar’s brace and second half from Aminu Umar and also ensured Nigeria join East Germany, Hungary, Serbia and Brazil as they only countries to have won all the medals in the Games’ men football event. A successful campaign in Brazil have sparked optimism about the Super Eagles’ chances of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia having missed out of two consecutives Africa Cup of Nations tournaments. “To lead this team to an Olympic medal, and make Nigerians proud – this is why I play football,” Obi tweeted. The 29-year-old was outstanding throughout the competition and got one of Nigeria’s goals in the 2-0 quarter-final defeat of Denmark. Having ended the championship on a high, he is expected to return to the Stamford Bridge where he is expected to battle for a regular place in Antonio Conte’s squad. Mikel has also been named in Nigeria’s squad to face Tanzania in next month’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

The Rio Olympics ended with a spectacular carnival-inspired closing ceremony, and the official handover to 2020 hosts Tokyo. The colourful ceremony, lasting almost three hours, celebrated Brazil’s arts and was held in a wet Maracana. Among the highlights were Tokyo’s impressive showcase and a vibrant carnival parade. “These were a marvellous Olympics, in a marvellous city,” said International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach. “Over the last 16 days a united Brazil inspired the world, in difficult times for all of us, with its irresistible joy for life.” Bach officially closed the Games of the 31st Olympiad after 16 days of competition, featuring 11,303 athletes from 206 nations and a refugee team. One of the biggest cheers of the night came when Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appeared dressed as computer game character Super Mario, rising out of a huge green pipe in the stadium. The ceremony, watched by billions around the world, featured the parade of athletes and a dramatic extinguishing of the Olympic flame.

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A benefactor has handed a reward of $390,000 to the Nigerian Olympic football team in Brazil after the West African country won bronze on Saturday. Japanese plastic surgeon Katsuya Takasu had promised to reward the team after hearing about their financial difficulties before and during the tournament. Takasu fulfilled his promise by presenting cheques of $200,000 and $190,000 to coach Samson Siasia and captain John Mikel Obi respectively on behalf of the team. He met with them two hours after Nigeria defeated Honduras 3-2 in the bronze medal play-off. “The $200,000 covers the bonuses and allowances as promised and the $190,000 is for the bronze medal,” Takasu said. “I had travelled from Tokyo prepared to reward them anyway, and to watch them win the bronze inside the stadium was very fulfilling,” he added. Before arriving in Rio, Nigeria’s ‘Dream Team VI’ were held up in Atlanta, USA, because of a problem with the payment for their flight, and they only landed in Brazil just hours before their opening 5-4 win over Japan. Nigeria also had a troubled build-up to their quarter-final against Denmark after the players boycotted a training session in a dispute over pay. “This team showed resilience and fought the hardest to achieve success, despite all their problems – some people would have given up but they didn’t,” said Takasu. “In everything we must always let people understand that they are appreciated and not just in football but generally in life.”

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