Suspended UEFA president Michel Platini will not attend his personal hearing before the FIFA ethics committee on Friday. It has been recommended the 60-year-old serve a life-long ban from football for allegedly receiving a £1.35m payment in 2011. His lawyers say the verdict has already been made known to the press “in disregard of fundamental rights.”
Leicester winger Riyad Mahrez says the Premier League leaders will not win the title and will stay at the club past the January transfer window. Mahrez has scored 12 goals for his club this season, form which has led to his side suffering just one loss in 16 league matches. “We are not going to win the league, no. I don’t think we have broad enough shoulders to do it,” Mahrez told French radio station RMC. “The big teams will wake up at some point.” On his future he adds: “It’s best for me to stay until the end of the season.”
Juande Ramos is the shock candidate being considered as a potential caretaker manager by Chelsea should they decide to sack José Mourinho before the end of the season,” writes Matt Hughes in The Times. The paper reports Chelsea could turn to an ‘interim’ appointment until the end of the season if Mourinho is sacked by the club for a second time. Guus Hiddink – another former manager at Stamford Bridge – is also a short-term option, the paer reports. Ramos, 61, had a disastrous spell in charge of Tottenham in 2007 and left Ukraine’s Dnipro for family reasons last year.
News reaching us is that the Federal Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has this afternoon nullified the election of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and ordered a rerun in 90 days. In a 110-page ruling delivered by Justice M.B. Dongban-Mensem, the Court ruled that the election of Nyesom Wike did not conform with the electoral act. Wike had approached the appellate court to challenge the earlier verdict of the tribunal that annulled his election as a result of a suit filed by the APC candidate Dakuku Peterside. Wike still has the Supreme Court to approach on the matter.
World number two tennis player Andy Murray says he could leave the Australian Open early if wife Kim goes into labour during the tournament which starts on 18 January. Asked by the UK Daily Mail if he would pull out during the tournament if necessary, Murray said: “I’d go home. For sure, yes.” Hope our men will start doing stuff like that.
Former Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o has taken his first steps into management. The ex-Barcelona, Inter Milan, Chelsea and Everton forward has been appointed player manager of his club Antalyaspor in Turkey. But there is a catch, he will be only considered for the post if they do well in their next three games.
Japanese football star Homare Sawa retires from football after making more than 200 international appearances. The 37-year-old won the 2011 World Cup as Japan beat USA and it is reported she started her professional career aged 12.
Four officials are facing a disciplinary hearing this week over an alleged doping cover-up. Papa Massata Diack, a former consultant for the IAAF, and ex-IAAF anti-doping director Gabriel Dolle are charged with breaches of the IAAF’s code of ethics. Former All-Russia Athletic Federation chief Valentin Balakhnichev and coach Alexei Melnikov are also in the dock. None are expected at the three-day hearing, which starts on Wednesday. The charges relate to the payment of about £435,000 that Russian former London Marathon winner Liliya Shobukhova allegedly made to have her doping violations covered up. Her 38-month ban from track and field was reduced by seven months after she turned whistleblower for the World Anti-Doping Agency. A decision from the hearing, which will be held in London, is expected in early January. Russia have been banned from international athletics competition after a report by Wada’s independent commission alleged they were guilty of “state-sponsored doping”.
FC Twente have been banned from European competition for three years by the Royal Netherlands Football Association. The governing body said it had been “deliberately misled” by the club about a deal to sell player transfer fee rights to an outside investor. FC Twente says it will not appeal. FIFA has banned third-party player ownership as a threat to the game’s integrity because investors can inflate transfer fees to make a profit. The Dutch FA says the punishment, including a 45,250 euros fine, follows Twente’s failure to reveal full details of a third-party ownership contract with Malta-based Doyen Sports Investments. FC Twente said that the sanctions would “hit hard at the heart of our club”. Twente’s professional licence will be revoked if they fail to fully cooperate with an independent investigation into the club’s structure, added the Dutch FA.
United States striker Abby Wambach, the world’s all-time leading international goalscorer, is set to play the final game of her career. Wambach has scored 184 goals in 254 matches, the most of any man or woman in international football history. Having won the World Cup this year, she will retire after the last game of her country’s victory tour, against China on 16 December (Thursday 2am Nigerian time).
Former Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez has outlined why he left the club, stating Louis van Gaal told him he had a “one percent chance” of playing up front. Since joining Bayer Leverkusen for around £7m this summer, Hernandez, 27, has regularly found the net, with 16 goals in his last 15 games. “Van Gaal said that I only had a one per cent chance of playing in my position, so I headed to Bayer,” Hernandez told Spanish newspaper Marca. “I felt confident from the very first day. I feel important, not just because of my goals, but because I feel that I’ll start every game.”
Sepp Blatter has sent a letter to all 209 national football associations reiterating his innocence over ethics charges against him. Find the letter below:
As released by UEFA. The pictures says it all. No Barcelona player. Do you agree?
Chelsea star Mikel Obi has expressed his desire to feature at next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as one of three over-aged players. The 28-year-old midfielder has won almost every major trophy at stake including the UEFA Champions League and English Premier League, but has missed out on playing at the Olympics, AfricanFootball.com reports. Incidentally, it was Coach Samson Siasia that left him out from the 2008 Olympics after he stayed away from the competition qualifiers. “He has made it clear he wishes to play at the Rio Olympics,’ a top official of the Nigeria Football Federation told AfricanFootball.com. “But it is left for the coach to pick the overage players he will take along to Brazil next year.” Nation reportage.
Sprinter Usain Bolt will warm-up for the Rio Olympics by competing at the 2016 London Anniversary Games. The six-time Olympic champion will return to the track where he won triple gold at the London Olympics in 2012 to take part in the event from 22-23 July, which is part of the IAAF Diamond League series
Roger Federer, the 17-time Grand Slam singles champion, does not intend to retire after next year’s Olympics. The Swiss will turn 35 during the Rio Games, where he will play in the singles and mixed doubles, although he has not decided on the doubles. “I’ve planned all of 2016, you know all the way through the Rio Olympics and beyond,” he said. “No plans to retire yet. I don’t have a definite date even though that would help to make things easier to plan.”
Chelsea’s poor form in the premier league continued this night as they were defeated at Leicester by 2 goals to 1. Man of the moment, James Vardy (15 goals so far in the premier league) put the Foxes in front at the 34th minute while Riyad Mahrez made it two nil in the 48th minute. Substitute Loic Remy pulled one back for Chelsea in the 77th minute. With 15 points so far, Chelsea are just one point above the relegation zone. Is Morinho still the man to turn Chelsea around? Share your thoughts with us.
Leicester striker James Vardy wrote a personal message to the club’s fans ahead of their game against champions Chelsea tonight at the King Power. The Foxes fans arriving at the King Power will find a special surprise tucked into their seats. Vardy has so far scored 14 goals this season to help place the Foxes in the top four against the book makers predictions.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has named the final three for its 2015 Player of the Year award. Ivory Coast’s Yaya Toure could be the first man to win the accolade five times. The Manchester City star is up against Ghana and Swansea’s Andre ‘Dede’ Ayew and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Gabon and Borussia Dortmund. The winner is chosen by head coaches of the FA’s affiliated to CAF and will be announced at a gala on 7 January. CAF named an original list of 37 players in October before cutting it down to ten last month. Toure, who captained Ivory Coast to the Africa Cup of Nations title in January, has won the award for the last four years and was named the BBC’s 2015 African Player of the Year last week. Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o is the only other player to have been crowned the best on the continent four times by CAF, winning in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2010. CAF has also released the final three names for the Africa-Based Player of the Year; Baghdad Bounedjah of Algeria and Etoile du Sahel as well as the TP Mazembe duo of Tanzania’s Mbwana Samatta and the DR Congo goalkeeper Robert Kidiaba.
Naija Sports Crib 