Before a new African champion is crowned this weekend in Equatorial Guinea, let’s take some time and remember the Super Eagles team that made us proud by winning the 2013 AFCON hosted by South Africa. This would be Nigeria’s third continental title. Drawn in Group C, Nigeria drew 1 – 1 with Burkina Faso and Zambia in their first two group games before defeating Ethiopia 2-0 in their final group game. The Super Eagles defeated a star studded Ivory Coast team 2-1 in the quarterfinal and went on to beat Mali 4-1 in the semifinal. The final match saw the Super Eagles square up again with group rivals Burkina Faso with the Nigerians running away with a lone goal victory courtesy of Sunday Mba to lift the trophy. The heroes are:

Jerome Champagne has withdrawn from the race to become Fifa president after failing to win enough support, BBC reports. The Frenchman, who needed the backing of five national associations, said he had the support of only three in his bid to unseat president Sepp Blatter. “I regret to have to announce that I have not presented the five sponsorship letters needed to be registered as a candidate,” he said in a statement. The election for the presidency will be held on Friday, 29 May. Jerome, 56, a former Fifa executive and ex-diplomat, blamed the “institutions mobilising” to eliminate him. “The institutions have mobilised to eliminate the only independent candidate,” claimed Champagne. Former Portugal and Real Madrid winger Luis Figo, retired France international David Ginola and Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) president Michael van Praag are among the candidates wanting to usurp Blatter. Prince Ali of Jordan, who is backed by the Football Association, has also said he will stand against the 78-year-old. Blatter has been Fifa boss since 1998 and said in June last year that he intended to run for a fifth term.

Wed 4 Feb 2015:

Congo DR Vs Ivory Coast 8 pm

Thu 5 Feb 2015:

Ghana v Equatorial Guinea 8 pm

*Time = Nigerian.

Sat 31 Jan 2015:

Congo 2 – 4 Congo DR

Tunisia 1 – 2 Equatorial Guinea 

Sun 1 Feb 2015:

Ghana 3 – 0 Guinea 

Ivory Coast 3 – 1 Algeria 

Crystal Palace say they have have completed the signing of full-back Pape Souare from Lille on a three-and-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee, subject to a work permit, BBC reports. The 24-year-old Lille academy product has five caps for Senegal and played at the Africa Cup of Nations last month. Souare is manager Alan Pardew’s third signing in a week after the arrivals of Jordon Mutch and Shola Amoebi. Eagles chairman Steve Parish originally announced the deal on Friday. He tweeted: “Delighted that Pape Souare has just this minute signed for Crystal Palace. A warm welcome from all of us.”

World number one Novak Djokovic beat Andy Murray 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (7-4) 6-3 6-0 to clinch the Men’s Singles of the 2015 Australian Open in a game played this morning at Melbourne, Australia. This will be Djokovic’s fifth Australian Open title and also his eighth grand slam. Djokovic has won all three Australian Open finals against Murray

Serie A title challengers Roma have signed CSKA Moscow striker Seydou Doumbia for £10.8m, BBC reports. The Italian club could pay an extra £1.1m for the 27-year-old, who has agreed a four-and-a-half-year deal. Doumbia, who played in his homeland, Japan and Switzerland before his 2010 move to CSKA, scored 84 goals in 130 games for the Russian club. He is playing in the Africa Cup of Nations for the Ivory Coast, who are in the quarter-finals. Doumbia joins Roma after they loaned Italy striker Mattia Destro to Serie A rivals AC Milan. He faced his new club in the group stage of the Champions League this season, and also scored three times against Manchester City.

Sat 31 Jan 2015:

Congo 2 – 4 Congo DR

Tunisia 1 – 2 Equatorial Guinea 

Sun 1 Feb 2015:

Ghana v Guinea 5 pm

Ivory Coast v Algeria 8:30 pm

*Time = Nigerian.

Saturday 31^st January 2015:

Hull Vs Newcastle 1:45 pm

Crystal Palace Vs Everton 4 pm

Liverpool Vs West Ham 4 pm

Manchester United Vs Leicester 4 pm

Stoke City Vs Queens Park Rangers 4 pm

Sunderland Vs Burnley 4 pm

West Brom Vs Tottenham 4 pm

Chelsea Vs Manchester City 6:30 pm

Sunday 1^st February 2015:

Arsenal Vs Aston Villa 2:30 pm

Southampton Vs Swansea 5 pm

*Time: Nigerian

Serena Williams beat Maria Sharapova to win her sixth Australian Open and 19th Grand Slam title. The American world number one served superbly to win a pulsating final 6-3 7-6 (7-5) after Sharapova fought back in the second set. Williams, 33, moves past Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert with a 19th major singles title. She has now beaten Russia’s Sharapova, the world number two, 16 times in a row dating back to 2004. “I have to congratulate Maria, she played a wonderful match and she really pushed me,” said Williams. “She played so well and gave me a great final not only for the fans, but for women’s tennis. I’m really honoured to play her in the final.” Despite feeling so unwell during a rain delay in the first set that she left the court to vomit, Williams hit 18 aces and 38 winners as she won in one hour and 51 minutes.

Colombian-born singer Shakira has given birth to her second child, the second son for her and longtime love Gerard Pique, Barcelona star and Spain International. She announced the arrival of her son, Sasha Pique Mebarak on her website and explained the meaning behind his name. “The name Sasha is of Greek and Russian descent and means ‘defender of mankind’ and ‘warrior,'” her blog states. Sasha arrived Thursday night via C-section at hospital Quirón-Teknon de Barcelona. Sacha joins big brother Milan in the family fold. Although Shakira kept a fairly low profile during her second pregnancy, which was first revealed in August, the 37-year-old blonde beauty has always been open about her plans to expand her family. “I would love to have eight or nine kids with Gerard,” she told Latina magazine. “My own fútbol team.” Pretty ambitious, right?

Nigeria’s Flying Eagles on Friday at the National Stadium, Abuja, maintained their unbeaten run in the ongoing Super 6 pre-season tournament following their 4-1 defeat of Dolphins of Port Harcourt. The result gave the Flying Eagles the Super 6 title with 12 points, even ahead of the last game tomorrow against the national U-23 side, the Dream Team which is second on the table with eight points.

The Super Six tourney is organized as a tune up games ahead of the start of Nigerian Premier League. Aside the Flying Eagles and U-23 Dream Team, other clubs involved in the tournament are Dolphins of Port Harcourt, Enyimba of Aba, Worri Wolves and Kano Pillars. The tournament is on a league basis where all the sides face themselves.

Fifa presidential candidate David Ginola says he will not stand in May’s election, BBC reports. The Frenchman, who played for several English clubs including Newcastle and Tottenham, did not receive the required five nominations needed to continue his bid. “Contrary to some reports, I did not withdraw. Just as I did as a player, I gave everything until the final whistle,” he says. “Today I have mixed emotions. There is disappointment, anger but there is also hope. I’m very proud of my campaign and the policies I proposed to reform football.”

Stoke City defender Robert Huth has been given a two-game suspension and fined 15,000 pounds after he admitted breaching rules on social media comments, the Football Association has announced. The FA charges related to Huth, 30, responding to a Twitter account that posts sexual images of individuals and asks users to guess their gender. A statement on the FA’s official website read: “Robert Huth will serve a two-match suspension with immediate effect after he admitted breaching FA rules in relation to comments he made on social media. “The Stoke City defender was charged in relation to comments which were indecent and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute, contrary to FA Rule E3(1). “Further to this, it was considered an ‘aggravated breach’ as defined in Rule E3(2), as it included a reference to gender and/or gender reassignment.” Earlier this month, Huth apologised for interactions with the Twitter account. A series of tweets from Huth’s official account showed the former Chelsea and Middlesbrough player taking part and making indecent remarks. The German deleted the tweets and posted a message saying: “Clearly, no offence was meant or directed to anyone, but apologies if I’ve offended anyone.” The defender has also been ordered to complete a mandatory education course by the FA.

Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick has been ruled out for up to a month with a muscle rupture. Manager Louis van Gaal told the club’s official website today that the 33-year-old will miss around four weeks of action. The England international has been praised for his role in improving United’s results since returning from an ankle ligament injury in November. The Red Devils have won 63.6% of the 13 games that Carrick has started this season, compared to just a 30% win rate without him in the team. Van Gaal added that Ashley Young is nearing a return following a hamstring problem which has sidelined him since New Year’s Day.

Kenyan Rita Jeptoo, winner of the Boston and Chicago marathons for the last two years, has been banned from the sport for two years after failing a drugs test, Athletics Kenya said on Friday. “AK followed due process in her (Rita Jeptoo) matter and it was appropriate that she serves a two-year ban,” Athletics Kenya chief executive Isaac Kamande told Reuters. Jeptoo has denied doping, telling reporters last year that the accusations against her were “lies”.

Aston Villa have signed Manchester City winger Scott Sinclair on a season-long loan deal – with a view to a permanent transfer, BBC reports. The former Chelsea and Swansea City player, 25, has struggled to break into Manuel Pellegrini’s side. “I believe I have my best years ahead of me,” Sinclair said. Villa manager Paul Lambert said: “He got a great move to Manchester City, where it didn’t work out as well as he probably would have wanted.” Sinclair joined City on a four-year deal from Swansea in 2012 but made just three starts and 19 appearances in total. He has played just 25 minutes this season and has not featured for City since coming on late in the 2-2 draw with Burnley in December. Last season was spent on loan at West Brom, but he played just eight times in the Barclays Premier League. Sinclair told Aston Villa’s official website:  “It’s taken a few weeks but I’m happy to be here, to be in the building and to be signing for the club and ready to play some football. “It’s nice to be able to get settled somewhere and be a part of something going forward. “I spoke to the manager and he gave me his views on what he wants from me here at Villa. I am still hungry to play football, that’s what I told him, and I’m looking forwarding to getting started, hopefully playing every week and enjoying my football.”

Top seed Novak Djokovic defeated defending champion Stan Wawrinka in five sets to set up a meeting with Andy Murray in Sunday’s Australian Open final. The pair clashed for the third year running, but it failed to live up to the five-set marathons at Melbourne Park in 2013 and 2014 with a tension-filled clash going the way of the Serb 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 6-4 4-6 6-0 in exactly three and a half hours. Djokovic now has the chance to become just the second man to win more than four Australian Open titles – Roy Emerson won six between 1961 and 1967. “As it was the last two years we played five sets, I was ready for the battle,” Djokovic said in an on-court interview. “It was a great battle, we pushed each other to the limit and credit to Stan for playing well. “I think I played well up to 2-1 and a break up and then I played a couple of loose games, I allowed him to come back into the match and Stan is a quality player. He knows how to use his opportunities. I made my life very complicated. “The opening game in the fifth set was very close and making the break was a crucial turning point. My game depends on how well I move and I was too defensive in the second and fourth set and Stan stepped it up after that. In the fifth set I managed to stay consistent and serve well when I needed to and am so glad to go through.” Djokovic beat Wawrinka 12-10 in the fifth set in the fourth round before claiming his third straight title in 2013, but Wawrinka ended the world No 1’s 25-match unbeaten run in the quarter-finals last year, winning 9-7 in the fifth.