Zamalek have rejected the resignation of coach Moamen Soliman and his technical staff – rare but nothing too strange so far. Soliman’s decision to quit came after a 1-0 victory last weekend when he insisted his team did not deserve three points – odd. He took over as manager in August, and is the club’s sixth manager this season, and had already offered to step down once this season – maybe he’s trying to tell them something?
Enrique Martin spent his whole playing career with La Liga side Osasuna, barring a couple of loan spells. He coached the first team and the B team before being made manager in 2014-15 – during the club’s relegation battle against dropping into the third tier. He kept them up, then got them promoted last season. After one win in their opening 11 games this season, the 60-year-old has been given the boot however.
Inter Milan are set to name Stefano Pioli as their new coach. The 51-year-old, sacked by Lazio in April, is poised to replace Frank de Boer, who was sent packing on 1 November after 85 days in charge. Pioli’s first game would be the Serie A match against city rivals AC Milan at the San Siro on 20 November. Inter’s owners, the China-based Suning Commerce Group, have also replaced their chief executive Michael Bolingbroke.
New York City have until 31 December to trigger a one-year extension to Frank Lampard’s contract. Lampard, 38, played the final game of his initial two-year deal with the Major League Soccer outfit as they lost 5-0 to Toronto at Yankee Stadium. It completed an 8-0 aggregate defeat and eliminated NYC from the play-offs. Lampard, who signed for NYC after leaving Chelsea in 2014, has scored 12 times in 16 games this year, including a hat-trick against Colorado Rapids.
Cristiano Ronaldo, has signed his new Real Madrid contract until 2021 and said it won’t be his last contract. Judging by his comments today, he could play until he is 41. “I’ve got a lot of years left in football, another 10 years” Would that be at Real Madrid? He says he would like to end his career at the Bernabeu, but added: “no one knows what the future holds.” Ronaldo has scored 371 goals since joining from Manchester United in 2009. Asked if he can reach 500 goals, he replied: “These things happen naturally, I never thought about beating Raul’s record. 500 goals is possible, but I’m not obsessed with it. It is important to win titles with the team.” Ronaldo also said he was not “obsessed” with winning the Ballon d’Or, an honour he has won twice. He added: “It is important to win, but it is important to win the Champions League and European Championships. Team awards are more important than winning individual awards.” The 31-year-old also said he was “not contemplating” early retirement from the Portugal national side.
FC Ifeanyi Ubah, have clinched a first-ever Federation Cup after they beat Nasarawa United 5-4 on penalties in the final after both teams failed to score in regulation time. The Anambra Warriors impressively converted all their kicks, while their keeper Uche Okafor saved one from Nasarawa United. The Nnewi club, will now represent Nigeria in the 2017 CAF Confederation Cup. FC Ifeanyi Ubah’s victory ensured that the two main Nigeria’s trophies remained in South East Nigeria (Igbo land) as Enugu Rangers had earlier clinched the Nigeria Professional League trophy.
Juventus and Italy legend Gianluigi Buffon made his 600th Serie A appearance as his side beat Chievo Verona. The 38-year-old is fourth on the all-time appearance list in Italy’s top division, behind Francesco Totti, Javier Zanetti and Paolo Maldini.
John Barnes (Football) – Former Liverpool and England midfielder, turns 53.
Rio Ferdinand (Football) – Ex-Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand, turns 38.
David De Gea (Football) – Manchester United and Spain goalkeeper David De Gea, turns 26.
Fenerbahce have played down fears that Robin van Persie has suffered a serious eye injury, after he was carried off the pitch bleeding on Sunday. Netherlands striker Van Persie, 33, had scored the opening goal in the Turkish side’s 3-1 win against Akhisar before the first-half injury. Television pictures showed blood coming through a bandage on his left eye. “He received a blow to the eye and suffered a torn eyelid and bleeding,” club doctor Burak Kunduraciogl said. “After the investigations we learned that nothing important happened. His condition is good.”
Barcelona star Lionel Messi passed another milestone on Sunday after scoring his 500th goal for the club. The strike in Barcelona’s 2-1 win over Sevilla took Messi to 500 in 592 games for the Catalan club, including friendlies, with 469 of those in official fixtures.
Zambia international Rainford Kalaba scored twice as TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo beat Algeria’s Mouloudia Bejaia 4-1 at home on Sunday to win the African Confederation Cup for the first time. Mazembe made sure of the win having held their opponents to a 1-1 draw in Algeria in the first leg of the final last weekend. They won the final 5-2 on aggregate, to add the Confederation Cup to their list of honours after winning the African Champions League in 2015. Mazembe were eliminated early in the defence of their African Champions League trophy this year and dropped down to the continent’s second tier club competition. They will receive $660,000 following their Confederation Cup triumph with Bejaia receiving the runners-up prize of $462,000. Mazembe will now play this year’s African Champions League winners, Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, in the 2017 African Super Cup on the weekend on 17-19 February.
Manny Pacquiao returned to the ring to score a unanimous decision over champion Jessie Vargas to claim the WBO welterweight title in Las Vegas. Former eight-division world champion Pacquiao, 37, had announced his retirement after beating Timothy Bradley in April. The judges scored the bout 114-113, 118-109 and 118-109 in favour of the veteran Filipino. His former world title rival Floyd Mayweather Jr had a ringside seat.
Sunday 6th November, 2016:
Arsenal 1 – 1 Tottenham
Hull City 2 – 1 Southampton
Liverpool 6 – 1 Watford
Swansea 1 – 3 Manchester United
Leicester 1 – 2 West Brom
Saturday 5th November, 2016:
Bournemouth 1 – 2 Sunderland
Burnley 3 – 2 Crystal Palace
Manchester City 1 – 1 Middlesbrough
West Ham 1 – 1 Stoke
Chelsea 5 – 0 Everton
Victor Anichebe scored Sunderland’s equalizer against Bournemouth in his first league start since February. Sunderland responded by sending out a tweet in reference to a tweet that the Nigerian forward sent out recently. If you missed it, click here.
Jorge Costa has been removed as coach of Gabon just two months before the country hosts the Africa Cup of Nations. According to the official website of the Gabon’s football federation, Costa has been replaced on a temporary basis by technical director Jose Antonio Garrido. No reason has been given for what appears to be a sudden change at the top of the national team. Former international defender Costa was only reappointed in August on a six-month deal. His original contract as Panthers coach expired on 30 June and Gabon initially sought a replacement. Garrido has just over a week to prepare the team for their next assignment – a World Cup qualifier in Mali. The Nations Cup hosts will then play a friendly against the Comoros in Tunis three days after their showdown with the Eagles. Gabon face debutants Guinea-Bissau in the opening match of the Nations Cup on 14 January. The other teams in Group A are four-time winners Cameroon and Burkina Faso, runners-up in 2013.
The EFL Cup will be known as the Carabao Cup from June after a sponsorship agreement worth £18m was reached with the Thai energy drinks firm. The Football League (EFL) announced on Friday that Carabao would become the competition’s new title sponsor from 2017, with the deal running until 2020. The competition has been without a sponsor since the deal with credit card service company Capital One ended at the conclusion of last season. Carling had also sponsored the cup at which time it was known as Carling Cup.
Luis Figo (Football) – Former Inter Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Portugal winger, born 1972.
Nigel Worthington (Football) – former Northern Ireland defender and manager, born 1961.
Mario Melchiot (Football) – Former Wigan, Birmingham, Chelsea and Holland defender, born 1976.
Devin Hester (American Football) – Baltimore Ravens wide receiver who holds the NFL record for the most returning touchdowns, born 1982.
The Premier League has announced the nominees for its Player of the Month award:
The nominees for Manager of the Month are:
The winner will be announced on Friday 18 November.
Naija Sports Crib 