Eden Hazard has revealed he was left feeling so guilty over Jose Mourinho’s sacking that he sent a text message to the former Chelsea manager to apologise. Mourinho was axed by the Premier League champions in December after a disastrous first half of the season leaving the Blues just one point above the relegation zone after 16 games. Hazard, who was Chelsea’s standout performer in their title winning campaign last season, was one of a number of players performing well below their usual high standards. And the Belgium international has admitted that a portion of blame for Chelsea’s most successful manager ever losing his job lays at his door. ‘I sent him (Mourinho) the message to say I was sorry he had gone and, well, just that I was sorry,’ Hazard said. ‘We’d enjoyed all that success together last season, but this time round we hadn’t.

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South African Tokyo Sexwale’s bid to become the next FIFA president has failed to win the support of the Confederation of Africa Football. CAF announced after a meeting in Rwanda on Friday that it would back Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman in the 26 February elections. Sheikh Salman is now expected to gain the votes of Africa’s 54 federations. It appears to bring an end to Sexwale’s hopes of becoming the first African to hold the office of FIFA president. Sexwale had been aiming to get the support of his own continent but has recently been under pressure to withdraw.

Manchester United have held talks with representatives of ex-Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, BBC reports. The 53-year-old Portuguese, who was sacked by the Blues in December, is increasingly hopeful of succeeding Louis van Gaal at Old Trafford. No agreement has been reached, and the club have made no comment, but negotiations have begun. Dutchman Van Gaal, 64, is expected to leave United at the end of the season – one year earlier than scheduled. That would leave the way clear for Mourinho, who is known to be excited by the prospect of taking over at Old Trafford. The United hierarchy are thought to be keen to respond after Manchester City secured the services of coveted former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola earlier this week. Mourinho’s arrival would mean a resumption of a rivalry that began in Spain when he was coach of Real Madrid between 2010 and 2013.

The Confederation of African Football has announced its backing of Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman of Bahrain for the FIFA Presidency. The announcement was made in Kigali, Rwanda where the CHAN 2016 tournament is being held. Africa is seen as key in the election set for the 26^th of this month, as the confederation with the highest number of votes with 54 in total. However with the voting being through a secret ballot, the CAF endorsement may not necessarily see all FA’s going with CAF’s decision. UEFA secretary general Gianni Infantino, , former FIFA executive Jerome Champagne of France, and South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale will contest Salman for the top post to replace Sepp Blatter. Reports have suggested that Sexwale may pull out of the race if he does not have good support from Africa and the latest development could be a setback in his ambitions.

Nigeria international Gbolahan Salami has joined Finnish club Kuopio Palloseura (KuPS) to team up with his Warri Wolves teammate, Azubuike Egwuekwe. The club announced on their website that the ex-Shooting Stars forward has signed a year’s deal with an option of another year. The 24-year-old was the top scorer in Nigeria league in the 2014/2015 season with 17 goals. He opted to stay out of CHAN 2016 so as to finalise his move to Europe. Last year January, Salami moved to Serbian club  Red Star Belgrade, but returned to Nigeria to join Warri Wolves after the club could not pay his wages. – Vanguard.

Seven-time Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) champions Enyimba will play their home fixtures in the 2016 CAF Champions League at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt. The Enyimba Stadium in Aba is currently under renovation and it seems increasingly unlikely that the refurbishment will be completed in time for the club’s opening game in the competition on February 28. Enyimba are to face Ugandan club, Vipers SC, in the preliminary round of this year’s edition of Africa’s premier club competition with the first leg set to be held on the weekend of February 12-14 at the 5 000-seat Bunamwaya Stadium in Uganda.-Vanguard.

Today February 5 happens to be birthday of so many football stars namely:

Cristiano Ronaldo – Real Madrid and Portugal forward, born 1985.

Carlos Tevez – Former Manchester City and United striker, born 1984.

Vedran Corluka – former Spurs now Lokomotiv Moscow defender, born 1986.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst – Former Arsenal and Barcelona man, born 1975.

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Ajax Cape Town withdraw from the Confederation Cup because of concerns over how they will travel to face Angolan side Sagrada Esperanca. The South Africans had been scheduled to play Sagrada Esperanca in Dundo on Saturday but now face a three-year ban from continental club competition. Ajax insist Angolan officials have refused to provide details of domestic travel arrangements for the match. And the club says it has pulled out to ensure the safety of its players. The South African club revealed it has been unable to obtain insurance for their trip to Dundo, which is some 1120km from the Angolan capital Luanda, because they do not know on which airline they will travel. Confederation of African Football rules state that internal domestic travel is the responsibility of the host association but repeated attempts by Ajax to find out how they will travel between Luanda and Dundo have produced no information.

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Jiangsu Suning have agreed a deal to sign Alex Teixeira from Shakhtar Donetsk for €50m, the Ukrainian club have announced on their website. Liverpool had been closely linked with a move for the 26-year-old Brazilian during the January transfer window and Shakhtar said they rejected a €24m offer from the Premier League club for the attacking midfielder, with their asking price being €70m for a summer transfer. However, Shakhtar have now announced a deal with the Chinese side Jiangsu. A statement on shakhtar.com read: “Shakhtar Donetsk and Jiangsu Suning FC have agreed on all the necessary formalities for the transfer of Alex Teixeira to the Chinese club. Transfer fee for the Brazilian midfielder is €50m. Shakhtar thank Alex for the time spent in the team and wish him success at his new club.”

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Lazio have been fined 50,000 euros after their match against Napoli on Wednesday was temporarily halted following racist chants. The Rome club will also have to close three sections of the Stadio Olimpico ground for their next two Serie A home games. The match was stopped for three minutes in the second half after some fans aimed racist chants at Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly. League leaders Napoli won 2-0. Senegal international Koulibaly, 24, praised referee Massimiliano Irrati for stopping the match.

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The Argentina Football Association have been handing out bans to 15 players after a friendly between Gimnasia and Estudiantes erupted into a brawl. Rival players punched and kicked each other during Sunday’s abandoned match. Three Estudiantes players were banned for eight games, while three of the Gimnasia side were banned for five matches. Another nine players from both sides were suspended for between one and four games. The Argentine government had already punished 12 players for their involvement.

Top Ten:

1. Belgium

2. Argentina

3. Spain

4. Germany

5. Chile

6. Brazil

7. Portugal

8. Colombia

9. England

10. Austria

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Wednesday 3 February, 2016:

Everton 3 – 0 Newcastle 

Watford 0 – 0 Chelsea

World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has still not decided if he will fight Wladimir Klitschko again and could quit boxing. Fury upset Klitschko to claim the WBA, IBF and WBO titles in November and is due to take on the Ukrainian in a rematch in May or June.  I’m struggling to get motivated Fury told BBC. “I could walk away. I could just sail into the sunset unbeaten with all the belts and live a normal life.” He added: “All that I would be boxing for is money and I always thought to myself I never want to let sport become about money.” Continue reading →

DR Congo qualified for the final of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) by beating Guinea 5-4 on penalties. After an entertaining goalless 90 minutes Jonathan Bolingi scored what he thought was the winner in the first period of extra-time. But Guinea’s Ibrahima Sory Sankhon made it 1-1 in the final seconds of the game to send the tie to penalties. In the shootout Congo’s Ley Matampi saved from Mohamed Youla to send Florent Ibenge’s side to the final. The victory secures DR Congo’s place in Sunday’s final to decide the winners of CHAN 2016. They will face either Mali or Ivory Coast, who meet in Thursday’s semi-final.

Former Manchester City and AC Milan midfielder Nigel de Jong has joined Steven Gerrard and Ashley Cole at Major League Soccer side LA Galaxy. Netherlands international De Jong, 31, had his contract cancelled by Milan last week after three and a half years in Italy. “He’ll add qualities on the field that can strengthen our team in all areas,” said Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena. De Jong helped City win the Premier League in 2012 before moving to Milan. He also played in the 2011 FA Cup final as City defeated Stoke at Wembley. De Jong has earned 80 caps for the Netherlands and helped them reach the 2010 World Cup final, where he escaped punishment for a chest-high challenge on Spain’s Xabi Alonso. LA Galaxy confirmed De Jong would be added to their roster on receipt of international clearance.

Football fans will be begging Olivier Giroud not to score against Barcelona in the Champions League after Piers Morgan made a promise no one wants him to keep. The outspoken Arsenal fan vowed to perform a naked conga if Giroud scored against the Spanish giants in a rant bemoaning Arsene Wenger’s side. Speaking on Talksport, Morgan said: “If Giroud scores against Barcelona, I will do a naked conga around the Emirates Stadium. You heard it here first!” A lot of fans quickly tweeted they would rather someone else got the goals in the upcoming Champions League tie.

Bristow has released a statement.

It was earlier reported that a Bristow helicopter with nine passengers on board has gone missing. The 5N BJQ helicopter with a 2-man crew was said to be en route Lagos from Port-Harcourt. It was flying at 1 500 feet before crash landing. The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) who confirmed the incident, said the whereabouts of the helicopter is yet unknown. This is happening months after another Bristow Helicopter crash landed into the lagoon at the Oworonshoki area of Lagos state. Continue reading →

Roger Federer will be out of action for up to a month after undergoing knee surgery. The 17-time grand slam champion suffered the injury the day after his Australian Open run ended in the semi-finals at the hands of Novak Djokovic. “While this is an unfortunate setback, I feel grateful that up until now I have remained mostly healthy throughout my career,” the 34-year-old Swiss said in a statement. Federer has withdrawn from the World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam (8-21 Feb) and the Dubai Tennis Championships in Dubai (22-27 Feb).