Sports

Filip Hrgovic ripped up the script and shattered Moses Itauma's world-title dream as the Briton appeared to punch himself out in an extraordinary heavyweight contest in London, Saturday night. Itauma, 21, controlled most of the fight and scored a second-round knockdown but faded as his relentless output caught up with him. A lover of Nigeria, where his Eket-born father hails, Itauma, after one of his recent boxing successes had visited both his mother's country, Slovekia, and Nigeria to showcase his feats, but he said it was only in the latter that he was appreciated. His words: "I was saying to…

The major talking point from yesterday's round of Premiership games was, perhaps, title hopefuls Liverpool's second draw in as many matches this season. New boy Victor Munoz struck a late equaliser to salvage a 2-2 draw for the Anfield giants against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, 26 August, but Coach Andoni Iraola's side were left still searching ​for their first Premier League win this season after his first home league game. Forest had looked set to leave Anfield with all three points, in what would ‌have been a first league victory in charge for Oliver Glasner, when Morgan Gibbs-White converted a…

*Nigerians Shine In 10km Category *Global, National Athletics Bigwigs Grace Event *We Love Enugu, It Is Beautiful, Secure, Foreign Athletes Gush By Sylvia Kodilichukwu, Enugu It rained dollars and millions of Naira in Enugu today as the South-East state successfully hosted the second edition of the Enugu City International Marathon. Expectedly, athletes from East Africa, particularly Kenya and Ethiopia, made a clean sweep of most of the laurels and US dollar cash prizes up for grabs in both the male and female professional categories. For the Nigerian categories, athletes mainly from the Middle Belt dominated, smiling home with millions of…

By Oliver Hopkins and Ali Tweedale Thirty-six clubs in the Champions League now know who they will play in the league phase, but which team has the kindest draw and who has the toughest assignment? Each side knows their eight opponents, but, given no two teams face the same set of opponents, this is not a level playing field. We have used the Opta power rankings – which rank 16,000 teams from across the world on the same scale – to find out who did best in the draw. Which Teams Have The Easiest Fixtures? In terms of Premier League…

By Sylvia Kodilichukwu, Enugu Today, someone will smile home with the princely sum of $US50,000 (about N70m) as winner of this year's International City Marathon, which kicks off in Enugu. To allow free access to the athletes from within and outside Nigeria have a hitch-free race, all vehicular traffic has been stopped in the metropolis where the racing routes are delineated. As a result, between the hours of 6:00am- 12.30pm, security men will not allow any vehicle ply the major roads in the metropolis as the 10km/42 kilometres race will take the athletes round the major avenues. The race, sponsored…

Post-Guardiola, Guéhi Versatility Crucial As Bouaddi Arrives Coach Enzo Maresca has a shiny new £85m midfielder he could select for a debut but he may want Ayyoub Bouaddi, at 18 years old, to have a bit of time watching on from the bench to learn about the Premier League from his elders. The Moroccan may not have expected one of those to be a centre-back by trade. Tonight, Marc Guéhi will be eager to make a triumphant return to Crystal Palace and may well have the opportunity to do so from central midfield, where he played last weekend in the…

Raphinha and Fermin López scored in either half and Rodri made his debut off the bench as Barcelona beat Athletic Club 2-0 at Camp Nou in their first home match of the new La Liga season, Thursday night (Nigeria time). Barça opened the scoring in the 37th minute, Raphinha rounding goalkeeper Unai Simón after Pedri’s through ball split the Athletic defence. Fermin, who scored twice in the season opener 0-5 win away to Elche, sealed the win ⁠in the 82nd ​when he pounced on Aymeric Laporte’s defensive error from Karim Adeyemi’s low cross and finished from inside the penalty box.…

*Sanusi, NFF Board Members Throw In Towel Too By Tony Ezimakor, Abuja The leadership crisis that has trailed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in the aftermath of serial failure of the various national football teams, came to a head on Thursday (today) with the resignation of NFF President, Ibrahim Musa Gusau and the federation's General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi, exactly one month to its scheduled elective Congress in Lafia, Nasarawa State. Their sudden exit had been predicted and followed enhanced scrutiny in the running of football in the country by the Federal Government (FG) despite huge resources and abundant football talents…

European soccer governing body, UEFA, today held the draw for the league phase of the 2026/2027 Champions League. Each team will play two fixtures against teams from Pots 1, 2, 3 and 4, with those pots determined by club co-effecients – relating to their performances in Europe in recent seasons. Fixtures For Teams In Pot 1: PSG: Barcelona (H), Man City (A), Roma (H), Aston Villa (A), Galatasaray (H), Villarreal (A), Slovan Bratislavia (H), Como (A). Bayern Munich: Arsenal (H), Atletico Madrid (A), Real Betis (H), Man Utd (A), Bodo/Glimt (H), Lille (A), Slavia Prague (H), Vikings (A). Real Madrid:…

*Champions League first league phase matches 8-10 Sept This season's (2026/27) Champions League league phase draw will be held on Thursday, 27 August, while the Europa League and Conference League league phase draws take place on Friday, 28 August. The final match to decide the winner of this season's Champions League will be held in Spain at Atletico Madrid's wonderful Estadio Metropolitano on Saturday 5 June, 2027. A news alert from European football governing body, UEFA, sighted by People&Politics, which disclosed these, showed that 36 teams will be involved in each of the draws. While the Champions League draw will…