FIFA has fired secretary general Jerome Valcke, who is under investigation for misconduct, world football’s governing body said Wednesday. “The FIFA emergency committee decided, on 9 January 2016, to dismiss Jerome Valcke from the position of FIFA secretary general with immediate effect,” said a statement. The Frenchman, effectively the number two behind president Sepp Blatter, who has been banned for eight ...

Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been crowned CAF African Player of the Year for the first time, by defeating four time winner, Yaya Toure. The 26-year old beat Ivorian Yaya Toure and Ghana’s Andre Ayew to the crown, the most prestigious individual award in African football. He polled 143 points, seven more than Toure whilst Ayew finished a distant third with 112 points. He thus becomes the first ...

Real Madrid have sacked their coach, Rafael Benitez and named Zinedane Zidane as his replacement. The 32-time Spanish champions fell four points behind Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga after a 2-2 draw against Valencia on Sunday and Benitez was dismissed following a board meeting held on Monday afternoon. Club legend Zidane, who currently manages Madrid’s ‘B’ team, has long been linked with the top job ...

Sepp Blatter, FIFA's long-time president, announced on Tuesday that he will be resigning as soon as an extraordinary FIFA congress has elected a successor. Blatter had won a fifth term as president just last Friday and seemed to feel vindicated in two victory speeches, after yet another round of bribery scandals had beset him and his organization. A recent indictment by the U.S. Department of Justice had le ...

A 47-count indictment was unsealed early this morning in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charging 14 defendants with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies, among other offenses, in connection with the defendants’ participation in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer.  The guilty pleas of four individual defendants and two corporate de ...

 President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Saturday spoke with members of the national under-20 women’s football team, the Falconets and exhorted them  to go all out for victory against their German counterparts in tomorrow’s final of the 2014 FIFA under-20 women’s World Cup in Canada.  President Jonathan who is currently on a private visit to Germany called the Falconets at their base in Montreal at about 1515 Hou ...

Nigeria has been suspended from all international football amid allegations of government interference in its football federation. FIFA announced the ban, which means no Nigerian team - including club sides - can play internationally, on Wednesday evening. It was the world governing body’s response to a court order which compelled the Nigerian Minister of Sports to appoint a senior member of the civil servi ...

Reports reaching Nigerians today that the NFF has decided to hire a foreign “technical assistant” for the Head Coach of the Super Eagles, Stephen Keshi, to prosecute our World Cup campaign is a decision that is unpatriotic, untenable, illogical and consequently unacceptable to Nigerians. Nigerians cannot also be swayed or fooled by the reported decision of the NFF that Stephen Keshi will remain the Head Coa ...

Nigeria’s Super Eagles Saturday beat the Atlas Lions of Morocco  to a 4-3 win in the quarter final match of the African Nations Championship (CHAN), in Cape Town, South Africa. It was an incredible come back victory for the Eagles  who had in the first half suffered a  3-0 in favour of the Moroccan team. Nigeria’s three goals were however scored during the second half of the play, while the winning goal was ...

As the senior National Football Team, the Super Eagles, puts finishing touches to preparations for Sunday’s Brazil 2014 World Cup crucial qualifying match in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under the leadership of Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje has urged the team to do the nation proud by winning convincingly thereby making the return leg in Calabar a mere formality.  A statement toda ...