Super Eagles skipper, William Troost-Ekong, Taiwo Awoniyi, Ademola Lookman and four other players are early birds in the national team camp in Uyo.  The others players that have arrived camp as at press time are; Ola Aina, Semi Ajayi, Olisa Ndah and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru.  More players are expected to hit the camp later today ahead of their build for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Cheetahs of Benin Republic and the Amavubi of Rwanda this month. 

Interim manager Augustine Eguavoen has selected Enugu Rangers’ head coach, Fidelis Ilechukwu and Daniel Ogunmodede of Remo Stars to assist him plot the downfall of the Cheetahs of Benin Republic and the Amavubi of Rwanda in the Super Eagles’ 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches this month. Ilechukwu led the Flying Antelopes to triumph in Nigeria’s elite division last season, with Ogunmodede’s Remo Stars in second place. They will be joined in Uyo by Tomaz Zorec, a fitness trainer from Slovenia, goalkeeper trainer Olatunji Baruwa and match analyst, Eboboritse Uwejamomere. Players and officials of the three-time African champions are expected in Uyo on Monday to kick off preparations for Saturday’s clash with the Cheetahs at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, from 5pm. The team will depart for Kigali on Sunday, for Tuesday’s Matchday 2 clash with the Amavubi (Bees) of Rwanda at the Amahoro Stadium, starting from 3pm Rwanda time (2pm Nigeria time). 

Antonio Conte has informed Victor Osimhen he will remain banished from the Napoli first-team after a summer move to Chelsea failed to materialise. Chelsea pushed hard to sign Osimhen before the summer transfer window closed on Friday night but a delegation from Stamford Bridge left Naples disappointed. The Blues were unwilling to match Osimhen’s current salary or the one he has been offered to join Saudi club Al Ahli. Chelsea did make a contract offer to the Nigerian but he rejected the proposal before reportedly ending talks with the frustrated Premier League club. The failed transfer means Osimhen remains a Napoli player, for the time being at least, but Conte has not changed his stance and does not intend to pick him going forward. Osimhen was left out of Napoli’s dramatic Serie A win over Parma on Saturday and his No. 9 shirt was handed to new signing Romelu Lukaku, who scored in the victory just a few days following his move from Stamford Bridge. Conte was asked to assess Napoli’s activity in the summer window after the game, with Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour also joining his squad from the Premier League. ‘Strong players have arrived from a market that was difficult and at times blocked,’said Conte, who previously worked for English clubs Chelsea and Tottenham. ‘They came to fill the slots, and I’m happy with the work done by the club.’ Conte then took a swipe at Osimhen by saying: ‘Of course, if Osimhen had been sold, we would have completed the situation better.’ The manager’s quotes come as Napoli inform Osimhen that he will not be welcomed back into Conte’s squad. That will likely force Osimhen to consider a move to Saudi Arabia, something he had reservations over earlier in the summer. But it remains to be seen whether Al Ahli will still be interested in signing Osimhen after they completed a deal for England striker Ivan Toney on deadline day. Conte, meanwhile, praised his Napoli players after they scored two injury-time goals to complete an impressive comeback against Parma. ‘It was a performance of heart against an excellent team with good players who press well,’ he said. ‘We could have done much better. We’ll take these three points knowing there’s work to be done.’

Stringent regulations of German tax authorities have conspired to abort the agreement between the Nigeria Football Federation and Coach Bruno Labbadia for the latter to mount the saddle as Head Coach of Nigeria’s Senior Men Team, Super Eagles.   “We have been on the tax issue for the past three days, and I told him clearly that there was no way the NFF will agree to offset the concomitant tax percentage on his salary that will be demanded by German tax authorities. It is not possible for us to shoulder the responsibility of shelling out another money, between 32% to 40% of his salary, after paying the agreed monthly wage. “The NFF and Mr. Labbadia reached an agreement in principle before we made the announcement that he would become the Head Coach of the Super Eagles. The tax details were never part of our discussions, and he had personally agreed to all terms before the tax issue came up. We were doing our best to be flexible in the discussions but he was adamant that the NFF had to pay the full tax amount as well. We simply cannot do that,” President of NFF, Ibrahim Musa Gusau, said on Friday evening. In the event, Technical Director of Nigeria Football Federation, Coach Augustine Eguavoen will now take charge of the Super Eagles for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (Uyo, 7th September) and Rwanda (Kigali, 10th September). It will be Eguavoen’s fourth stint in charge of the three-time African champions, after earlier experience in 2005-2007, 2010 and 2022.

Egyptian official Amin Mohamed Omar, who has been a FIFA referee since 2017, has been selected by the Confederation of African Football as referee for next week’s 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and the Cheetahs of Benin Republic. The Matchday 1 encounter, scheduled for the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, will kick off at 5pm Nigeria time. Omar will be in company with compatriots Mahmoud Abouelregal (Assistant Referee 1), Ahmad Hossam Taha (Assistant Referee 2) and Ahmed ElGhandour (Fourth Official) as the three-time African champions confront a team coached by former Nigeria manager Gernot Rohr. The match will be the baptism for new Nigeria manager, Bruno Labbadia. CAF has also appointed Ghanaian official Munkaila Nassam Adam as commissioner, with Fatou Gaye from Senegal to serve as referee assessor and Ivorian Atte Claude Elloh in the role of security officer.

Al-Ahli have reached an agreement with Napoli for Victor Osimhen (mafter the Saudi Arabian side offered an €80 million transfer fee for the Nigerian international. Al-Ahli have also offered the striker a lucrative four-year contract which would see him earn €35 million per year and he would also be provided with a release clause. Chelsea have not given up hope on signing the striker and last night sent personnel to Naples to try and convince Osimhen to join the club. However, Osimhen is still thought to be closer to agreeing to the Saudi Arabian side over Chelsea. Paris Saint-Germain had been in the race for Osimhen for much of the summer, however, reportedly pulled out of negotiations despite suffering an injury to Gonçalo Ramos in the first game of the season. Osimhen had also been a target last summer when the French champions had sent two offers to Napoli valued at over €100 million.

Nigeria’s U20 girls, Falconets have taken up residence at their Wyndhad Hotel, Bogota, where the team will reside for their first two matches of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup Colombia 2024. After scoring 27 goals in a total of eight premium games (six competitive and two friendly matches), the 2010 and 2014 runners-up arrived in high spirits while looking forward to their first match of the tournament against Korea Republic on Monday, 2nd September. The Koreans have finished in third place in one championship in the 22-year-old competition, and have promised to provide stiff opposition for the perennial finalists. Nigeria is one of only four countries to have featured in every edition of the finals since the competition was launched in Canada as an U19 event in 2002. The Falconets have further group phase encounters against three-time champions Germany (also in Bogota) and Venezuela (in Cali) on 4th September and 7th September respectively.