The Super Eagles of Nigeria are due to play Bafana Bafana of South Africa on June 7th in Uyo in a FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifier.
Bafana Bafana's flight was delayed in South Africa.
Bafana Bafana @BafanaBafana
Flight delayed, but we’re on our way, Nigeria bound.
And this caused them to arrive Port-Harcourt late. Uyo Airport had been shut by that time and the team had to spend the night in Port-Harcourt.
Bafana Bafana @BafanaBafana
Bafana Bafana have been on the road for 18 hours and still not at base in Nigeria. The team is currently at Port Harcourt Airport where they cleared customs, awaiting transfer to the hotel, to spend the night. Uyo airport had closed by the time the team was scheduled to take off. #WCQualifiers
However, some South Africans are blaming Nigeria for the fact that the team had to sleep in Port-Harcourt. They are calling on South African football authorities to retaliate, but some Nigerians and some South Africans are pointing out that Bafana Bafana left South Africa hours behind schedule and that this was the cause of the problem.
She played for the Super Falcons of Nigeria from 2007 till the present (although she hasn't been called up since last year) and she was the joint captain of the team from 2016 till 2018.
Super Falcons second choice goalkeeper, Tochukwu Oluehi and defender Osinachi Ohale were there to support their teammate and they were also interviewed
Umunnachi Community in Dunukofia Local Government Area of Anambra State recently honoured her illustrious daughter and Super Falcons former captain, Rita Chikwelu.
Activities that were held to mark the homecoming included a novelty football match between a Rita Chikwelu and Friends team and an Umunnachi All Stars team, a walk for life event , a thanksgiving service at St Emmanuel Anglican Church, Umunnachi and a house warming party to mark the opening of Rita Chikwelu's new house in Umunnachi.
The President General of Umunnachi, Arch Frank Okonkwo, did the ceremonial kick-off at the novelty football match, while a local philanthropist, Mmaduabuchi Egboo, donated ₦500,000 to Rita Chikwelu for her "Rita Chikwelu Football Academy".
In her speech, the former Super Falcons Captain, Rita Chikwelu thanked the entire Umunnachi Community and all who came out in their numbers to celebrate her through the novelty match. Chikwelu promised to do her best in supporting upcoming male and female footballers through her contact in ensuring they achieve their dreams of playing professional football.
The Al Shabab forward advised the youths to embrace education while pursuing their dream of playing professional football. She highlighted hardwork, dedication, being focused and eating right as some of the criteria needed in excelling as a professional footballer.
naptu2: This is Nigeria's game against South Korea at the 2012 FIFA Under 20 World Cup in Japan. This video focuses on Ngozi Okobi and you can see her passes, her dribbling and her goal. The funny Nigerian crowd only started singing, "All We Are Saying, Give Us A Goal" after Okobi scored . The other goal was scored by Oparanozie, but it wasn't shown because the video focuses on Okobi.
I might need to explain something here. You'll notice that Okobi was removed toward the end of the match and replaced with Oshoala. That's because Asisat Oshoala was a young defensive midfielder at that time. She started out as a striker, was converted to a defensive midfielder, then to a flanker and finally back to the striking position. Nigeria was leading 2-0 and it was near the end of the game, so the coach removed an attacking midfielder (Okobi) and replaced her with a defensive midfielder (Oshoala).
We played against the two Koreas in this world cup. I've already posted the video of the quarter final match against North Korea, this is the group game against South Korea.
2014 Under 20 World Cup.
Nigeria 2-1 South Korea.
Goals by Courtney Dike and Chinwendu Ihezuo gave Nigeria victory.
Nikita Parris (now a Manchester United star) scored for England, Loveth Ayila scored a beautiful equaliser for Nigeria, Nikita Parris stepped on Sandra Chichi and fell down and the referee awarded a penalty to England, which. . .I think it was Beth Mead (now an Arsenal star) ballooned into the sky, then an England defender collided with Asisat Oshoala (now a Barcelona star) in the box and the referee awarded a penalty to Nigeria which Oshoala scored.
Stars on the pitch include Asisat Oshoala, Courtney Dike, Halimatu Ayinde, Uchenna Kanu, Chinwe Ihezuo and Ugo Njoku for Nigeria and Nikita Parris, Beth mead, Leah Williamson and Aoife Mannion for England.
naptu2: Dear diary, remember what I told you about the excesses of the 2nd Republic? Do you also remember that I told you that Shagari was not involved?
HIGHER PAY FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN THE SECOND REPUBLIC
The only measure which, to date, the President has failed entirely to get through a hostile National Assembly, is one which does him more credit than any of his successes. This was his bill recommending the salaries for himself, his Ministers, Presidential Advisers and other functionaries, and for Senators and Members of the House of Representatives themselves.
The legislators spent much time on this issue in the last months of 1979 and the first months of 1980. In particular, they took evidence about their remuneration from people prominent in private business and in government corporations, in the expectation that this evidence might support their claims for rewards higher than the President recommended. This evidence showed, for example, that the General Manager of the partly government – owned Savannah Bank, a commercial bank, received a salary of ₦30,000 a year, together with a company house and car. The Governor of the Central Bank, on the other hand, was paid only ₦14,700 a year with official car etc., car and servants’ wages. The then Managing Director of the Daily Times, in which the Federal Government has a majority interest, was paid almost ₦34,000 a year, with a large entertainment allowance, house, car, servants’ wages etc. The managing Director of the most important economic organization in Nigeria, the state owned National Petroleum Corporation, had a salary of only ₦20,360, with a car and driver, and wages for four domestic servants. Senior Aircraft Pilots earned N28, 000 a year or more. Mr. Christopher Abebe, then Chairman and Managing Director of the United African Company of Nigeria, the Unilever Associate, in which 60% of the shares are held by Nigerians, declined to give details of his remuneration; later the Chairman of a Joint Special Committee of the National Assembly claimed that Mr. Abebe’s Salary was ₦58,800. Mr. Abebe, however, mentioned that some senior UAC executives earned ₦30,000 or more.
The Joint Special Committee, taking into account the ₦133,337 salary of the President of the United States, and his considerable expense allowance, wanted a salary for Nigeria’s President of ₦53,870, with allowances far more modest than those considered necessary in Washington. All other public salaries, certainly those of members of the National Assembly, would be geared to the President’s Salary (Shehu Shagari had recommended ₦25,000 as his own salary).
In the end, the legislators warned, for example, by the President of the Senate that there would be hostile public reaction if they voted excessive salaries and allowances for themselves and other public officers, decided on a salary of ₦30,000 for the President, although, his allowances exceed this. All other salaries are geared to his. Pay for members of National Assembly was ₦15,000, but they receive in addition consolidated allowances ₦5,000 for Senators and ₦3,000 for members (House of rep) – and constituency allowances of ₦49,000 and ₦24,000 respectively.
Many members of the National Assembly have visited Washington to see how the Legislature works there. They complained that, in spite of their allowances, they cannot afford the kind of assistance available to all US legislators. The Secretary to the Government now gets the modest salary of ₦16,000 and the Head of the Civil Service ₦15,500.
On learning that the National Assembly had voted him ₦5,000 a year more than he required, the President (Alh Shehu Shagari) announced that he was allocating this surplus equally amount several charities: Nigeria Red Cross Society; First Aid Group; Jamaatul Nastril Islam Islamiya; Pacelli School for the Blind; Nigerian Airforce Officers’ Wives Association and Wesley School for the Deaf and Dumb. Each year, selecting different charities, he follows this practice.
PRESIDENT AND POWER IN NIGERIA: THE LIFE OF SHEHU SHAGARI – BY DAVID WILLIAMS
Courtney Dike scored the fastest goal of the competition, Asisat Oshoala scored 4 goals and Uchechi Sunday scored 1 goal.
Korea DPR 2-6 Nigeria.
naptu2: Goals by Courtney Dike (1), Uchechi Sunday (1) and Asisat Oshoala (4) gave Nigeria a 2-6 victory over North Korea in the semi-final of the 2014 FIFA Under 20 Women's World Cup.
The 2024 FIFA Women's Under 20 World Cup will take place in Colombia from August 31st till September 22nd. It will be held in the cities of Bogotá, Cali and Medellín.
Our sisters, the Falconets of Nigeria have been drawn in Group D of this year's FIFA U20 WWC Colombia 2024, alongside Germany, Venezuela, and Korea Republic. 🏆🇳🇬
Group D: 🇩🇪 Germany U-20 W 🇻🇪 Venezuela U-20 W 🇳🇬 Nigeria U-20 W 🇰🇷 South Korea U-20 W
I read all the responses on this thread and they made me very happy. They point to the fact that the op will continue his campaign for another 15 years and he still won't achieve anything.
30 years gone, just like that. 30 years with nothing to show for it.
Ian Williams, Rob Stevens BBC Sport Africa Published 18 minutes ago
Organisers of Africa’s premier men’s and women’s international football tournaments have admitted they face a “scheduling nightmare”, but dates for forthcoming editions are closer to being agreed, the BBC has been told.
During a rare in-depth interview Veron Mosengo-Omba, general secretary of the Confederation of African Football (Caf), promised that an announcement on the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) in Morocco would arrive by the end of this month – revealing there is a strong chance it could be switched to next year.
“We are supposed to play this year but we have teams engaged in the Olympics, so we have to find another date,” Mosengo-Omba explained to BBC Sport Africa.
“We are talking with Uefa, because most of the players are playing in Europe, the European Club Association and also with Fifa in order to find [a] suitable date.”
Meanwhile, Mosengo-Omba confirmed that Caf could stage the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), also set to be hosted by Morocco, in early 2026 because of the timing of Fifa’s new 32-team Club World Cup in June and July next year.
“For the men, we need to make sure that the dates that we'll be choosing will be in the interests of the players,” said the Swiss-Congolese, highlighting issues around the workload of the continent’s elite players.
“For this we need to balance different aspects and also discuss with our partners and then we complete [the dates]. Scheduling is a nightmare for everybody.”
Big dilemma for Women’s Nations Cup
Caf’s statutes say both iterations of the Nations Cup should be held once every two years - rather than once every four as is the case with most major championships organised by other confederations.
However, that puts pressure on the African game’s governing body to fit its competitions into an ever-more-crowded international calendar.
Qualifying for the 2024 Wafcon was completed last December, but deciding when to hold the 12-team finals is complicated by the fact that record nine-time winners Nigeria and Zambia will be participating in the Paris Olympics during July and August.
Desiree Ellis, coach of reigning continental champions South Africa, says the crowded schedule is evidence of rapid growth in the women’s game – but she remains critical of Caf’s handling of the situation.
“If it (Wafcon) is postponed or cancelled, it will be a huge, huge disappointment,” the 61-year-old told BBC Sport Africa, pointing out that the 2020 Nations Cup was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, unlike the men’s 2021 tournament which was merely postponed.
“The growth of women's football over the last couple of years has really shot through the roof, especially on the African continent.
“Just communicate whether it's happening or whether it's not happening so we know how to prepare going forward.”
The growth of women’s football in Africa has been made clear this year by two record-breaking transfer fees paid for Zambian players.
In February, forward Rachel Kundananji set a new world record when joining American team Bay FC for $860,000 (£685,000) and the next month Copper Queens skipper Barbra Banda moved to fellow National Women's Soccer League side Orlando Pride for $740,000 (£581,000).
Mosengo-Omba says Caf’s only option for scheduling Wafcon this year would involve playing it outside of an agreed international window – meaning club sides would not be compelled to release their stellar names.
“Do we play Women's Afcon without our best players? This is something that personally I think is not good,” he said.
“We cannot come back by using only local (domestic-based) players. They are good, but the standard would not be the same.”
When it comes to the men’s Nations Cup, Caf’s “nightmare” has been caused by global governing body Fifa introducing its expanded Club World Cup.
The 32-team tournament will be played in the United States from 15 June to 13 July next year – dates which potentially could have been earmarked for the 2025 Afcon, with Caf having previously stated its aim of aligning its flagship competition with the European summer window.
“We have a problem that we're still discussing now with the same stakeholders and partners: the European Club Association, Uefa and Fifa,” said Mosengo-Omba.
He denied that Fifa has pressured Caf not to hold Afcon at the same time as the Club World Cup – something that Concacaf, the continental confederation for North and Central America, has decided to do with its Gold Cup competition.
Fifa has been forced to defend its new addition to the football calendar after criticism from unions that players are being “pushed beyond their limits”.
“We can play after the Club World Cup, but is this good for the interests of the players who have played all the season and then they travel to America to play [and then] immediately come to play Afcon?” Mosengo-Omba continued.
“We have to put this in balance before [we] take a decision.”
Despite concerns around heat, the 2019 Nations Cup in Egypt was hosted in June and July that year and the 2021 and 2023 editions were also due to be staged around the same time of year to avoid the regular club versus country clash caused by the tournament’s traditional January-February time slot.
However, the 2021 tournament in Cameroon was pushed back to early 2022 because of the pandemic and weather concerns, while the 2023 tournament was held in Ivory Coast earlier this year to avoid the West African rainy season.
Despite Caf failing to meet its aim of aligning the past two tournaments with the European football calendar, Mosengo-Omba admits it could very well happen again in Morocco.
“If this is for the interests of the player, why not? Because we have to focus in terms of the player," he said.
Meanwhile, the date for the qualifying draw for the 2025 Afcon is set to be announced after the next meeting of Caf’s executive committee.
Qualifiers are expected to be held in September, October and November this year.
Sports › Controversy As Bafana Bafana Arrive Port-Harcourt Late by naptu2(op): 10:33am On Jun 06, 2024*. Modified: 10:54am On Jun 06, 2024
It's not that he doesn't understand English. It's just a failed attempt to troll and derail the thread. It's all a waste of time. 
