Category: Football News

The long awaited Imo Based Artists first ever football competition has been slated to kick-off soon as preparations are already in top gear for a successful tournament.
According to reports gathered by Trumpeta sports desk, the draw which was conducted recently saw three teams in a group of four, comprising group A to D.
The draw was supervised by the SA to the Imo state governor on entertainment, Hon. Chukwunonye Iruno at Bongo Square on Monday 24th Oct 2016.
He confirmed that
the opening match will be between comedians FC and Bloggers FC is slated for Thursday 3rd nov 2016 at Imo City School, Weathral road while the finals to take place on Sunday 27th November at Dan Anyiam stadium Owerri by 2pm.

With one match remaining in the ongoing basketball African clubs  champions  zone 3 Qualifiers in Lome, Togo, Kano pillars defends its title  after beating As Nigelec basketball team of Niger Republic by 71-47 points this evening.
Out of the six teams participating in the competition only Kano Pillars played four games and won all, while the remaining five teams lost two matches each in the four matches they played. And with this development Kano Pillars Basketball Club has qualified to this year’s African Clubs Championship in Egypt.
Kano Pillars, the reigning champions of the FIBA Africa Champions Cup (ACC) Zone 3, and ASPAC of Benin were off to a winning start on Sunday in  Lome, Togo.
While Pillars beat Beninese side ElanSportif de Porto Novo 90-75, ASPAC edged out Nigerian Customs 70-51.
The six-team qualifier will see the top two teams advance to the ACC Final Phase to be held in Cairo, Egypt, from 8-17 December.
Despite being bigger and better, Kano Pillars were but bring their international experience to beat a small but quicker opposition. with their captain UsmanAbubakar leading the floor with 22 points making three point shots at will.
Yahaya Abdul added 14 points, while ElanSportif’s trio of Tossou Vivien finished with 19 points, Joel Gnimassou added 18 points and AkpachiRomario came up with 16.
Despite the loss, Aurelius Kouko, the head coach of ElanSportif remained optimistic of his players’ performances, although he lamented the team’s inexperience.
“My team is appearing in a tournament like this for the first time after a long while. They are very young players who are ready to learn. We look forward to doing better in our subsequent games.”
Meanwhile, Sani Ahmed, head coach of Kano Pillars, admitted that the game was a difficult one for them even though they win by 15 points.
The other Nigerian team, Customs were however not as lucky in their first game as ASPAC of Benin made them look ordinary on the court and secured their first win of the qualifiers.

Following the recent achievement recorded by Imo State born athletes during the just concluded paralympic  games  in Rio, Brazil this year and other land mark achievement recorded by the council in some National and continental events, the Acting Director, Imo State Sports Council, Austin  Atasie has commended the athletes promising they can do more with the right kind of support .
Speaking to Sports Ambassador ahead of the festival billed for calaber later this year (though in doubt), Mr. Atasie thanked his Excellency, Governor Rochas Okorocha for rewarding the three athletes who did the State, Nigeria and Africa proud by wining 3 out of the 8 gold medals won by Nigeria in the Rio 2016 paralympic  games.
The former world wrestling champion and Olympic also used the opportunity to thank Governor Okorocha for appointing a true Sports man as Commissioner in the person of High Chief Rodney Tony Ajaelu whom he described as a round peg in a round hole.
Enumerating achievement of the council in the calendar year under review, the Ag DS praised efforts of the Imo Sports Commissioner for the innovative ideas he has been introducing which he said will no doubt help push sports higher in the State.
As you can see, the Honorable Commissioner in conjuction with the   Sports council will soon be organizing the State sports festival after 10 years of no activity and no doubt it will help discover more champions that will take over from the aging ones.
”infact  the council as you can see is looking cleaned up and we have always  managed to send our athletes to some tournaments with little or no resource and I can tell you that with a little more support at the right time, Imo will surely place among the first four State on the medal table” the Ag Ds maintained .
Realing out some of his achievement within the    time he has been in office, Mr. Atasie said for the first time he organized successfully the first edition of the Imo State Director of Sports U-17 football competition which ABC Academy won in the final at the Dan Anyiam Stadium recently.
He also revealed that  management has been able  to bring back some of  the Imo athletes that earlier ran away due to lack of funding saying that there are right now training  with

Following the absence of Chelsea forward Victor Moses and Watford’s Isaac Success in Ndola against Zambia, Nigeria football Federation and Gernot Rohr are in contention on whether to invite the London based duo to play for the senior national team.
An inside source in the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has revealed that the move by the super Eagles technical adviser Gernot Rohr to invite the players ahead of next month FIFA World Cup qualifier against Algeria have been received with diverse minds.
Moses and Success missed the team’s 2-1 win over the Chipolopolo of Zambia in Ndola a fortnight ago, sighting injuries as excuses for their inability to make the encounter.
The NFF expressed their unhappiness with the player’s failure to join the Super Eagles and had planned to put them on suspension for subsequent games.
Considering the recent brilliant performance of Moses and Success who has been having a decent game with Watford, Rohr has indicated plans to invite them for the match against Algeria in Uyo on November 12.
The German tactician’s decision has been met with discontentment as the source disclosed that some key members of the football federation are still fuming over the invitation of Moses and Success to the senior national team.
“We have not really not concluded on whether Victor Moses and Isaac Success should be invited for the November 12 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Algeria in considering the fact that the decision of the two  players to miss the encounter against Zambia was not truly justified ,” the source informed .
“Although there are plans by the super Eagles technical adviser to extend invitation to them for the Algeria match, however a few of our members are yet to vet their invitation because they are indirectly selecting matches they want to play something which won’t be condoned.
“It is time that we want our best players to feature against Algeria but then, a situation where players are not committed and hungry to play for their country I don’t think they merit to be listed,” he said .

As Neymar approaches 100 La Liga games at Barcelona, we look at how his goalscoring record compares to other greats.
The Brazilian, who will be making his 100th La Liga appearance at Valencia on Saturday, arrived from Santos in the summer of 2013, and has netted 59 times in his 99 league appearances for the club.
Some said it would be a case of “two captains on the same ship” when Neymar, then 21, joined up with Lionel Messi at the Nou Camp, and though his goalscoring rate in 2013/14 was his lowest in five years, he was back in the goals when Luis Suarez arrived the next summer.
The formidable trio hit 137 goals in 2015 as Barcelona broke the Spanish record for most goals in a calendar year with 180, Neymar scoring 41 of those, and when comparing the 24-year-old’s first 100 league games with other modern La Liga greats, his impact at the Nou Camp is even more impressive.
Messi himself managed 48 goals in his first 100 La Liga appearances, before going on to break umpteen Spanish records, including all-time top La Ligagoalscorer.
Former Barcelona striker David Villa burst onto the scene with Sporting Gijon in 2001, netting 18 goals in his first senior season, and registered an impressive 48 goals in his first 100 La Liga appearances.
Samuel Eto’o hit 35 goals in his first 100 games in the Spanish top flight, while Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema scored 45 goals following his move from Lyon in 2009.
Real Madrid legend Raul’sfirst 100 league games yielded 44 goals, while Gareth Bale, who has appeared in 88 La Liga games, has 50 goals.
But Neymar, Messi and co’s impact on La Liga falls well short of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and his Brazilian namesake.
Portuguese forward Ronaldo hit 111 goals in his first 100 La Liga games after his arrival from Manchester United in 2009, and is still the fastest player to 100 goals in the Spanish top flight.
Brazilian striker Ronaldo’s first 100 games were split between rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid in over two separate decades, and he registered 82 goals.
There is time yet for Suarez to break the Brazilian’s record, having scored 62 goals in his first 70 La Liga games.

Abia Warriors Football Club of Umuahia is organizing a one-week talent hunt football competition in Umuahia aimed at recruiting stars to reinforce the squad ahead of the new NPFL season.
In a release from the Media officer of the club IgweOnuoha, the football talent hunt will kick off on Monday October 24th, 2016 to Monday October 31st, 2016.
The statement revealed that all professional, amateur and football academies are invited to take part in the talent hunt.
The statement  also say interested football clubs should pick up registration forms free of charge at the Abia Warriors Secretariat, No. 35 School Road, Umuahia from Monday 17th October, 2016.
The Talent hunt will help unveil footballers that could play for the club plus lots of prizes to be won.

shows that you are doing enough to be recognized. Our players have been doing well, which is impressive”, Adamu said.
Since the inception of the award in 1992, Nigerian players have won the awards of four occasions.
Late Rashidi Yekini won the African Player of the Year award in 1993, followed by Emmanuel Amuneke in 1994.
Nwanwko Kanu won the award in 1996 and 1999, while Victor Ikpeba got it in 1997.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Gabon won the 2015 edition of the awards, while Yaya Toure of Cote d’ Ivoire won it four consecutive times from 2011 to 2014.
The award is sponsored by telecommunications giant, Globacom Ltd and GLO CAF Awards.

Enyimba’s poor run this year has ended with an exit at the semi-final of the Federation Cup at the hands of Nasarawa United today in Ibadan.
This will certainly be a forgettable year for the seven-time Nigeria champions after they lost their championship to regional rivals Enugu Rangers and crashed out in the group stage of the CAF Champions League without much of a fight.
They will not play international football next year after they finished outside the top-3 in the league.
Nasarawa won 1-0 through a penalty taken by Seun Sogbeso in the first half.
The Lafia club will now face FC IfeanyiUbah in the final.
Enyimba goalkeeper Theophilus Afelokhai fouled goal-bound Abdulrahman Bashir inside the box for Sogbeso to put away the resulting penalty.

Rivers United must win the
Nigeria Professional Football League next season, if they are to repay the gesture of the Rivers State Government which went on to organize a state reception to honour the team despite finishing second in the just concluded league season.
Formers Sharks FC and Dolphins Football Club hitman, Victor Ezeji who spoke in Port Harcourt, said that winning the league would be the only way to repay the state government for its gesture towards the club which also saw players and officials pick up cash gifts and awards from the state government.
Ezeji acknowledge the state’s government monetary reward and hosting of the team to a dinner was surprising and sees it as nothing but a charge for the team to do better, as second place has never been rewarded in the state previously.
“This is the first time in the history of Rivers State that a team comes out second and there is a reception for them” he said.
“I can remember vividly in 2005 we (Dolphins FC) came out second on the continent, that’s talking about the CAF Confederations Cup and nothing of such happened.
“For a team to have come out second and the state government came out to say you guys have done well, I think they are just trying to encourage them to do more” he added.
Ezeji said Rivers United has been left no choice but to emerge champions of the league or at least win laurels in the next season.
“The players too should in turn know that in life to whom so ever much is given, much is also expected.
“In as much as the Rivers state government has gone on to splash real money on them for coming out second they should do all they can to come out first next time.
“I think what the Rivers state government has done is the height of encouragement for these boys, it is the height of motivation. They have to go all out, no excuses whatsoever, to doing well in the next season.”
Asides United Coach, Stanley Eguma, who was given one million naira, players of Rivers United received five hundred thousand naira each and the club has been promised a training tour in Madrid, Spain by the state Governor ahead of next season’s CAF Champions League.
Also, Ezeji who only recently announced his intention to stage a testimonial match after a 20 year playing career, (which included spells at Sharks and Dolphins) expressed gratitude to the Rivers State Government for its pledged support of his upcoming testimonial.