The Algeria Football Federation led by its president has withdrawn from the Africa footballer of the year award ceremony which will take place in Morocco later today, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

FA President, Walid Said turned down CAF’s request to be at the ceremony and also confirmed that no representative from Algeria will attend the CAF Awards ceremony tonight.

Their main grudge is the inclusion of Mohammed Salah in the final three for the award ahead of Riyad Mahrez who won the treble with Manchester City last season.

A cross section of Algerians who reacted to the decision said CAF edged out Mahrez who stands a better chance to challenge Osimhen from the top three in order for the Nigerian to win the award.

Although they insist that Osimhen is the favorite for leading Napoli to the league title for the first time in 33 years, Mahrez who won the treble in their words would have split the votes if he was named in the final three.

Meanwhile Osimhen has arrived in Morocco for the award and will attend the ceremony later tonight.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

In a bid to get out of the bottom spot in the French Ligue 1, Olympique Lyon will be very active in the January transfer market when it is declared open on the 1st of January.

The former French Ligue 1 champions are placed 18th on the 18 team log in the league after a poor start to the season which has seen them lose nine out of the 15 games they have played this season, leaving them with just ten points after four draws and two wins.

According to L’ÉQUIPE, Olympique Lyonnais will finally receive an update from the DNCG, the National Directorate of Management Control, regarding whether their payroll and transfer control measures from last July will be lifted for the Winter transfer window.

An audition between Lyon and the DNCG was held at the Professional Football League headquarters, with both parties reportedly satisfied by the outcome, though a few details remained to be dealt with, specifically regarding missing documents for a “stay of proceedings“, still according to L’ÉQUIPE.

Lyon will be hoping for a positive outcome, as the club is looking to invest heavily during the transfer period, after not having been able to do so during the Summer, opting instead for low-fee transfers and loans to strengthen their squad. If the claims are lifted, they will be able to tap into the €100 million or so that they collected during the summer, notably through the sales of Bradley Barcola and Castello Lukeba to PSG and RB Leipzig respectively.

One of the players that they have penciled down for recruitment is the vice captain of the senior national team of Nigeria Moses Simon, who is heading into the final six months of his contract with fellow Ligue 1 side Nantes.

Simon is their prime target with his record of 29 goals in 161 matches for Nantes since his move from Levante four and half years ago key in their decision to target the 28 year old.

Nantes is however keen on keeping him and they have already started talks with his entourage over an extension of his deal which will expire in the summer.

Former Chelsea ace and legendary former Italy international midfielder Gianfranco Zola says fans of the senior national team of Nigeria should not expect Victor Osimhen to be at his best for the team at the Africa Cup of Nations, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Osimhen powered Napoli to their first league title in 33 years with 26 goals and will lead the line for the senior national team of Nigeria as they go in search of their first AFCON title since 2013 in Cote d’Ivoire next year.

Speaking on a podcast anchored by former captain of the Nigerian team John Obi Mikel, the former Chelsea assistant coach said playing against African teams and the teams in the Serie A is entirely different.

” No. You can’t say he (Osimhen) will be the game changer for Nigeria. African football is a lot different with physical teams who love to defend aggressively and with low blocks most times. It isn’t that way in the Serie A, where he plays”, Zola said.

” He will score goals but it will depend on how the other players in the team operate as well. Not saying he can’t prove me wrong but I am sure it won’t be easy for him as it was in Italy last season. He is a marked man and could struggle to replicate the same form”, he concluded.

Osas Mahawi

The poor goals return of Atalanta forward Ademola Lookman for the senior national team of Nigeria has been narrowed to the tactics of the coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Lookman scored 13 goals and also picked up eight assist in his debut season with the Serie A side. This season he fired a brace over the weekend in their 3-2 win over AC Milan to take his goal count for the season to six in 15 games.

His form for his club isn’t the same with the senior national team of Nigeria where he has just two goals in eight games, both coming in the game against Sao Tome and Principe where the team trashed the minnows convincingly.

Speaking on the difference in his form for the national team and that of Atalanta, Mark Federico an Italian journalist said the coach of the senior national team of Nigeria is to blame for the poor return of Lookman in the Super Eagles colours.

” He (Lookman) plays as a wide winger for Nigeria very far from goal. At Atalanta he plays in a hybrid system making him operate as the false nine coming in from the right not as a winger. Surprisingly the coach of Nigeria called him a support striker at best around one months ago but still plays him as a winger”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Francis Uzoho showed he isn’t willing to let go of his role as the first choice goalkeeper of the senior national team of Nigeria ahead of the start of the Africa Cup of Nations, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

The 25 year old was handed his first start of the season at Omonia Nicosia in a top division game and he didn’t disappoint with his team picking up a 2-0 win and in the process handing him his first clean sheet for the club since the 16th of January, when they defeated AEL Limassol 1-0.

His first clean sheet of the season in what was his second game in the ten weeks old Cyprus League is coming at a time when the coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has been seen in public with Chippa United goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali.

Peseiro was in South Africa and watched the 27 year old pick up his 7th clean sheet of the season to help his team to a 7-0 win over Golden Arrows in the South Africa top division.

As first reported by OwnGoalNigeria.com, the coach is willing to hand Nwabali the chance to be the first choice of the team starting from the three teams pre AFCON tournament in the United Arab Emirates.

Nwabali will likely get his chance during the invitational tournament in games against Congo Dr or Burkina Faso, the two other teams in the tournament meant to prepare all teams involved for the AFCON in January.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has expressed the readiness of his team to do well at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.

Nigeria will be aiming to firstly navigate the group stages where they are up against Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau and the host of the tournament.

Speaking of the challenge of winning the tournament, the Portuguese coach told Italian media outlet Gazzetta dello Sport, that he is banking on the talisman of the team Victor Osimhen to be the talisman of the team and help them win the tournament.

Last season Osimhen propelled Napoli to their first league title in 33 years by finishing as the top scorer in the Italian division with 26 goals, Peseiro is banking on him to do the same thing, and predict that he will be a future captain of the team as he is already a leader in the dressing room.

“He is a hard worker, a leader without armband, a tireless person. I am sure that he will become the next captain of Nigeria”, he was quoted as saying in an interview yesterday.

Nigeria have been dealt a huge blow in their aim to have top quality players play for the senior national team of Nigeria populary known as the Super Eagles, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

In 2020, the former coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr handed a call up to Michael Olise who was then at English Championship side Reading. He didn’t honor the invitation which according to Rohr was due to issues around securing a Nigerian passport.

He has since move to English Premier League side Crystal Palace.

Since his move, he has been one of the most coveted midfielders in the league leading to another round of debate about his international future as he is eligible for France, Algeria and Nigeria due to the fact that he was born in France to a Nigerian father and an Algerian mother.

That debate appears to have been settled according to French coach Alain Giresse, while speaking on the 21 year old who is a youth international fot France alongside Ryan Cherki. He said both players will be turning out for the senior national team of Algeria in the next few months.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all to see Michael Olise and Rayan Cherki in Algerian colours after months. The Greens have good players and every player of Algerian origin dreams of playing for Algeria,” he said,

Ade Emmanuel

A football agent named Jolly Ogu says the coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has kept his job because of the amount he gives certain individuals as bribe from his monthly salary.

Peseiro was on $70,000 a month as coach of the Nigerian team but he took a pay cut when he extended his deal for three months which covers the period of the Africa Cup of Nations next year.

He currently earns $50,000 a month and according to Ogu who claimed he brought the coach to Nigeria, and ensured that he got the job despite performing poorly during the interview, the coach greases the palms of an unnamed individual every time he gets paid.

The Europe based agent went ahead to claim that the coach is yet to give him the agreed share for his role in helping him secure the job, which he claimed he did in a space of 48 hours using a close confidant of the former president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

“Coach Peseiro is yet to settle me my share after I helped him secure the job. Peseiro is yet to fulfill his agreement. I know what I did for him to get the job. I know the joker I played. Withing 48 hrs, the camel’s back is broken. He said he’s keeping $20,000 for someone and I said why, since then, he put me in his black book”. Jolly Ogu said on popular WhatsApp platform, Sports World.

All attempts to get Peseiro to respond to the allegations proved abortive as he didn’t take or return the calls we put through to him for his own side of the story.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has confirmed our exclusive story on Stanley Nwabali as the new Super Eagles goalkeeper ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations.

On the 23rd of October we exclusively unveiled the Chippa United goalkeeper as the one Peseiro has turned to in his bid to solve the goalkeeper crisis rocking the team.

Earlier today, the coach was at the training ground of the team where he met with the goalkeeper and was also allowed to address the team after training.

“He took some time just to motivate the team. Before his visit, he communicated with the team and was invited to our training session. When addressing the players, he said he had been watching Chippa for a while and was impressed by how the team plays,” a club source said.

However the main purpose of his visit was to have a face to face talk with Nwabali ahead of his inclusion in the Super Eagles squad for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.

“Primarily, the purpose of his visit is to see Stanley Nwabili, who has previously played for the national team player of Nigeria. After the training session, he took time to talk to Nwabili,” added the source.

Nwabili has featured 12 times for the Eastern Cape outfit this season. He has kept six clean sheets, conceding 10 goals and will be hoping to get a start against Arrows.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro says he is in talks with a new goalkeeper who will keep goal for the senior national team of Nigeria at next year Africa Cup of Nations.

The goalkeeping department of the Nigerian team has been the most talked about area in the build up to the AFCON with present first choice goalkeeper Francis Uzoho guilty of making costly errors.

Peseiro has always backed the Omonia Nicosia shot stopper but following pressure on him to explore other options in goal, the Portuguese confirmed that he has opened talks with a goalkeeper who will help ease the problem in goal.

He made this known during an interactive session with the minister of sports Senator John Enoh and the hierarchy of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), citing the new goalkeeper as a good addition towards their aim of winning the tournament next year.

The coach explained that dropping Uzoho at the time many wanted him to do so would have put whoever takes over as first choice under immense pressure, but the AFCON will give him enough time to address the situation.

His present deal with the NFF will expire at the end of next year’s AFCON, but it will be extended if the team makes it all the way to the final of the tournament in Cote d’Ivoire in January.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman