All sports stories from Naija – Latest from the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), Nigerian Super Eagles and Super Falcons preparations for the FIFA World Cups, and the Nigeria athletes compete at the Commonwealth Games, Olympics and the IAAF World Championships.
24 January 2011 Manchester United's Dimitar Berbatov led a European parade of hat-trick hitmen that included Arsenal's Robin van Persie, Mario Gomez of Bayern Munich and Sevilla's Luis Fabiano. Bulgarian star Berbatov bagged his third hat-trick of the season in the 5-0 Old Trafford demolition of Birmingham to take his tally to 18 goals and keep United clear at the…
24 January 2011 Warri Wolves moved into third place in the Nigeria Premier League with a 3-1 home win over struggling Plateau United. Kaduna United added champions Enyimba to their list of top-profile casualties with an odd goal victory at home, Bukola recorded a remarkable away victory at Crown FC and Lobi Stars pipped Ocean Boys 1-0. Striker Ekigho Ehuosun…
24 January 2011 South Africas Absa Premiership has a new leader after the weekends action, with Orlando Pirates now the pacesetters at the head of the table. That the Buccaneers are now top of the log is a remarkable thing, given that they found themselves 2-0 down against Bidvest Wits on Saturday evening at the same time that long-time leaders…
22 January 2011 Dimitar Berbatov claimed his 18th goal and third hat-trick of the season as Manchester United retained first place in the Premier League with a 5-0 battering of Birmingham at Old Trafford. Berbatov started the rout inside two minutes after Nani won a corner inside the first 60 seconds and Ryan Giggs curled in a superb cross from…
22 January 2011 Champions Barcelona went seven points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the Spanish first division on Saturday as goals from Pedro Rodriguez, Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta sealed a 3-0 home win over Racing Santander. Barcelona had lost 3-1 to Real Betis in their midweek Kings Cup match - although they reached the semi-finals 6-3…
23 January 2011 Heartland picked up their biggest win of the season after they slammed Zamfara United 3-0 at their new home ground of Calabar. Enugu Rangers recorded their first point away from home at the expense of Niger Tornadoes in Kaduna as there were also narrow home wins for Kwara United and league leaders Dolphin. Heartland, Nigerias standard bearers…
22 January 2011 After notching a record-breaking 52 points at the halfway stage of the season, champions Barcelona are in the box seat to win a third consecutive Spanish league title, holding a four-point lead over rivals Real Madrid. Barcelona have won 13 league games in a row with their last league loss back in mid-September and aim to continue…
9 January 2011 Dolphin beat Heartland 1-0 Saturday to open a four-point lead at the top of the Nigeria Premier League after closest rivals Warri Wolves were downed by Bukola Babes. Dolphin have now recorded 21 points from 10 matches, while Warri Wolves are second on 17 points. However, third-placed Sunshine Stars with 16 points could cut back this lead…
16 January 2011 A last-gasp strike by substitute striker Victor Namo saved Kano Pillars from a home defeat at the hands of Sharks in continuation of the Nigeria Premier League Saturday. Sharks looked like they had the game in the bag courtesy of an early goal by veteran striker Victor Ezeji, before Pillars leading scorer in the 2009 CAF Champions…
22 January 2011 MTN Elite 1 leaders CotonSport travel to Scorpion in the latest round of fixtures to be played on Sunday. Coton hold a three-point advantage over second-placed Union Douala going into the 10th round of matches in the 2010/11 season, but take on a Scorpion side who have had a remarkable season to date. Scorpion have proven difficult…
21 January 2011 We continue our series in the search to find the greatest African XI ever and this week we focus on the defenders. You have sent in your nominations and together with our panel of experts, we have come up with the following 12 players who will compete for four places in our African XI. So have a…
21 January 2011 Cristiano Ronaldo fired in a first-half goal as Real Madrid edged bitter city rivals Atletico 1-0 to reach the Spanish Cup semi-finals 4-1 on aggregate. Real will tackle holders Sevilla in the last four while Barcelona, who saw off Real Betis 6-3 on aggregate, despite losing the second leg of their quarter-final 3-1 on Wednesday, will meet…
21 January 2011 With just one point covering the top three positions in South Africas Absa Premiership, Round 16 of the league, which takes place this weekend, promises to produce more thrills and spills in one of the most intriguing title races in years. All of the top four have potentially difficult games to negotiate this weekend, so we well…
14 January 2010 Towards the end of 2010 we asked MTNFootball.com readers to give us their nominations for the greatest African XI, position-by-position, so that we could come up with the definitive greatest side from the continent. The nominations poured in from all over the continent and beyond, and over the next few weeks we will be entering phase two…
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has announced a list of 594 ineligible athletes for the 2010 National Sports Festival.