CELEBRITY
Mikel Obi excited at meeting Dangote
Former Super Eagles captain and and Stoke City star, John Obi Mikel, was delighted with his meeting with Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, on Tuesday evening.
The midfielder is the Super Eagles’ fourth-highest capped player ever behind Joseph Yobo, Vincent Enyeama and Ahmed Musa.
Few days after he was announced as Youth Ambassador by the federal government of Nigeria, the 2012 Champions League winner was received by the business magnate at his private residence.
According to the 34-year-old, he shared with Dangote a joint plan as it concerns advancing lives and supporting dreams of the Nigerian youth through sports.
“Exceptional gratitude to Alhaji Aliko Dangote GCON! it was a remarkable outreach and a unique honour that you hosted my team and I,” Mikel wrote on Instagram.
“We had the opportunity to share our joint commitment to bettering lives and supporting dreams of the Nigerian Youth through sports. Nagode Alhaji.”
On Sunday, the veteran midfielder had visited the governor of Kogi state Yahaya Bello and promised to support him in his future political activities as well as help foster youth development.
“It is an honour for me to finally meet his Excellency personally after all the good things I have heard and read about him from not just the people of Kogi State but from Nigerians,” The Guardian quoted Mikel as saying.
“My main aim is to come here to show my appreciation and to thank him for all the things he has been doing for the people and also to support him in whatever future political positions he wants to go into.
“I will like to be there to support him, to be there by his side through this journey for him to achieve whatever he wants which is for the betterment of Nigeria.
“What better person to lead the youth than him, because he has been doing all these good works and that is why I am here to see whatever way I can come in.
“To get the youth together to know and see how we can make things better for our country and how we can align to achieve all that.”
After delivering convincing performances during his debut season with the Potters – featuring with 41 appearances across all competitions – the English Championship side extended his stay until 2022.
During his time at Stamford Bridge, he won the Champions League, Europa League, Premier League titles and English FA Cup diadem with the Blues.
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million.
Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18 million annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175 million to his fortune.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177 million pounds ($237.52 million), plus bonuses and a reported 15% share in his Saudi Arabia club.
Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600 million in pre-tax salary during his career.
Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a rare group of athletes that includes basketball greats Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis player Roger Federer.
Ronaldo suggested he is not considering retirement any time soon.
“I still have a passion for this,” he said at the Portugal Football Globes gala on Tuesday. “My family says it’s time to quit and they ask me why I want to score 1000 goals if I’ve already scored 900-something. But I don’t think that way inside.
“I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team. Why not continue? I am sure that when I finish I will leave full because I gave everything of myself. I know I don’t have many years left to play, but the few I have left, I have to enjoy them to the fullest.”
-Reuters
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Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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