Governing Bodies
Premier League title race set to continue despite COVID chaos
Unless the Premier League fixture list is further decimated by the COVID-19 surge that has ripped the pre-Christmas schedule to shreds the three-way title race will continue on Sunday with Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea all in action.
City, who lead the table by a point, travel to relegation strugglers Newcastle United, while second-placed Liverpool visit Tottenham Hotspur, who have had their last two league games postponed because of infections.
Third-placed Chelsea, who were deprived of three players because of COVID-19 in their 1-1 home draw with Everton on Thursday, are first up at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Whether all or any of the games go ahead as planned, however, is a matter of some doubt.
The league has ruled out a ‘pause’ to the season to allow clubs to recover their squads, although the surging Omicron variant has put paid to half of the weekend’s fixtures including Manchester United’s home game with Brighton & Hove Albion.
Aston Villa, who have also reported infections, are still scheduled to host Burnley on Saturday with Leeds United also in action against fourth-placed Arsenal in the late kickoff.
Despite the distractions and uncertainty, the title rivals will be keenly aware that the season is reaching a crucial phase and any slip-ups now could prove extremely costly.
Not that champions City look remotely flustered, having put seven goals past Leeds United on Tuesday.
CURRENT STRAINS
If any squad can cope with the current strains it is Pep Guardiola’s at City. With quality options in reserve, they are beginning to accelerate at just the right time having won their last seven league matches.
Six players were on target in the 7-0 win against Leeds, with Kevin de Bruyne striking twice, and Newcastle’s creaky defence will not be relishing City’s visit on Sunday.
Liverpool kept up the pressure at the top as they came from a goal down to beat Newcastle 3-1 on Thursday, despite having Virgil Van Dijk, Fabinho and Curtis Jones missing because of positive COVID tests on the day of the game.
Juergen Klopp said he “hoped” the Tottenham game would go ahead but did not sound too optimistic.
“It’s a really tricky situation. Nobody knows exactly how we’ll be tomorrow,” the German said on Thursday.
“I’ve never had three players on matchday pull out. The most important thing is because the boys are vaccinated they will not feel it really. That’s good. We have to wait for them.
“Should we stop the league? I have no real answer for it. If you stop it for two weeks and we come back, I really don’t know what to do. There are plenty of questions we need to find answers for but I don’t have the solution.”
Chelsea’s surprise home draw with Everton left them four points behind City and Thomas Tuchel’s side face a tough task at Wolves, who sit eighth after a midweek win at Brighton.
Asked if the title race should be put on hold while the protagonists deal with COVID infections, Tuchel said he did not want to get involved in sports politics.
“We are all worried about COVID, it is close to us, we had four positives. Other games get cancelled, ours didn’t. If they decide we have to play we play,” he told reporters.
-Reuters
Governing Bodies
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.
The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.
Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.
He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.
An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.
He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.
“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”
Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.
“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.
He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.
“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.
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A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.
Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.
He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.
He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.
Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.
While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.
-Reuters
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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.
Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.
The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.
Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.
“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.
“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”
Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.
“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”
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