Manchester City defender Eric Garcia and a member of staff at the club have tested positive for COVID-19, the Premier League club said on Sunday.

“Both personnel will now observe a period of self-isolation in accordance with Premier League and UK Government protocols on quarantine,” Manchester City said in a statement.

On Friday, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said five first team players had tested positive for the novel coronavirus and would not be involved in their game on Sunday at Chelsea.

The club said last week that striker Gabriel Jesus and defender Kyle Walker had tested positive, though Guardiola did not name the other three infected players.

A surge in infections at Manchester City among players and staff forced the club to lodge a request with the league to postpone Monday’s game at Everton.

Manchester City are eighth in the league table with 26 points after 14 games. (Reuters/NAN)

By Nicholas Obisike

Rangers International Football Club of Enugu on Sunday defeated Akwa United FC of Uyo 1-0 in a Match Day 2 of the 2020/2021 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).

Isreal Abia scored the only goal in the 60th minute of the match played at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the victory gave Rangers their first three points of the new season having lost their Match Day 1 fixture 1-0 against Rivers United in Port Harcourt.

Speaking after the match, Rangers’ Technical Adviser, Salisu Yusuf, praised his players for picking the three points at stake.

Yusuf said the match lived up to its billing, noting that his players gave their maximum attention throughout the match.

”It is our utmost desire to win every match we play in the league and I believe this will boost the players’ confidence,” he said.

The coach added that the three points won from the game mattered a lot.

”It is not the number of goals at this point in time. We need the points and not the goals for now.”

He however urged the players not to let the victory get into their heads because they still have a lot to do in the league.

NAN reports that Rangers International FC will on Jan. 10 visit Jigawa Golden Stars of Dutse in their Match Day 3 fixture.

Following are the results of other Match Day 2 fixtures played on Sunday:

Kano Pillars 2-0 Katsina United

Heartland FC 1-2 Nasarawa United

Dakkada FC 2-1 Jigawa Golden Stars

Sunshine Stars 1-0 FC IfeanyiUbah

Lobe Stars 1-0 MFM FC

Warri Wolves 1-0 Adamawa United

Played on Saturday:

Abia Warriors 0-1 Rivers United

Postponed till Jan. 4, 2021:

Wiki Tourists vs Plateau United

Postponed till Jan. 20, 2021:

Kwara United vs Enyimba International. (NAN)

By Emmanuel Afonne

Organisers of Miss Football Nigeria pageant say they plan to include the country’s foreign and home-based female footballers in the contest for its Football Ambassadors Awards for 2021, Moses Ebahor, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the pageant has said.

In a statement on Sunday, in Abuja, Ebahor said the players would be included in the contest for their outstanding performances in their various clubs, just as the pageant aimed to also make football attractive and entertaining to the female folk.

Ebahor said apart from honouring deserving distinguished Nigerians with Football Ambassadors awards, they also planned to make the pageant a source of motivation for female footballers and those willing to play the game.

“Miss Football Nigeria pageant is poised to redefine Nigeria football with entertainment, and it is an avenue for models, girls, ladies to inculcate moral values, discipline and ability to attract them to sports, especially football.

“As part of the activities to mark our fifth year Anniversary, which took place in December 2020, we honoured some distinguished Nigerians that have contributed to the development of sports and human capacity in Nigeria.

“The recipients include Hon. Stella Oketete, APC National Woman Leader/Executive Director Business Development, Nexim Bank; Chief Isaac Balami, Chairman, 7 Stars Groups; Hajiya Fatima Abbas Hassan, General Manager NTA Abuja (Unity Station), and Bash Ali, World Boxing Champion.

“Others who received the Football Ambassadors Award are Hajiya Hadiza Mohammed, FCT APC Woman Leader; Engr. Rotimi Omoboriowo, Chairman Rotiphet Construction Company and Mr Chinedu Obialo, Chairman Neduprize Nigeria Limited.

“Mr Azania Omo Agege, Senior Special Assistant on Youth and Sports to the Deputy Senate President, Dr Sowho Akpos Darlington, CEO Liberty Multipurpose Corporative Society Limited and Mr Hussani Misari, Business development Manager, Nivea, were also honoured,” Ebahor said in the statement.

He stated that the group had entered into partnership with government media organisations like the News Agency of Nigeria, Nigeria Television Authority, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, and other private media houses, for a successful 2021 programme.

Ebahor also stated that they were already in partnership with bodies, such as the Nigeria Football Federation, Sport Writers Association of Nigeria and Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, National Youth Council of Nigeria, National Association of Nigeria Students, among others.

Miss Football Nigeria was unveiled in Abuja on Oct. 20, 2015, while its maiden awards took place on Dec. 20, same year, with 20 contestants.

Miss Blessing Peters won the first edition of Miss Football Nigeria, while Miss Precious Osita, a student of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, who hails from Anambra State, was crowned the Queen for Miss Football Nigeria 2020. (NAN)

By Ariwodola Idowu

Gov. Kayode Fayemi has signed into law, the Ekiti State Sports Development Trust Fund (SDTF) Bill, which seeks to promote sports, attract sponsorship and be an employment generating sector for youths.

Mr Ayodeji Samo, the General Manager, Ekiti State Sports Council, who made this known in a statement in Ado Ekiti, on Sunday, added that the fund would bring more development to the sports sector when implemented.

“With the fund in place, there will be Public-Private partnership in the sponsorship of sporting activities and make the sector a priority of government in terms of funding.

“SDTF is strategic for the development of sports. Now that white collar jobs are not in place, there would be need for us to develop the sports sector to help in generating employments for our youths and build their skills to be able to compete locally, nationally and internationally,” Sami quoted Gov. Fayemi as saying.

The General Manager applauded the governor for the development, saying it was unprecedented in the history of sports in the state, alongside several other giant strides to develop the sector in the state.

He identified such accomplishments to include: creation of the ministry of Sports, re-surfacing of the Oluyemi Kayode Stadium and the regular sponsorship of the Ekiti United Football Club, as well as the state’s female team.

Samo said: “The board and the management of sports appreciate the SDTF that was signed into law by Governor Fayemi. This is unprecedented and will boost sporting activities in our dear state.

“With this, our athletes can now attain a higher height and win more laurels and trophies for our dear state locally, nationally and internationally.

“Sport is a money spinning activity, but capital intensive. Now that more funding will be available through SDTF, Ekiti will soon gain recognition as a state where huge potentials in sports and we can rake in more revenues for the State” .

He also thanked the State House of Assembly for the speedy passage of the bill, describing it as a potent tool that would lift the sports sector in the state to enviable height. (NAN)

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has said there was “no hiding place” for him and his players after they suffered their 15th Premier League defeat of the season at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Jeffrey Schlupp and Eberechi Eze scored a goal apiece as Palace heaped more misery on United with a 2-0 victory, leaving the Blades bottom of the table with two points, 11 adrift of the safety zone.

Wilder’s side have not won in 17 league games this season — the longest winless run from the start for an English top-flight side.

“We don’t look like an established club,” Wilder said.

“We are obviously not and we are fighting to gain that and it’s going to be an incredible struggle to do that from the position we are in.

“We’re obviously disappointed with the stats we’re being reminded of. It’s a harsh league when you’re off the pace as we have been for a long time, so it’s tough. There’s no hiding place for me and the players.”

The Blades were last season’s surprise package, when the promoted side finished ninth, but they have struggled with injuries in their fight for top-flight survival this season.

“I keep saying (that) people will always compare us to last year… Last year is last year and we can’t do anything about that,” Wilder said.

“That was us at our best… (with) no major injuries and players playing to the best of their abilities.

“(Today) we had nine missing players which would have hurt us even in League One, where we were four-and-a-half years ago.

“Both penalty boxes have decided the game and we weren’t good enough in either.”

Sheffield faces Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup third round on Jan. 9, before hosting Newcastle United in the league three days later.

Pope Francis has hailed fellow Argentine Diego Maradona as a “poet” on the pitch, but also acknowledged his frailty away from the sport.

In a wide-ranging interview with Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport published on Saturday, Francis recalled his own days playing soccer as a child with a ball made of rags and laid bare his scorn for doping cheats.

Francis is a big soccer fan and met Maradona, who died in November, several times after becoming pope in 2013.

“On the field he was a poet, a great champion who gave joy to millions of people, in Argentina as in Naples. He was also a very fragile man,” Francis said.

Maradona played for Napoli from 1984 to 1991 winning two Serie A titles and the UEFA Cup.

In 1986, he captained the Argentine team to victory in the World Cup.

Despite his love for the game, Francis said he was living in Germany at the time and was not able to see the final played in Mexico against West Germany.

He only discovered the result the next day when a student wrote “Viva Argentina” on the blackboard during a language class.

“I personally remember it as a victory of loneliness because I had no one to share the joy of that sporting victory with,” he said.

Francis said he himself had no talent for the sport and was forced by his companions to play in goal.

“But being a goalkeeper was a great school of life for me. The goalkeeper must be ready to respond to dangers that can come from all sides,” he said.

Being poor, he recalled how he and his friends could not afford a proper ball, so had to improvise: “All we needed was a ball made of rags to have fun and perform.”

While extolling the virtues of sports, Francis took aim at athletes who took performance enhancing drugs.

“Doping in sport is not only cheating, it is a shortcut that destroys dignity,” he said.

“Better a clean defeat than a dirty victory. I wish this for the whole world, not just the world of sport.”

Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Nuno Espirito Santo was left frustrated after his side let slip a two-goal lead to draw 3-3 at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday and said his players paid the price for lack of game management.

Aaron Connolly gave Brighton an early lead but Romain Saiss levelled with a header before Dan Burn scored an own goal and Ruben Neves converted a penalty to put Wolves in command by halftime.

But Neal Maupay’s penalty straight after the interval gave Brighton hope and captain Lewis Dunk headed in a Leandro Trossard cross in the 70th minute to help Graham Potter’s side snatch a point.

“The first half, every time we attacked, we were dangerous. I felt the game was in our control. It’s just a question of sticking together and I think the team has the ability to do much better.

“We have to be more responsible. There’s no excuse. As a team, we should have performed better. We give credit to Brighton but I felt it was more about us than our opponent.”

“We have to rebalance our squad in terms of positions we’re missing,” he said. “But we trust the young boys, we try to support them. This is the way we work. We don’t have to panic.”

The result left Wolves in 13th place on 22 points from 17 games. They face Crystal Palace in the FA Cup on Friday.

By Moses Omorogieva

President of Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Ibrahim Gusau says the federation plans to focus on improving the lot of its athletes in 2021.

Gusau made the promise in a statement signed by AFN Director General, Pepple Young in Lagos on Friday.

Gusau said that the board will also work towards making the federation one of the strongest in the country in 2021.

“On our part, we have put a lot of programmes in place for 2021 and beyond to ensure that we make our federation one of the strongest, most focused and articulate.

“We are determined to improve the lots of our athletes, develop the sport and take our place in the scheme of world athletics.

“This year, we shall not only focus on the athletes as it relates to competitions. We shall expand our activities to include: athletes’ education, enlightenment and upgrading of coaches technicalities.

“Training/improvement of the skills of officiating officials, training of administrative officials, establishment and launching of an interactive data-driven website and encouragement and support of meet organisers,” he said.

The federation president said that AFN will organise seminars and workshops as well as sponsor relevant professionals on courses to acquisition of the much required knowledge, skills and exposure towards achieving its aim. (NAN)