Nigeria Content Online

League leaders Borussia Dortmund go into the four-week winter
break with a record 10 point cushion and few believe they will loosen their tight
grip on the Bundesliga championship in the second part of the season.

Dortmund, as opposed to Hoffenheim two years ago or Bayer
Leverkusen last season, who both saw their winter break advantages evaporate,
have several things working in their favour.

With experienced captain Sebastian Kehl, Patrick Owomoyela,
Mohamed Zidan and Dede set to return for the new year, Juergen Klopp’s young
team, whose outfield players regularly have an average age of under 24, will
benefit from the injection of experience at just the right time.

Dortmund, who have lost only twice in the league this season and
lead with 43 points from 17 games, having won 14 of them, also have no other
obligations than the Bundesliga.

Mainz 05 are second on 33 points, level with Leverkusen, while
defending champions Bayern Munich are four points behind.

Dortmund’s early exits from the German Cup and the Europa League
may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for a team who are bidding for their
first domestic league title since 2002 and are not used to the demands of
multiple competitions.

“From the beginning of January we will start preparations for
the second part,” said club manager Michael Zorc.

“After all we only have the Bundesliga left now and I hope we
can pick up where we left off because in most games we played some sensational
football.” With the league’s best attack and defence, Dortmund have set a very
high standard for their title rivals.

Germany call-ups

Their impressive form also led to Germany coach Joachim Loew
selecting youngsters Marcel Schmelzer and Mario Goetze and recalling midfielder
Kevin Grosskreutz and defender Mats Hummels for the national side in November.

“I dare make the prognosis that it will be extremely difficult
to overtake Dortmund in the second half. Teams like Leverkusen or Bayern must
start a good run to do that,” Loew told reporters this week.

While Leverkusen traditionally falter in the second half of the
season, Bayern will only become stronger.

The return of Dutch winger Arjen Robben and Germany’s Holger Badstuber
from injury will strengthen their attack and defence and they are determined to
boost their backline further in the winter transfer window.

Bayern, on the advice of coach Louis van Gaal, did not buy
anyone in the close-season and paid the price for sticking with erratic central
defenders Martin Demichelis and Daniel van Buyten.

But even Van Gaal, whose team came from behind in the winter to
clinch the title last season, considers a Champions League spot a more
realistic target than winning the Bundesliga with Dortmund 14 points ahead.

“Obviously Dortmund are a target but for us the focus will first
be on Mainz 05 and Leverkusen, who are only four points away and on the
Champions League spots,” he said on Wednesday after his team advanced into the
German Cup quarter-finals.

The Bavarians face holders Inter Milan in the Champions League
first knockout round, further crowding their match schedule.

At the other end of the table, Borussia Moenchengladbach look
doomed in last place on just 10 points, having conceded 47 goals and
relegation-threatened VfB Stuttgart, two points ahead of them, showing signs of
recovery.

With Gladbach coach Michael’s Frontzeck’s future in doubt, the
five-time German champions have little room for mistakes.

“Everyone has written us off already and that is fine by us but
there is a whole half of a season still to be played and we will not give up
until the very last game,” Frontzeck said.

The Director General, National Sports Commission, Patrick Ekeji
yesterday in Abuja denied having knowledge of the leadership tussle that has
engulfed the Nigerian Premier League (NPL) for months.

Ekeji made the denial while presenting the 2010 Ministerial
Score Card at the VIP Lounge of the National Stadium Abuja.

“There is no document on my table that indicates that. I am not
aware of any leadership tussle in the NPL,” he said.

Davidson Owumi had emerged as Chairman of the league from an
election conducted after the exit of former league boss, Oyuki Obaseki.

However, his leadership has been questioned by some aggrieved
people, amongst whom is former Bayelsa United Chairman, Victor Baribote, who
has alleged that Owumi was not qualified to vie for the position in the first
place.

Several meetings have been held to help resolve the matter with
the former Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, President Sani Lulu setting up a
committee led by Ibidapo Obe. The Obe committee recommended a fresh election as
a way out.

Even the current leadership of the NFF has at different times
also tried to settle the rift a situation, which has made the Ekeji’s supposed
ignorance baffling to many.

Bid Process

Apart from his comment about the crisis in the league, Ekeji
also commented on the controversial Sponsorship deal that gave MTN the right to
sponsor the league for 4 years at the tune of 2.6 billion naira. He said the
Sports Commission can only advise it’s parastatal but not direct them. He said
that no system in the world is perfect after all.

Ekeji said the achievements recorded by the Commission in 2010
include the award of contract for the construction of 43 mini Sports centres at
locations across the country — at a total cost of 1.806 billion naira. Others
are the construction of Grand Stands, Fence And Natural Football Turfs in 14
locations across the country; and the construction of 6 Zonal Sports Offices in
the six geo-political zones in the country. Contracts have also been awarded
for Restoration and upgrading facilities at the 6 federal Stadiums under the supervision
of the Sports Commission, the completion of a 200 rooms Athletes Hostel at the
National Sports Complex in Abuja, and Construction of Sports Medicine Center,
National Stadium, Abuja.

Ekeji was unhappy that some Nigerian athletes failed Dope tests
at the Commonwealth Games in India. He said investigations proved that the
athletes involved took the substance outside the Country and not in Nigeria.

Olympic target

The Sports Commission boss gave the list of events in which
Nigeria will be competing at the London Olympic Games in 2012 as Sprint Races,
Takwando, Terrestrial and Horizontal jumps, Wrestling and Weightlifting {Female
Category).

“We are sure for now to participate in athletics, and this will
be in the sprints as well as terrestrial and horizontal jumps, and football if
the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) does its own part.

“The talents are there for us there, and we are sure the
federation can muster the finances needed to get the tickets to the games for
its teams,” Ekeji said.

Sports Festival date
uncertain

Meanwhile, the National Sports Festival billed for Rivers State
next year February may be postponed again as it clashed with electoral
activities. Ekeji, who said Rivers is ready for the event, admitted that
political events may force a change in date.

Rafael Benitez’s reign as Inter Milan coach ended in ignominy on
Thursday when he left the European champions after just six months in charge
having dared to question club owner Massimo Moratti’s authority.

“Inter and Rafael Benitez announce that, mutually and with
satisfaction on each side, they have reached an agreement for the early
resolution of his contract,” said a statement from the Serie A club after days
of talks.

“Inter thank Rafael Benitez for his work with the team which led
to Italian Super Cup and World Club Cup success. Rafael Benitez thanks Inter
for a great professional experience and the victories obtained together.”

The Spaniard, appointed in June after treble-winner Jose
Mourinho left for Real Madrid, was already on shaky ground with his team
slumping to seventh in Serie A and spluttering through the Champions League
group stages.

He had appeared to secure his job with Saturday’s World Club Cup
triumph, only to explode in the post-match news conference and threaten to
discuss his future with his agent if signings did not materialise in the
January transfer window.

Benitez directly criticised Moratti, saying he was promised buys
in the close-season which did not arrive and pointing out that the club
recruited five first-teamers last term under Mourinho and yet did not bring any
player in for him.

His ultimatum was too much for Moratti, a man not known for his
patience, especially as it came when the president thought his side should be
celebrating a fifth trophy of a great year rather than pondering his outburst.

Former Liverpool coach Benitez knew when he took the job that
Italian soccer worked differently from English with the clubs rather than the
coaches buying players.

He even said he saw this as positive element of the move having
left Liverpool after six years in which his transfer spending at Anfield was
heavily criticised by fans and media.

However, a raft of early injuries at Inter, which some pundits
blamed on his new training regime, meant Benitez was down to the bare bones by
late October and the lack of signings rankled with him more.

Spalletti staying?

The former Valencia boss had become increasingly militant at
Liverpool after a quiet start, famously lambasting Manchester United manager
Alex Ferguson in a news conference before using bizarre Spanish proverbs about
milk, sugar mountains and priests to criticise his ex-Anfield bosses when he
arrived at Inter.

His blast at Inter was a step too far for the Italians, though,
given they were his current employers and he now finds himself out of work
while Inter begin the task of replacing him knowing they do not have a game
until Serie A resumes on January 6.

Zenit St Petersburg coach Luciano Spalletti was tipped by media
and bookmakers to take over but the Russian champions have said the former AS
Roma boss is staying.

Former Inter goalkeeping great Walter Zenga is therefore the a
new favourite along with ex-AC Milan boss Leonardo, whose former side are now
top of Serie A in a galling reminder to their city rivals of how far they have
fallen since May’s treble.

Their chances of a sixth straight Serie A title look remote
whoever takes over as Inter lie 13 points behind Milan.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was relieved on Thursday that a
wobbly home record had not been more costly and Chelsea captain John Terry was
glad his team were still in the Premier League title race despite a lack of
depth.

The season has so far been very forgiving as just three points
separate the top four, with unbeaten Manchester United on 34 points, two ahead
of Arsenal and Manchester City, and Chelsea in fourth on 31.

A busy festive schedule could shake things up and Chelsea travel
to Arsenal on Monday.

“The good news is that we are in a good position and we have not
paid a high price for that (three home defeats and five in total) but of course
our home form in the second part of the season will be the decider,” Wenger
told a news conference.

He gets the chance to put that drive for improved form at the
Emirates into practice against Chelsea, another team counting their blessings
after escaping stiffer punishment for poor results.

The champions, whose season started promisingly with 21 goals in
five consecutive victories, have imploded with no wins in their last five
league games and have found their squad under pressure with injuries to the
likes of midfielders Frank Lampard and Michael Essien and Terry.

“In the past we had a big squad and could rotate and put other
players in, we don’t have that now, we have quite a young squad and it’s a time
for everyone to stay together like we always will,” Terry said on the club
website (www.chelseafc.com).

“Once we’ve turned that corner we can move on from there and
wait for other teams to slip up which they will do.

“We’ve missed some key players at key times and it is a case of
keeping everyone fit now over the Christmas period where we have two games in
three days.”

Hectic list

A hectic Christmas and New Year fixtures list gives some clubs
four games in little over a week, meaning there could finally be some daylight
between the top sides soon — something that was not lost on United manager
Alex Ferguson.

“If we are still top of the league by January 4 then we will
have done well,” he told a news conference.

“By that time the top of the league will have taken shape.
Depending on the weather of course, we could have a lot of postponements yet.”
Heavy snow and freezing temperatures have led to two of United’s league matches
being postponed this month. While they would have preferred to play them, last
Sunday’s postponement of their match at Chelsea was good timing as several
United players were suffering with flu.

Ferguson was optimistic Nemanja Vidic, Nani, Anderson and
Michael Carrick, who were laid low with the bug, will have recovered in time
for Sunday’s match at home to Sunderland.

Winger Nani may have been ill but he found time to irk Arsenal
by ruling out the Londoners as title contenders.

“I no longer see anybody winning the Premier League this season
outside of Manchester United or Chelsea. Hopefully, it will be United,” local
media quoted him as saying on Thursday.

Wenger poured cold water on the Portugal player’s view.

“I personally don’t know who will win the league and I’ve
managed 1,600 games,” he said. “So if Nani knows, he must be 1,600 times more
intelligent than I am.” Pull Quote: The good news is that we are in a good
position and we have not paid a high price for that (three home defeats and
five in total)

Barcelona coach Pep
Guardiola can extend his contract for as long as he wants and the club
are hoping he will emulate long-serving Manchester United manager Alex
Ferguson, president Sandro Rosell said on Wednesday.

Guardiola, 39, has
led the Spanish champions to eight trophies, including the 2009
Champions League, in his two and a half seasons in charge and while
there is no indication he will leave he has yet to agree a contract
extension beyond the end of the current campaign.

Ferguson, who will
be 69 on New Year’s Eve, surpassed Matt Busby’s record of 24 years, one
month and 13 days in the job on Sunday and has won 11 English league
titles, five FA Cups, four League Cups and two Champions Leagues.

“I would like
(Guardiola) to be the Ferguson of Barca,” Rosell, who took over as
president at the end of last season, told a news conference looking
back on 2010.

“And later the
Beckenbauer,” he said, referring to the former Bayern Munich player and
coach Franz Beckenbauer who is now honorary president of the Bundesliga
club. “That is to say, that after coaching the team he becomes club
president.”

Rosell said club
officials and Guardiola, who came through the Barca youth ranks, had
yet to meet to formally discuss a contract extension.

He added that he personally favoured renewing from season to season and that there was no rush.

“There is a process needed for everything so that things are done well,” he said.

“But I don’t see any problem. He knows that he can extend his contract for as many years as he wants.

“If I had to put money at stake I would bet that he will extend his contract.

“Pep is from Barca,
he feels Barca and he understands the club. He always thinks about the
club first. And that is the big difference between him and the others.”

FIFA president Sepp
Blatter has defended the decision to award the World Cup to Russia and
Qatar, saying it was “natural” to spread the tournament around the
world.

At the end of a
significant year for world soccer’s governing body in which the World
Cup was held in Africa for the first time, Blatter told FIFA’s website
(www.fifa.com) that the criticism the ruling body had received was not
justified.

“The sporting media
don’t always appreciate the social or cultural importance of awarding
the World Cup finals to a country,” he said.

“They just think
about penalties, corners, refereeing and money. But, as I’ve already
said, this decision wasn’t about making money.”

Blatter added that
after giving previous World Cups to Asia and to Africa, it was
“natural” for FIFA to take the tournament to other regions.

“We have made historic decisions in terms of sport and geopolitics. We’ve sent the World Cup to new territories,” he said.

“The 2018 World Cup
will go to eastern Europe and the vast country that is Russia, and the
2022 event will go to Qatar, in the Arab world.

“The World Cup will discover new cultures in new regions, and that’s something I’m delighted about.

Blatter said moves to make football a universal sport had started under his predecessor Joao Havelange.

“When I jumped into
this project in November 1974 I did so with my feet tied together, and
I could see straightaway that there was more to football than just
kicking a ball,” he said.

“When I became the
FIFA President, the decision was made to go into Asia. And then I said
we had to go to Africa, which is what we did. It’s only natural, then,
that we should keep on moving into new regions.” Blatter said he
understood the disappointment of the losing candidates.

“But maybe some people have forgotten that in football you have to learn to lose as well as to win,” he said.

“It was a competition. Some people won, some people lost. That’s normal.”

Huge impact

He said this year’s World Cup in South Africa had had a huge economic impact on the country.

“2010 has been a
year of ‘fulfilment’, a historic year, one in which we’ve broken new
ground,” Blatter said “We’ve had the World Cup in Africa, which is an
extraordinary achievement in itself. It’s had a phenomenal impact
around the world, and the economic impact of the event can never be
underestimated.” “Back in 2004, when the competition was awarded to
South Africa, the country was a young republic that had been in
existence for 10 years and was looking to find its place in the modern
world,” he said.

“Since then, both
the rest of the world and South Africa itself have come to realise just
how important a country it is.” He said his only disappointment about
the World Cup was that African teams did not do better.

“To be honest, I
was expecting to see more African teams in the second round of the
World Cup, with one of them going on to the semi-finals,” Blatter said.

“Ghana just missed out by the narrowest of margins, though, and there was huge disappointment.”

REUTER

The Nigeria
Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports making the rounds in the
media that its Abuja secretariat was raided on Monday by officials of
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The NFF said Tuesday that officials of the EFCC did not visit the Federation’s office.

Acting General
Secretary of the NFF, Barrister Musa Ahmadu said: “No official of the
EFCC visited the NFF Secretariat in Abuja, or the Liaison Office in
Lagos for that matter. What actually happened was that a couple of
persons from a committee on ‘Lost Funds’ set up by the Federal
Government came to our office to ask a few questions.

“They wanted to
know if the NFF followed due process in reporting the matter of
$236,000 that was stolen in our accounts department in March 2009. They
asked questions and received satisfactory answers, and left.

“They certainly did
not leave with any file, talk less of files. We earnestly urge
gentlemen of the media to always endeavour to cross-check their facts.

“The NFF has a
relationship of mutual respect with the EFCC, a responsible agency of
government that has been doing its job professionally. Whatever issues
the two organisations had in the past have been largely resolved.

“We definitely
appreciate the tremendous efforts that the media has been making to
help clear the hazy cloud around our football. We will also appreciate
the more if certain rumours and speculations are double-checked”, said
Ahmadu.

When contacted,
Femi Babafemi, EFCC spokesman corroborated Ahmadu’s statement stating
that no operative from their office visited NFF’s offices.

Accolades for Falcons

Meanwhile the NFF
President, Aminu Maigari has congratulated Super Falcons striker,
Perpetua Nkwocha after emerging as the continent’s best Female Player
and the Super Falcons as the Women’s Team of the Year at the African
Football Awards in Cairo, Egypt.

Maigari said the women’s achievements have placed a burden on the men’s teams and the male players going into next year.

“The performance of
our women’s teams, Super Falcons and Falconets during the out-going
year was heart-warming, and there was no doubt that Perpetua Nkwocha
deserved the gong as the Women’s Player of the Year.

“The men must now
tighten their shorts. There is no reason why our country should not
have a contender in the Men’s Player of the Year category. We have so
many good players in Europe who also play for the national team and all
they need do is put in extra efforts.

“I believe we would
have a Nigerian in the shortlist for Men’s Player of the Year come next
year”, said Maigari, even as he also congratulated goalkeeper Vincent
Enyeama and defender Taye Taiwo, who were named in the CAF First Eleven
of the year.

Maigari also
commended the release of Chairman of Bendel Insurance FC of Benin,
Chief Igbinowanhia Ekhosuehi who was abducted by unknown persons in his
Benin City, Edo State home on Saturday night.

Ekhosuehi, a board
member of the Nigeria FA between 1996 and 1999 during the chairmanship
of the Colonel Abdulmumuni Aminu (rtd), was taken away in his black,
Jeep which was later found abandoned at the Ikpoba slope on Sunday
morning.

“We are very happy
with this development. You know, we condemned the action and now that
he has been released, we must also express our happiness. We are
particularly happy that he was released unhurt”, added Maigari.

World Cup
quarter-finalists Ghana hopes to have a new coach in place by the
year-end, having interviewed three candidates to replace Serbian
Milovan Rajevac, who left in September for a lucrative club job in
Saudi Arabia.

“The process is
moving along swiftly and we hope to be able to announce something by
the end of the month,” Ghana Football Association president Kwesi
Nyantakyi told Reuters in Cairo on Tuesday.

Former Portugal
manager Humberto Coelho, Serbian Goran Stevanovic and local Herbert
Addo are left in the running. Former World Cup winner Marcel Desailly,
the French international born in Ghana, took himself off a shortlist of
candidates that Ghana announced last month, saying he had no official
contact about the job.

Coelho, who has
also previously coached Morocco, South Korea and Tunisia, met Ghana
officials last week and told the Portuguese news agency Lusa he had
fruitful discussions.

“It would be a challenge to take up the job,” he said.

Rajevac was in
Cairo on Monday to receive an award as Africa’s Coach of the Year,
after taking Ghana to the last eight of the World Cup in South Africa
and the final of the African Nations Cup in Angola earlier in the year.
He is now coaching at Al Ahli Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

A record fourth
African Footballer of the Year award entitles Samuel Eto’o the right to
claim to be the continent’s best-ever player but it is a title that
sits uncomfortably with the Cameroonian.

The 29-year-old
Inter Milan striker crowned a year of unprecedented club success with
the award, handed to him in Cairo on Monday as he finished ahead of
perennial rival Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast and Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan
in the polling.

The Cameroon
captain has now achieved more honours and won more major medals than
any other of the continent’s players but is reluctant to accept he
might be Africa’s best ever.

“That would be
impossible to say. To win the Footballer of the Year four times is to
create a new record but I don’t think it gives me the right to say I am
the best,” he told Reuters in Cairo after accepting his award.

“There were greats
in previous generations who had different challenges and situations to
me. You can’t really compare the times.

“Now there are
youngsters who are climbing the ladder of success behind me and who are
coming up really fast. Who is to say who the best is?” But there is a
case to be made that Eto’o’s achievements are unsurpassed by any of the
other top footballers to emerge from Africa.

Accolades

Monday’s award beat Abedi Pele’s trio of successive African Footballer of the Year accolades in the early 1990s.

At international
level, Eto’o has competed at three World Cup finals, captaining his
country at this year’s tournament in South Africa.

He has won the
African Nations Cup twice and 18 goals in six finals tournaments is a
record that will be tough to overcome. He also won an Olympic gold
medal in 2000.

But it is at club
level where he has excelled. Moving to Spain as a teenager and
determinedly working his way through the difficulties of adapting to
new conditions and bouts of racism to go on and prove to be one of the
finest strikers in Europe.

At Barcelona, he
won two UEFA Champions League winners medals and scored in both the
2006 and 2009 finals, and was victorious again in May’s final with new
club Inter Milan. With both teams he won domestic league and cup
honours too.

The baby-faced Eto’o’s exceptional speed and finishing ability have set him apart from many of his contemporaries.

His achievements
overshadow a gallery of legends, the likes of Mozambican-born Eusebio,
who played in four European Cup finals but won just once, Roger Milla,
who was named the best African player of the last century and Abedi
Pele, who won club honours but never qualified with his country for the
World Cup.

Eto’o’s
achievements also easily outshine current rival Drogba but he must
still match the 1995 achievement of Liberian George Weah, the only
African ever crowned World Player of the Year.

“These honours are
not something that you seek out but when they come they give great
pleasure. And they motivate too,” Eto’o said.

REUTERS

Amos Adamu, FIFA
Executive Committee member who was banned for three years by FIFA from
all football related activities for his role in the cash-for-vote
scandal, was yesterday arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission.

He arrived the
commission’s office yesterday morning and was interrogated for several
hours by operatives of the anti-graft agency over how the N24 billion
budgeted for the 2003 All Africa Games, whose organising committee he
headed, was spent.

Adamu returned to Nigeria on Friday night from Europe where he had been since the cash-for-vote scandal broke in October.

Billion naira “PR”

The former Director
General of the National Sports Commission (NSC) is also expected to
explain how N1.3 billion was spent as “PR”.

Femi Babafemi, the
spokesperson of the EFCC said Adamu is being quizzed for another 180
million naira involving his wife as well as an 80 million naira
expenditure involving his son-in-law.

Adamu was expected
to be granted administrative bail last night according to Babafemi, who
confirmed that the FIFA executive committee member had indeed been
questioned by the commission.

“He will be granted
bail tonight (yesterday) but we are seizing his passport so that he’ll
be available anytime we need him,” Babafemi said.

Adamu’s arrest
comes barely 24 hours after he appeared before the House of
Representatives where he defended himself over the cash-for-vote
scandal, which broke after English newspaper, Sunday Times of London
released a video in which Adamu reportedly asked for money in order to
cast his vote for the United States after the undercover reporters
posed as businessmen representing American interests.

After the FIFA
ethics committee handed its verdict in November, Adamu, the former
Director of Sports Development in the Ministry of Sports and until the
vote scandal, President of the West African Football union (WAFU)
indicated he was going to appeal the decision insisting he was innocent
of the charge against him.

He also authorised
his lawyers to head to court to stop the EFCC from interrogating him
over the cash-for-vote scandal. The case came up for hearing on
December 13 with Adamu asking the court to declare that the EFCC lacked
jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute him over the matter.

He also prayed the court to restrain the EFCC and the police from
infringing his right to personal liberty as enshrined in Section 35 of
the 1999 Constitution. His lawyer, Niyi Ayoola-Daniels, told the court
that FIFA was not an agency of the Nigerian government and as such the
EFCC could not interrogate him in his capacity as the football body’s
executive committee member. The case was adjourned to 17th January,
2011.