Sapphire

The Former Super Eagles captain Austin 'Jay Jay' Okocha has commended the team spirit in the camp of the Super Eagles ahead of the friendlies against Senegal and Burkina Faso. The Eagles face Senegal on Thursday night and Burkina Faso on Monday, both at The Hive in London.

Manchester United should focus on winning the Europa League this season, which would bring the club a trophy they have never won and secure qualification for next season's Champions League, former manager Alex Ferguson has said.

Chinese authorities have stepped up security for Thursday's tense World Cup qualifier against South Korea, whose fans will receive a police escort after protests over Seoul's decision to deploy a controversial missile defence system. The clash between the neighbouring countries is the most anticipated of Thursday's Asian games, which also include Australia's trip to face Iraq and Japan's revenge mission against United Arab Emirates. But the match in Changsha takes place at a time of considerable bad blood with South Korea, which angered China when it agreed to deploy a US missile defence system in response to concern over the growing missile threat from North Korea. The Chinese team's parlous position raises the stakes still further: they are rock-bottom of Group A and staring at elimination from the Russia 2018 World Cup – despite the government's no-expense-spared drive to turn the country into a football powerhouse. Chinese officials ha...

The South Africa under-20 men's national team (Amajita) were drawn against Italy, Japan and Uruguay today Wednesday in the 2017 Fifa Under-20 World Cup, to be held in South Korea on May 20-June 11. Recently crowned Afcon U20 champions Zambia will take on Portugal, Costa Rica and Iran. Senegal, who finished runners-up after losing to hosts Zambia, got USA, Saudi Arabia and Ecuador. The fourth African team Guinea have a tough task against Argentina, England and South Korea. THE DRAW Group A :   South Korea, Argentina, England, Guinea Group B:   Germany, Mexico, Venezuela, Vanuatu Group C:   Portugal, Costa Rica, Zambia, Iran Group D:   Uruguay, Japan, Italy, South Africa Group E:   France, New Zealand, Honduras, Vietnam Group F:   USA, Senegal, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador

Confederation of African Football president Issa Hayatou will face a rare challenge on Thursday as he stands for an eighth term at the helm of the African game when Caf hold their Congress in the Ethiopian capital. Ahmad, a Madagascan government minister who uses a single name, will contest Thursday's vote and is only the third challenger Hayatou has faced since he became Caf president in 1988. The other opponents -- Armando Machado of Angola in 2000 and Ismail Bhamjee of Botswana in 2004 -- were roundly beaten but Ahmad is the first to have received expressions of support from among CAF member countries, including the grouping of 14 southern African countries (Cosafa) and Nigeria. Hayatou and his opponent have waged a lively election campaign over the last two months, featuring an unusually high number of public pronouncements for a process that is traditionally played out behind closed doors. The 70-year-old Hayatou, who also serves as Fifa’s senior vice president an...