Nigeria Sports Arena

  Egyptian top side, Smouha FC, have completed the signing of former Al Ahly’s Nigerian winger Junior Ajayi on a three-year deal, from Libyan side Al-Nasr Benghazi. The 26-year-old signed for Al Ahly in 2016 from Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien, after having won the Olympic bronze medal with Nigeria. He made a total of 161 games for the club, scoring 41 goals while providing 30 assists, and became a fan favourite, having guided the club to two CAF Champions Leagues, four league titles, two Egypt Cups, and two Egypt Super Cups. Moreover, Ajayi was part of the Al Ahly team that won the 2021 Club World Cup bronze medal, netting a penalty against Palmeiras in the third-placed playoff. As his short deal with Al Nasr came to an end this July, Ajayi will now return to Egypt through Smouha on a free transfer after signing a three-year contract. Ajayi becomes Smouha’s third summer signing after deals for Asmadat Abou Kheir defender Mahmoud El Malek and Ahmed Hussein from El-Nasr.

Many years ago, the likes of Mouka Foam, Bournvita, Coca Cola, First Bank, Milo, Indomie, Globacom, Mtn, Airtel and the others, held sway when it comes to sports sponsorship. These Multinational companies were either sponsoring a sporting event or partnering with a brand.  Nigeria sports, especially football swam in millions as corporate organisation's struggled for space to advertise their goods and services.  However, in the last one decade or so, the frenzy and the excitement to do more, has reduced drastically as most of these companies have been hit by the harsh economic realities of the moment.  The world economy has suffered greatly from the rise in price of petrol and gas whicn has seriously affected global businesses.  Then, there is also the uncertainties caused by the recent outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the war between Ukraine and Russia among others.  Back home in Nigeria, bad government policies, corruption and misplacement of priorities have also affected the ec

Contrary to wide-spread media reports on Nigeria finishing 18th on the medal table, official medal table from World Athletics has confirmed Nigeria finished 13th on the overall medal placement, and third best placed country from Africa. Team Nigeria picked up a valuable Gold in the 100m Hurdles even, with winner Tobi Amusan smashing the World Record in the process. Also Olympic Bronze medallist, Ese Brume picked up a silver medal in the Long Jump event, improving on her Bronze at the last Olympics and last World Athletics Championship in Doha. For the African representatives, Nigeria finished in the top three, behind Kenya and Ethiopia with Uganda finishing in fourth place.

Nigeria left her best for the last day of the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, United States of America by winning a gold and a silver medal. Tobi Amusan broke the 100m hurdles World Record in the semi finals with an astonishing 12.12s and followed up with a (+2.5)wind assisted 12.06s in the final. The time in the final would not be recognised as it was well over the legal +2.0 wind assist allowed in Athletics. Before then, she had run 12.40s in the heat to set a new African Record. Amusan has now become Nigeria's first ever World Champion in athletics. Team Nigeria would go on to celebrate another podium finish in the Long Jump, with Ese Brume's 7.02m leap. Brume won a bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Reacting to Nigeria's late rally for medals in Oregon and the country's best performance ever at the Championships, Sports Minister Sunday Dare said these heartwarming feats will herald a new dawn for Nigerian at

The first batch of Team Nigeria athletes to the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham left the country on Friday. A group left through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos while the other left through the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja. The Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, the President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee(NOC) Engineer Habu Gumel and the Chef de Mission to the Games, Dr Simon Ebhojiaye were on hand to see off the team that left through Abuja. The Minister charged the athletes to be focused, disciplined and conscious of the fact that they are carrying the aspirations and hopes of over 200 million Nigerians. "I want to urge you to be disciplined," Dare told the athletes, "if you have any complaints, the Ministry has outlined how they can be resolved. There are just three layers for conflict resolution now and by the time you are getting to that third layer, then you are getting to me." The Min

Nigeria’s Minister for Youth and Sports Development, Hon. Sunday Dare has stressed that Nigeria went through an exhaustive process to scientifically analyse and determine the nine sports that would fly the flag of the country at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.  In a chat with newsmen in Abuja, the Minister said, “We are putting our best foot forward and we decided that based on limited resources and very scientific analysis, we would want to leverage on the sports in which we have our sports men and women amongst the top 10 or 15 in the world. “If in a particular sport we are 128th in the world and the goal of going to the Commonwealth Games is for podium performance and not rehearsals, we won’t go where we are ranked that low.    We brought out all the statistics and crunched the numbers to pick the sports we are strong in, so we are going with a smaller team, but to compete in a big way”. Nigeria will be competing in Athletics, Wrestling, Boxing, Karate, Table Tennis, Weightlif

The Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development Sunday Dare has reiterated that welfare of athletes has remained a priority for him since assuming office in 2019. In a chat with pressmen during an interactive session in Abuja, Dare said, "Before I assumed office, I knew that welfare of athletes will always be key to their performances. This was why I immediately introduced the Athletes' Welfare Scheme, where past athletes who brought glory to Nigeria in different sports were considered for reward. This did not exclude those who have transited to the great beyond like Late Rashidi Yekini, Samuel Okwaraji, Ali Jeje and others. "We needed to recognise what they did for Nigeria and also further restate our commitment to the line in our National Anthem that says, 'the labour of of our heroes past, shall never be in vain'. "Again we celebrated and awarded 60 Sports Icons as a way of telling the heroes of tomorrow that their successes will also be remembered

  For the first time in the history of the National Sports Festival, the multi sports event will have multiple sponsors at the 2022 edition to be hosted by Delta State. This was made possible by the marketing consultant of the multi sports event, Nilayo Sports Management Limited (NSML). On Wednesday in Asaba, Delta State, the Logo and Mascot for the festival were unveiled, the sponsors were also revealed. They are Premium Trust Bank, BETKING, Mouka, ValueJet, Suzuki and Team 33 Production. Others are I - Platform, Neconde Energy Limited, Chevron, Energia Limited, Seplat Energy, and Sterling Oil. The Managing Director of Nilayo Sports Management Limited, Chief. Bukola Olopade appreciated the companies and individuals for putting resources together for the success of the festival. He assured that Delta State will host a very colourful event that will linger in the memory of sport enthusiasts, people of Delta State and Nigerians at large. "At Nilayo Sports Management Limited, we    a

Partisan politics took the back seat as sports once again proved to be the unifier of Nigerians when the Governor of Delta State, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare and a host of other important dignitaries on Wednesday night in Asaba, Delta State unveiled the mascot for the 2022 National Sports Festival in an elaborate and colourful ceremony. The chief host, Dr Okowa promised that Asaba will put up a show that the whole of the country will be proud of when the National Sports Festival begins later in the year. According to him, "The National Sports Festival is Nigeria's version of the Olympic Games and Delta will make it an unforgettable experience for everyone." In his own remarks, Sports Minister Sunday Dare said the National Sports Festival is no longer an event that would go unnoticed in the country. His words: "The National Sports Festival must come with pomp, pageantry and colourful ceremonies. It is no longer a corrido

The sponsor of Nimrod6Nineteen Talent Hunt, Engineer Musa Nimrod has charged volleyball coaches across the country to meaningfully engage youths in their various community and spread the news of volleyball in schools. Nimrod stated this during the closing ceremony of the Nimrod6Nineteen Talent Hunt at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium (ABS), Kaduna state on Sunday. Nimrod who doubles as the President of Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF) revealed that in the past, the country possesses tall players like Tony Oghuma, Thomas Aroko, Dennis Eleri, Emmanuel Jatto and many others but there is a huge gap yet unfilled The North West Zonal Representative on the board of NVBF advised coaches to visit schools in their various locations in order to identify players who are above 6ft. He said, "I am using this medium to call on Nigeria Volleyball Coaches in the country to engage our youths through volleyball. You will discover these days that most children are not interested in sporting activities du

Youth and Sports Development Minister Sunday Dare has congratulated Nigerian born UFC champion Isreal Adesanya on yet another successful title defence. Adesanya, early Sunday in Las Vegas, United States of America, defeated Jared Cannonier to retain his UFC Middleweight crown with a unanimous decision victory. Dare, in a statement, praised Adesanya for being a worthy youth ambassador for the country. The Minister said Nigeria is proud of the achievements of Israel Adesanya and another UFC champion Kamaru Usman who have continued to identify with the country everytime they compete. "We are proud of Adesanya and Usman and we will continue to celebrate them because they always identify with Nigeria, they always proudly carry our flag everywhere they go. They are our global icons. We believe they have many more successes ahead of them," Dare concluded.

Minister of Youth and Sports Development Sunday Dare has signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) on behalf of Nigeria with Portugal in the areas of sports and also Youth Development in Portugal. The first MoU will see Nigeria and Portugal engage in fruitful exchange programmes and facilitate expertise transfer for sports development amongst other areas. Also, Hon. Dare signed another Memorandum of Understanding on youth capacity building and development with the European nation, with Portugal's Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Madame Ana Catarina.  These MoUs were signed in the presence of President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, who witnessed the landmark event in excitement, as well as the Prime Minister of Portugal, Antònio Costa. In line with the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari, Sunday Dare said Nigeria will continually provide a vista for Nigerian youth to reach the world with their potentials, intellects and talents. Youth and Sports Development Minister, Dar