The Nigeria Football Federation has deployed Dr. Ayo Hameed Abdulrahaman to the Nigeria National League as the chief operating officer, to take over from Mr. Emmanuel Adesanya who has retired from the Federal Civil Service after attaining the age of 60 years.

Abdulrahaman, who holds a doctorate degree in physical and health education, has robust sphere and institutional experience in football organization and administration. He is a deputy director in the Federal Civil Service.

Before his deployment, Dr. Abdulrahaman worked as deputy director in the NFF Competitions Department. He had also worked for many years previously as chief operating officer of the NNL, and also in the same capacity in the Nigeria Women Football League.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic believes Erik ten Hag has made a mistake by trying to handle Manchester United players with the same methods he fostered at Ajax.

Ten Hag, 53, won plenty of plaudits during his first year at Old Trafford but is under pressure this term. The Dutchman has overseen the club’s worst start to a league season in 34 years and was booed off the pitch by fans after losing to Crystal Palace at the weekend.

The United hierarchy identified Ten Hag as the man to rebuild the club in the wake of his impressive work at Ajax, where he won three Dutch titles in four years. However, the expectations at United are far greater than Ajax – something that Ibrahimovic was keen to stress while discussing his former club’s current woes.

During an interview with TalkTV, Ibrahimovic spoke of the need to adopt a different approach at Manchester United due to the calibre of players at the club. He feels, though, that Ten Hag has treated the high-profile players he is currently managing in the same manner as his old Ajax team.

He said: “Coming from Ajax to United as he did is a big difference — I have been in both clubs. You have a different kind of discipline. Ajax is a talented club. They have the best talents in the club. They don’t have big stars.

“What is the experience of this coach? Young talents, he comes to United, it is a different mentality. The players there are supposed to be big stars. I don’t think you give the same treatment.”

Pressure is beginning to grow on Ten Hag in the wake of United’s shambolic start to the season. Their defeat against Crystal Palace on Saturday means the club have lost four of their opening seven league games for the first time in the Premier League era.

Spain women’s boss Jorge Vilda has been sacked as manager as part of changes to the country’s set up in the wake of Luis Rubiales’ ‘kiss-gate’ scandal.

Vilda’s position has been controversial despite the coach leading Spain to a 1-0 win over England in the Women’s World Cup final last month.

The Spanish FA were urged to dismiss Vilda by their regional presidents’ committee last week, with the organisation facing mounting pressure over the controversy surrounding Rubiales, who is a close ally of the coach.

And Vilda has now been dismissed by Spain after a meeting with acting Spain FA president Pedro Rocha. Mail Sport understands Levante manager Sanchez Vera is one of the leading candidates to take over.

Rubiales has been provisionally suspended by FIFA and facing increasing pressure to resign after he kissed Jennifer Hermoso following the Women’s World Cup final.

Vilda also faced criticism for applauding Rubiales when the embattled Spanish FA chief had made a defiant speech insisting he would not resign, although the coach has since hit out at his conduct.

During the same speech at the end of last month, Rubiales hailed Vilda and offered to secure him a new four-year contract for his efforts with the team.

‘I have directed Andreu to start negotiations with you (Vilda) so that you can continue for the next four years earning half a million euros,’ Rubiales said.

‘I’m going to say it, now you were earning 170,000 euros, not half a million as they said. In women’s football, you are the best coach in the world,’

Marca reported earlier on Tuesday that Rocha would swing the axe on Vilda, who had been in the role since 2015 but divided the squad over his behaviour and coaching methods.

In September 2022, 15 Spain players wrote a letter to the Spanish FA refusing to play unless Vilda resigned, arguing that his reign was affecting their ’emotional state’ and amid talk of unprofessionalism.

Rubiales chose to back Vilda, who opted to select just three of the 15 players in his squad for the World Cup.

The protest against Vilda came amid reported he had banned players from locking their hotel rooms, carried out room checks, and went through their bags like ‘children’.

It has been claimed the decision to sack Vilda is be a ‘symbol’ of the changes promised by the Spanish FA in response to the Rubiales scandal.