According to  ThePapers.ng, some senior players in Nigeria’s Super Eagles team have lost hope of qualifying for next year’s World Cup.

Nigeria’s hopes of reaching the 2026 FIFA World Cup are hanging by a thread.

The Africa Cup of Nations runners-up are winless in their first four matches in CAF Group C, with a 2-1 loss to Benin last time out following three consecutive draws.

Overall, the Super Eagles are winless in their past seven World Cup Qualifiers, a remarkable drought that stretches back to November 2021. …Continue Reading.

That campaign ended with an away-goals defeat to Ghana in the playoffs and they might not even make it that far this time around.

The Super Eagles lie fifth in the six-team Group C on three points. On the face of it, that’s a dismal state of affairs, but they are only four points behind second-place South Africa. In turn, Bafana Bafana are only behind leaders Rwanda on goal difference.

Nigeria have six games remaining to turn the ship around, with teams playing one another home and away during the group phase.

Some senior players who spoke on the conditions of anonymity said World Cup ticket is not certain except on miracle and the government should assure of adequate security due to fans reactions.

Among them is a regular defender who was part of last AFCON, carefully chosen his words by saying only God knows but it’s tight.

“There’s hardship in Nigeria, so it will be hard to qualify for World Cup,” he sounded off with laughter.

Another regular player said: “Abeg I don’t want to play with pressure, World Cup ticket is tight, things have gone bad.”

A midfielder was a bit optimistic saying that football is a game of luck in such situations that Super Eagles can still get the ticket.

“Honestly speaking, anything can happen and that’s still depend on the new coach. As a player, I don’t know him and I can’t say anything yet until his first game.”

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and France soccer great Michel Platini are due to appear in court in Switzerland on Monday accused of fraud – 2-1/2 years after they were cleared.

Both men, once among the most senior figures in global soccer, were acquitted in 2022 at a lower Swiss court following a seven-year investigation into a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2.22 million) to Platini.

The Swiss federal prosecutor has appealed against that decision, leading to a new hearing at the Extraordinary Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court in Muttenz, near Basel.

“The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has filed an appeal against the first-instance judgment and submitted a statement of appeal in October 2022 requesting that the judgment be set aside in full,” the prosecutor said.

It declined to give further details.

The 2022 indictment accused Blatter and Platini of deceiving FIFA staff in 2010 and 2011 about an obligation for world soccer’s ruling body to pay the Frenchman, who was president of the game’s European governing body UEFA at the time.

“They falsely claimed that FIFA owed Platini, or that Platini was entitled to, the sum of 2 million Swiss francs for advisory work. This deception was achieved through repeated untruthful claims made by both accused parties,” the indictment added.

The case wrecked Platini’s hopes of eventually succeeding Blatter, who resigned from FIFA in 2015 following a separate corruption scandal.

Blatter and Platini were suspended from football in 2015 by FIFA for ethics breaches, originally for eight years, although their exclusions were later reduced.

The pair were cleared in the 2022 case, after a judge accepted that their account of a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ for the payment was credible. The judge also said serious doubts existed about the prosecution’s allegation that it was fraudulent.

The Swiss federal prosecutor is seeking a sentence of 20 months, suspended for two years, against Blatter and Platini, the former France football captain and manager.

‘WITCH HUNT’

Blatter, who was FIFA president for 17 years until 2015, said before the hearing that he felt he was the subject of a witch hunt.

“The Federal Criminal Court in 2022 said the contract between Platini and me was correct, and I expect the new court will confirm this first decision,” Blatter, 88, told Reuters last week, adding the upcoming appeal was “absolute nonsense”.

“I am completely confident I will be cleared, I am an honest man.”

Platini, three times European Footballer of the Year, is also confident of being acquitted, said the 69-year-old’s lawyer.

“The court of first instance was right to find that the disputed payment of 2 million francs was lawful,” Platini’s lawyer Dominic Nellen said.

“My client denies any criminal behaviour and is relaxed about the appeal hearing. He will also be acquitted there.”

A verdict is expected on March 25.

($1 = 0.9002 Swiss francs)

Yahoo Sports

Lagos State once again proves to be the leading state when it comes to sports in the southwest region of Nigeria with the superlative performance of its athletes at the just concluded Zonal Elimination for Team Sports for the 22nd National Sports Festival, Gateway Games, Ogun 2024 in Ibadan, Oyo State.

Out of the 18 slots available for the southwest in the tournament, Team Lagos picked 13 tickets to top the table at the end of the competition on Friday.

Sports Marketing International reports that Team Lagos won both the male and female tickets in the Football, Basketball, Handball, Cricket, Hockey events.

The state also won tickets in the Beach Volleyball (male) and Volleyball (female) and mixed doubles slots in Abula female game.

Team Lagos took first position in eight sports while they won second position in five sports.

The sports the team failed to pick a ticket include male volleyball, female beach volleyball, male and female Abula game.

Interestingly, Team Lagos during the just concluded zonal elimination won a ticket in at least one sport to show their dominant factor in southwest sports.