The government of Gombe state in an effort to support sports and upgrade sporting facilities in the state has built a new 11 thousand capacity stadium which is expected to be opened in November.

Special Assistant to the Governor of Gombe State and Coordinator of Gombe United, Farouk Yarma said the Stadium is 80 per cent near completion and will be ready for use by November, stressing further that the Gombe State government is committed towards ensuring Sporting facilities in the State, are up to world standard.

The stadium which was named Pantami because it is located in an area that bears the same name is the biggest sports project in the State.
The stadium will in the near future be upgraded to 30 thousand capacities from 11 thousand, to meet up to FIFA requirement.

The State owned team, Gombe United will use the stadium for it home matches when the Nigeria premier League season starts.

FIFA Executive Committee member Amos Adamu came under scrutiny Tuesday at the opening session of the panel of inquiry set up by the National Assembly to look into the causes of Nigeria football woes.

Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development Kaduna State, Adamu abdulazeez said Nigerians should not wonder where the problem of football lies when Adamu himself declared he could not afford to reprimand those who piloted the affairs of the country to the 2010 world cup because he brought them to office.

But in a swift response, Adamu said he would not be intimidated out of office and challenged his accusers to come up with concrete proof of wrongdoing.
The former Director of Sports refuses to shoulder the blame, describing his accusers as ignorant.
Abdulazeez responded by by asking where Adamu was when the NFF illegally elongated the tenure of the State FAs, challenging him to call on the NFF to hold State’s FA election before the NFF election if he had the interest of the country at heart.

It is the believe in many quarters that Adamu is having a negative influence in Sports, and Sports development in Nigeria, and the only reason why Sports in Nigeria is suffering is because of the Kogi state born Sports Administrator

The panel of inquiry will continue hearing on Wednesday.

Nigeria Falconets returned home to a grand reception after winning the Silver medal at the just concluded FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup.
The Ndem Egan led girls touched down at the Murtala Mohammed Airport at about 8.25pm aboard a Royal Dutch KLM flight with hundreds of Nigerians trooping out to welcome their heroines.

The girls were received by scores of officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), before leaving for Sheraton hotel where they were accommodated.

Meanwhile, the Falconets are expected to jet out to Abuja today, where they will be received by the Minister of Women Affairs, Josephine Anennih, the team will be there after been accommodated at the Nicon Luxury Hotel, they will be taken round the City of Abuja in what will be a carnival atmosphere.

The squad will at the Presidential Villa, be hosted to a dinner by the first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan on Thursday where they are expected to be handsomely rewarded.

The Falconets against all odds went all the way to the final, beating defending champions USA in the quarters, before loosing out to host Germany in the final, but became the first African team to win a medal in a FIFA women’s tournament.

The Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Lagos Chapter, at the Lagos Swan secretariat held her fortnightly roundtable platform which is meant to identify, examine, and proffer solutions to the problems and challenges and boost the realization of the nation’s prospects and potentials in sports.

The agenda focused on the issues of elections in relation to the Nigeria Football Association, the Nigeria Premier League and the Nigeria Olympic Committee.After extensive deliberations on issues relating to the elections into the Executive Committee of the NFA and NPL, the following resolution was reached.

State football Association elections should be held before the NFA elections.The Current electoral committee led by Mr. A.U. Mustapha for the NFA elections should be dissolved and reconstructed.That the current Electoral Guideline should be amended to make for clarity and provide greater democratic space for participation of stakeholders,that without prejudice to the principles of democracy, members of the current board of the NFA should be de-barred from contesting into the new board.

The NFA Elections should be postponed from August 21 to a future date.The process of the engagement of the Secretary General of the NFA should be more professional, competitive and transparent.That the nomenclature of the national football governing body should remain, be known and be regarded as Nigeria Football Association (NFA) until its transformation to Nigeria Football Federation is settled into our national laws,that the elections of the Board of the Nigeria Premier League(NPL)should be upheld and ratified, and the process of safeguarding the sanctity and mandate and powers of the NPL to run its affairs without frequent interference and manipulation from the NFA, as requirement towards safeguarding requirement the integrity of the Nigeria football should immediately be brought to about.

Reacting to Swan’s resolution, first vice president of Association of African Sports Journalist Union(AASJU),Sunday Ephraim said the name, Nigeria Football Federation(NFF), is illegal because it has not been promulgated into law by any Act of Parliament,stressing that the body should remain and be known as the Nigeria Football Association(NFA).
Commenting on the NPL elections, Sunday said the post should not be shifted because the Electoral Committee has declared Davidson Owumi as the winner of the election, hence the election should be upheld.

After series of speculations concerning his future, Liverpool forward Fernando Torres has finally pledge his loyalty to the club and fans, and he is ready to work with new manager Roy Hodgson.

The 26 year old Spaniard had been constantly linked to Chelsea and Manchester City after Liverpool failed to qualify for this season’s Champions League.
Torres returned to training on Monday after helping his country Spain, win the World Cup in South Africa in July.

Though, recovering from the abductor injury he sustained in the final against the Netherlands, the Spaniard said he is delighted to be back at the club and reiterated his commitment and loyalty to the club, saying it is the same as it was on the first day he signed.

The Reds had a disappointing season, failing to win a single trophy, with manager Rafael Benitez leaving the club after six years in charge.
But Liverpool has strengthen their squad with the acquisition of Joe Cole and Milan Javonovic, while Youssi Benayoun has joined Chelsea and Javier Mascherano future remains uncertain.

With Torres pledging his future at Anfield, and the arrival of new manager, Roy Hodgson, Liverpool will hope to challenge for honours again.

Ijebu Ode has been picked by the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) to host the Super Four, a pre-season tournament that will serve as dress-rehearsal to the new season.

The tournament comes up August 4th through 9th.it will involve the first four teams in the Nigeria Premier League last season, Enyimba, Kano Pillars, Sunshine Stars and Kwara united.
Meanwhile, former Warri Wolves handler, Lawrence Akpokona says the Super Four will be tough and difficult to predict the team that will triumph at the end of the tournament, Akpokona also noted that all four teams have equal chances of carting home the trophy, but reckons that most of the teams will not come with their full squad because some of the players are on trials abroad.

Also lending his voice on the Super Four, League goal record holder, Ahmed Musa of Kano Pillars his confident Pillars will triumph at the Super Four, Musa who will not take part in the Super Four because of International engagement with the flying Eagles, expressed optimism that the Kano side has enough quality in the squad to lift the trophy.
The Super Four commence on Wednesday, with the opening game between Afonja warriors, Kwara United doing battle with the boys from the Pyramid city of Kano, Kano pillars.

NFF Secretary General Bolaji Ojo-Oba has been asked to proceed on ‘compulsory leave’ by the executive committee of the federation following a board meeting on Monday in Abuja.

The battle for who secure the Nigeria broadcast rights to the Baclays premier League has gone to SuperSport.
Multi Choice, owners of SuperSport will now have the premium content for the next three seasons from 2010/11 to 2012/13, wrestling the right from Hitv which held it since 2007.
Chairman of Multi Choice Nigeria, Adewumi Ogunsanya express delight to have the premium content back on their platform,but reiterated that their focus will remain firmly on showcasing home grown talent from the Nigeria Premier league.
The arrangement will include transmitting of all 380 Barclays premier league matches including 24-hour premier league, seven-day-a-week content service in high definition which will be launch on August 13.
It was also confirmed that Nigeria will be one of the very first countries to receive the 24-hour content service.
The Barclays Premier league is regarded as the biggest sporting event in the world, with an estimated 2.5 billion followership and broadcast to more than 500 million homes

Chairman of the organizing committee of South Africa 2010 Danny Jordan is set to contest for the presidential position of the confederation of African Football (CAF).
Report from South Africa indicates that Jordan’s name will be put forward ahead of the 2011 CAF general elections.
However, Jordan will have to contend with incumbent President, Isaa Hayatou for the top post.
Cameroon-born Hayatou, has been in the saddle of leadership since 1987, when he took over from Ethiopia’s Ydnekatchew Tessema, making him the 5th president of the Confederation of African football.
Vice President of SAFA, Nwelo Nonkoyana is confident Jordan has lofty ideas in improving soccer not only in Africa, but the world over.
The Organizing Committee Chairman of South Africa 2010 is believed to have strong backing from CAF Executive members, and he is expected to give Hayatou a run for his money during CAF general election next year.

The International Olympic Committee will announce a multi million-dollar sponsorship deal with Dow Chemical this Friday, according to international and US Olympic officials familiar with the negotiations.

The deal with Dow will bring the IOC up to 10 companies in its top-tier sponsorship program for the 2012 Olympics.

The IOC already has secured close to $900 million in sponsorship revenue for the current four-year cycle, but is looking to break the $1 billion mark. The IOC’s global sponsorships usually cover at least four years and sell for up to $100 million.

The deal will also be a boost for the United States Olympic Committee, which currently gets 20 per cent of all global sponsorship revenue.

IOC president Jacques Rogge and USOC CEO Scott Blackmun are among those expected to attend the announcement in New York.