Ex-international, Friday Ekpo, says sacking Super Eagles Head Coach, José Peseiro, is not as crucial as adding fresh home based and foreign professionals to key departments of the team.

Ekpo said this in an interview on Tuesday in Lagos, against the backdrop of Super Eagles unimpressive performance in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign.

Reports says that Super Eagles drew 1-1 in Uyo on matchday one against Lesotho, a team that has never qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations.

A few days later, the Super Eagles were held to another 1-1 draw against Zimbabwe in Rwanda to bag only two points from their first two games.

The Portuguese has been under immense criticism after guiding the three-time African champions to two disappointing results in November.

Ekpo, the Former Super Eagles midfielder, appealed to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) not to heed the call by football enthusiasts to sack the coach.

“I’m not calling for Jose’s head like most people are, sacking him will be counterproductive at this point in time. These results can be reversed in subsequent matches.

“My only concern is that we shouldn’t have only foreign based players in the team, because selecting his team for matches will be tough.

“No foreign based player would like to leave their clubs just for them to come and seat on the bench, we’ve done it in the past and it worked, we can do that again,” he said.

Peseiro is set to submit a 55-man provisional list ahead of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations on Dec.14.

Reports says that participating countries can name a maximum 27 players in their squad for the 2023 AFCON finals as against the usual 23. The final roaster is expected to be submitted by Jan. 3, 2024.

Ekpo, a member of the 1992 African Cup of Nation squad, says that the victory of Super Eagles at the 2013 AFCON was sealed by a home based player at the time, Sunday Mba.

“Sunday Mba was a Warrior Wolves of Asaba player. Late Stephen Keshi did that, and the result was glaring. Moreover, this is the only way we can truly develop our domestic league.

“We all want results but it’s important we pay attention to history and learn from it,” he said. (NAN)

Gboko City Chiefs on Friday defeated Mak Town Flyers basketball club to emerge champions of the 2023 Sam Oguche/Bullet Energy Drink Invitational Tournament at the Mo Arena in Abuja.

Both Gboko City Chiefs and Mark Town basketball club reached the final having defeated FCT Hard Rockers 87-100 and Warriors 313; 84-73, respectively in the semi-finals on Thursday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the five-day tournament, which dunked off on Monday, ended on Friday in Abuja.

The Jeff Verem-led team emerged champions after recording an impressive (90-77) at the end of the fourth quarter.

With the victory, Gboko City Chiefs smiled to the bank with a N1 million prize money, while Mark Town basketball club recieved a N500,000 runners up prize.

After faltering in the first quarter (19-22) to the runners up, Gboko City Chiefs never looked back, taking control of three other quarters (28-11, 19-21, 24-23) in the second, third and fourth quarters to claim the title.

Interestingly, the champions are one of the four teams that qualified for the finals of the 2023 Nigeria Basketball (NBBF) Final Four to be held in Port Harcourt, Rivers.

Haruna Friday won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award to pocket a N20,000 prize money, while Umar Garba emerged the competition’s top scorer with 22 points.

Speaking after the final, the organiser, Sam Ogwuche, said he was satisfied with the outcome of the championship.

He noted that the competition surpassed the expectations of basketball fans who trooped in their numbers to the Mo Arena.

“I feel very excited because it’s not easy planning a competition like this. For me the objective of the competition has been achieved because the winners are going to the NBBF Final Four.

“This serves like a preparatory competition for them, and of course I wish them all the luck going to Port Harcourt.

“As organiser we supported the winners with N1 million as prize and we will keep supporting the team and we believe that in the subsequent editions, the prize money would be jacked up.

“We are planning a competition also for the girls and that will come up anytime soon. The men’s competition will also be back in January,” he said. (NAN)

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Friday revealed the names of players listed for consideration in the men’s categories for the CAF Awards 2023.

Super Eagles and Napoli forward Victor Osimhen and nine other players, including last year’s winner Sadio Mane of Senegal, remain in contention for the topmost Player of the Year award.

The InterClub Player of the Year award has 10 contenders.

Awards for Goalkeeper of the Year, Young Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, National Team of the Year and Club of the Year have five each.

The ultimate winner of each category will be decided after votes from a voting panel.

The panel consists of CAF Technical Committee members, media professionals, Head Coaches and Captains of Member-Associations and clubs involved in the group stages of the InterClub competitions.

The Awards Gala will take place on Dec. 11 at the Palais des Congrès, Movenpick in Marrakech, Morocco.

Below are the lists of nominees:

Player of the Year (Men)

1. Riyad Mahrez (Algeria, Al Ahli)
2. Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Cameroon, SSC Napoli)
3. Vincent Aboubacar (Cameroon, Besiktas)
4. Mohamed Salah (Egypt, Liverpool)
5. Achraf Hakimi (Morocco, Paris Saint-Germain)
6. Sofyan Amrabat (Morocco, Manchester United)
7. Yassine Bounou (Morocco, Al Hilal)
8. Youssef En-Nesyri (Morocco, Sevilla)
9. Victor Osimhen (Nigeria, SSC Napoli)
10. Sadio Mane (Senegal, Al Nassr)

Goalkeeper of the Year (Men)

1. Mohamed ElShenawy (Egypt, Al Ahly)
2. Yassine Bounou (Morocco, Al Hilal)
3. Andre Onana (Cameroon, Manchester United)
4. Ronwen Williams (Sout Africa, Mamelodi Sundowns)
5. Edouard Mendy (Senegal, Al Ahli)

InterClub Player of the Year (Men)

1. Aymen Mahious (Algeria, USM Alger/Yverdon-Sport)
2. Zineddine Belaid (Algeria, USM Alger)
3. Fiston Mayele (DR Congo, Young Africans/Pyramids)
4. Mahmoud Abdel Moneim “Kahraba” (Egypt, Al Ahly)
5. Mohamed ElShenawy (Egypt, Al Ahly)
6. Yahia Attiyat Allah (Morocco, Wydad Club Athletic)
7. Yahya Jabrane (Morocco, Wydad Athletic Club)
8. Peter Shalulile (Namibia, Mamelodi Sundowns)
9. Percy Tau (South Africa, Al Ahly)
10. Ali Maaloul (Tunisia, Al Ahly)

Young Player of the Year (Under-21) (Men)

1. Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso, Bournemouth)
2. Abdessamad Ezzalzouli (Morocco, Real Betis)
3. Bilal El Khannous (Morocco, KRC Genk)
4. Lamine Camara (Senegal, Generation Foot/Metz)
5. Amara Diouf (Senegal, Generation Foot)

Coach of the Year (Men)

1. Abdelhak Benchikha (USM Alger)
2. Marcel Koller (Al Ahly)
3. Tom Saintfiet (The Gambia)
4. Walid Regragui (Morocco)
5. Aliou Cisse (Senegal)

 National Team of the Year (Men)

1. The Gambia
2. Equatorial Guinea
3. Mauritania
4. Morocco
5. Senegal

Club of the Year (Men)

1. USM Alger (Algeria)
2. Al Ahly (Egypt)
3. Wydad Athletic Club (Morocco)
4. Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa)
5. Young Africans (Tanzania)
   (NAN)