Birmingham hired Tony Mowbray on Monday as their new manager to replace sacked Wayne Rooney.

Former Sunderland and West Brom boss Mowbray agreed a two-and-half-year deal with the Championship strugglers.

He is Birmingham’s third manager this season after the dismissals of John Eustace and Rooney.

“I am excited to be joining Birmingham at this time. I can’t wait to get back on the training pitch and start working with this talented group of players,” Mowbray said.

“I know from personal experience how passionate Bluenoses are, home and away, and I’m looking forward to having their full support for the team starting on Saturday at home to Swansea.”

Mowbray was sacked by Sunderland in December after 15 months in charge, despite guiding them to the play-offs last season.

Former Manchester United and England star Rooney was axed by Birmingham after just 83 days in charge, having replaced Eustace in October.

Rooney managed just two wins in 15 games as Birmingham slipped from sixth in the Championship to 20th.

The Super Eagles will play a friendly match against Guinea’s Syli Nationale in Abu Dhabi on Monday, according to a statement by Ademola Olajire, director of communications at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

The statement, made available to journalists on Saturday in Abuja, indicated that the friendly match was part of the Super Eagles’ preparation ahead of a feast of Guinean attrition in the group phase at the 34th Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals in Cote d’Ivoire.

“Head Coach José Peseiro has the opportunity to put to the crucible different patterns and tactics against quality opposition.

“The friendly game is coming only seven days before the three-time champions’ opening game against Equatorial Guinea’s Nzalang National inside Abidjan’s Stade Alassane Ouattara,” it said.

Super Eagles are in Group A of the four-week, 24-nation finals alongside host nation Cote d’Ivoire and Africa’s other two Guinean nations – Equatorial Guinea and Guinea Bissau.

The Syli Nationale was one of Africa’s strongest teams in the 1970s and 1980s, winning the silver medals at the 1976 AFCON in Ethiopia.

They gave the so-called big teams a good run for their money at the Africa Cup and in FIFA World Cup qualifying matches.

The Eagles pipped Syli Nationale 1-0 in a group phase encounter at the 2019 AFCON in Egypt.

Far back in 1981, Syli Nationale held the Eagles to a 1-1 draw in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Conakry, and in Lagos, Nigeria won with a long-range Henry Nwosu strike to the far corner of Abdoulaye Keita’s goal.

“Monday’s encounter has been scheduled for the Bani Yas Stadium.

“It is sure to slightly open a window into the mind of Coach Peseiro and how he intends to line up his army when Africa’s flagship football championship begins next weekend,” it added.

The 2023 AFCON, which kicks off on Jan. 13, will end on Feb. 11.

Libyan outfit Al Hilal have acquired the services of Nigerian forward, Robert Mizo.

Mizo joined Al Hilal from Nigeria Premier Football League outfit, Bayelsa United.

The prolific striker signed a three-and-a-half year contract with the Libyan outfit.

The player has already scored 10 goals for Bayelsa United in the NPFL this season.

Mizo was second top scorer in the NPFL last season behind Enyimba’s Emeka Obioma.

His goals helped Bayelsa United escape relegation last season.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has increased the prize money for the 2023 Arica Cup of Nations, AFCON.

The winner of the biennial competition will go home with $7 million.

The runners-up will now get $4 million, while each of the two semi-finalists will receive $2,500,000Each of the four quarter-finalists will get $1,300,000.

“CAF has made significant progress over the past two years in increasing the Prize Money of the AFCON and all its other major competitions,” President of Africa’s soccer governing body, Patrice Motsepe, told CAFonline.

“We have increased the prize money of the AFCON Winner to USD 7 000 000 which is a 40% increase from the previous AFCON Prize Money. I am confident that a portion of the prize money will contribute to developing football and also benefit all the football stakeholders, as well as assist our Member Associations with their administrations.”

The 34th edition of the AFCON finals will start next week Saturday with the opening game between hosts Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea-Bissau.

The competition will end on Sunday, February 11.

Serie A club, Juventus have announced the signing of Super Falcons midfielder, Jennifer Echegini.

Echegini joined the Old Lady from American outfit, Florida State Seminoles.

The 22-year-old signed a contract until June 30, 2026.

The Nigerian has been assigned jersey number 26.

Echegini was part of Super Falcons squad to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The talented midfielder was born in the Netherlands and raised in England.

She will join her new teammates as soon as the move is completed.

Charlie McNeill has returned to Manchester United, following his loan spell at Stevenage.

The 20-year-old striker joined the League One club last September, after appearing in Man United’s EFL Trophy game against Stockport County and scoring during the penalty shootout.

Manchester United disclosed this in a statement via its website on Wednesday.

“We’d like to welcome Charlie back to the fold again,” Man United’s statement partly read.

McNeill made his senior debut for Man United in the Europa League clash against Real Sociedad in September 2022.

Super Eagles midfielder Ogenyi Onazi has revealed that he almost signed for Chelsea at the early stage of his professional football career.

Onazi had a trial at Chelsea after impressing at the 2009 FIFA U17 World Cup where he helped Nigeria to a second-place finish.

However, he failed to sign a deal with the Premier League giants because he had not attained the age of majority.

Onazi eventually joined Serie A club Lazio in 2011 and initially featured for the youth sides of the club before he gained promotion to the first team.

“When I was young, I almost signed for Chelsea, but we were underage and couldn’t play.

“We had to wait until we were 18. There was a lot of process.

“That is why my manager decided that we would go to Italy at that time. So he could start in Lazio’s second team and then, when he developed, he could start in the first team,” Onazi told Ajansspor.

Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville has said Liverpool players must stay in the Premier League title race in Mohamed Salah’s absence.

Salah is set to join up with his Egyptian teammates ahead of this month’s Africa Cup of Nations.

Before leaving, the forward scored twice as the Reds beat Newcastle 4-2 on Monday night.

The result saw Liverpool extend their lead at the summit by three points.

“You wonder what that’s going to be like without Salah, but they owe it to him to get through the next month still in the title, still at the top of the league and still ahead, so they can give Salah a chance to come back and have a real go at the title.

“I didn’t think Liverpool would be in a title race and I still don’t think they’ll do it,” he said.

Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta has made £80million rated Brentford striker Ivan Toney his top target for the January transfer window.

Toney is set to return to football action in January as soon as he serves his eight-month ban for breaching the Football Association’s rules on betting.

Arsenal, meanwhile, are open to strengthening Arteta’s squad in the January transfer window.

But Financial Fair Play, FFP, regulations could heavily restrict their activity.

However, according to The Independent, Arteta wants Arsenal’s hierarchy to prioritise a move for a new striker in January in a bid to improve the Gunners’ chances of winning their first Premier League title since 2004.

The report added that Brentford would want at least £80million for Toney, while Arteta has also considered signing two new full-backs and a new central midfielder.

National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) outfit, Utah Royals FC have announced the signing of Nigeria forward, Ifeoma Onumonu.

Onumonu linked up with Salt Lake City-based side from reigning NWSL champion, Gotham FC for $40,000.

The striker becomes the 15th player on the 2024 expansion of Utah side’s roster.

The 29-year-old is expected to join her new teammates for pre-season camping late next month.

Onumonu spent three seasons with Gotham FC.

“This is an amazing opportunity to be coached by one of the best who ever did it, tapping into Amy Rodriguez’s history with the NWSL and her being a former No. 9.

“Having the conversation with Amy and Sporting Director, Kelly Cousins was incredibly important to me, hearing their vision and understanding the commitment and investment in providing the best for the athletes is what persuaded me to play for the Royals,” she said.

She was part of Super Falcons squad to the 2023 Women’s World Cup co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

Manchester United manager, Erik Ten Hag has listed five players who are set to return from injury in January.

Ten Hag was giving a team news update ahead of their Premier League trip to Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

The Red Devils are currently seventh on the log and face big fixtures against Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa in their next five top-flight games.

“It will be a similar squad [for the trip to Forest] as we had against Villa.

“Mid-January we expect many players back. Mason [Mount], Casemiro, [Lisandro] Martinez, [Tyrell] Malacia.

“We expect Harry Maguire, of course. We expect many players to return in January,” Ten Hag told reporters on Friday.

Bournemouth midfielder Hamed Traore will be out for “some time” after contracting malaria, says manager Andoni Iraola.The 23-year-old Ivory Coast international was treated in hospital after the November international break.He has not been named in the Ivory Coast squad for the Africa Cup of Nations, which begins on 13 January.”The past few weeks have been a tough situation for him personally,” said Iraola.”We have to make sure that he is OK and he recovers properly.”Traore is now recovering at home and will have further tests.A tropical disease spread by mosquitoes, malaria is not contagious. Symptoms usually appear seven to 18 days after infection.Traore joined Bournemouth in January on loan from Italian side Sassuolo before a permanent deal worth about £20m was agreed in the summer.He has made only 10 Premier League appearances and has not played for Bournemouth since 1 November.He featured in Ivory Coast’s victories over Seychelles and Gambia on 17 and 20 November respectively.Bournemouth, who are are 12th in the table, travel to Tottenham on Sunday.

Everton boss, Sean Dyche has reflected on his side’s 3-1 loss to Manchester City on Wednesday night.

The Toffees took the lead through Jack Harrison in the first half.But the Premier League champions fought back to take all three points, thanks to goals from Phil Foden, Julian Alvarez and Bernardo Silva.

Speaking to Amazon Prime after the game, Dyche said: “Manchester City came out in the second half and played much longer which we didn’t deal with.

“In the first half, we were very good tactically.

“We had a great chance to get back in it. The penalty changes the feel of the game but when they get their noses in front, they are a hard team to get back to.”

Napoli striker, Victor Osimhen was sent off as his team lost 2-0 to Roma on Saturday night.

Before then, the Super Eagles star was involved in a heated exchange with Roma manager, Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho also clashed with Osimhen’s team-mate Kvicha Kvaratskhelia.

Lorenzo Pellegrini and Romelu Lukaku scored to secure three points against the Italian champions.

Osimhen was the second Napoli player to be sent off, with Matteo Politano also seeing red in the second half.

Napoli have now conceded six goals in their last two appearances across all competitions as they find themselves seventh in the league with 27 points from 17 matches.

Roma, on the other hand, are now sixth after Saturday’s win.

Nigerian-born midfielder, Ashanti Akpan has signed a contract extension with Chelsea Ladies

Ashanti signed with the Blues until the summer of 2025, with the option to extend by a further year.

The 18-year-old joined Chelsea at the age of seven in August 2013.

The youngster made her first-team debut for Chelsea in March last season.

“It’s such a special and proud moment for me to sign my first professional contract at my childhood club. I’ve been here since I was seven years old, so it really has always been Chelsea for me,” she told the club’s official website.

“Being the place where I’ve grown up, it means so much more. I’m very grateful to my teammates, the staff and my family who have done so much on and off the pitch to make me the player I am today. I’m really excited for the future.”

Akpan was born in Warsaw to a Polish mother and Nigerian father.

Manchester City star, Rodri has named four of the best players across Europe this season.

The Spanish midfielder picked the four players from outside the Premier League champions.

Rodri heaped praise on Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham who only completed a £113 million move from Borussia Dortmund in the summer.

The 20-year-old has already scored 17 goals in 21 appearances for the LaLiga giants.

Rodri also highlighted Harry Kane’s performances since joining Bayern Munich in a £100 million summer move, with the England captain’s former club also earning two selections in James Maddision and Son Heung-min.

“I think Bellingham is doing great in Spain, Kane has adapted very well to German football also.

“And in England I would say Maddison or Son as they are doing very good for Tottenham,” Rodri said.

The Super Eagles ended 2023 as Africa’s sixth-best team and 42nd in the world according to FIFA’s monthly rankings.

The year 2023 has largely been an impressive one for the Eagles, who suffered only one defeat but recorded four wins and three draws.

On the African continent, Morocco retained their number one spot and 13th in the world. They are followed by second-place Senegal, who also maintained their 20th place in the world.

Tunisia also remained unmoved in the current ranking as they are placed third in Africa and 28th globally.

Algeria and Egypt who completes the top five places in Africa also finished the year in 30th and 33rd position in the world respectively.

It was gathered from the ranking that there was no significant movement in the latest ranking.

World champions Argentina continue to reign supreme in the world ranking after their 1-0 win over Brazil in last month’s World Cup qualifier.

France are second, with England, Belgium and Brazil making the top five spots.

Holland, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Croatia completes the list of the top 10 teams in the world.

FIFA will publish the next ranking in February 15, 2024

The draw for the Carabao Cup semi-final was conducted on Wednesday night.

This followed the conclusion of the last quarter-final fixture between Liverpool and West Ham.

The Reds hammered David Moyes’ men 5-1 at Anfield to book their place in the final four.

Liverpool will now take on Fulham for a place in the final.

In the other semi-final clash, Chelsea, who eliminated Newcastle United, will play Middlesbrough.

The first leg of the semi-final ties will be played on the week commencing January 8.

The second leg fixtures will then take place on the week commencing January 22.

Manchester City legend Sergio Aguero has picked Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho’s overhead kick over Wayne Rooney’s from 2011.

Garnacho managed to put Man United in front within three minutes during the Red Devils’ Premier League 3-0 win against Everton on November 26 this year.

His overhead effort from inside the box managed to find the corner and beat Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

Meanwhile, Rooney scored his stunning overhead kick in the Manchester derby back in 2011.

Speaking with Stake, Aguero chose Garnacho’s stunner, given that Rooney scored against Man City.

“Wheeeew, what a goal! That has to be the best goal of 2023. When I saw it, I was awestruck,” Aguero said.

“It is not easy to score a goal like that. Garnacho’s goal and Rooney’s goal against City are both great goals. For the physical prowess behind them and the sheer beauty of the goal. But I choose Garnacho’s for one major reason: Rooney scored against City!”