Sylvia Ikeji's Blog

The awards were for the fastest hattrick, fastest 4-goal haul, fastest 5-goal haul and the most goals by a substitute all in the German Bundesliga, thanks to a very poor Wolfburg defence. On the day, the Polish striker cane off the bench at half-time to score a stunning five goals in 9 minutes to all but wrap up the game before the hour mark.

UK Sportsmail has published what the claim are figures of how much each Premier League club spent on agent fees between the summer of 2014 and January 2015. Are you disappointed with how much your club spent as against the players signed on?

So FIFA earlier today, named Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar as the 3-man shortlist for the Ballon d'Or award to be announced on the 11th of January, 2016. Well, the decision to nominate Ronaldo over Luis Suarez as well as who is most deserving of the slot has received mixed views. Some insightful, some hilarious and others merely stupid! See reactions below...

Yes oh, I left this for the last 'cos I have a VERY BIG reservation on the shortlist. Now I am comfortable, with enough time to type...hehehe. So earlier today, FIFA released a 3-man shortlist for Men's coach of the Year 2015. According to them, Barcelona's treble wining coach Luis Enrique deserves a slot, ehe; Chile national team coach Jorge Sampaoli, ehe; and then they now came and spoilt it by including Bayern Munich's Pep Guardiola! Ah, father, how come na?! :(

Football governing body, FIFA have today confirmed the final 3 nominess for the 2015 Puskas award. Barcelona's Lionel Messi, Goianesia's Wendeli Lira and Alessandro Florenzi of AS Roma.

FIFA has released the final 3-man shortlist for the Women's coach of the year award. Out of an initial 10 nominees, USA's Jill Ellis, England Women's coach Mark Sampson and Japan coach Norio Sasaki.

FIFA has today released the final 3-man shortlist for the 2015 Women's footballer of the Year out of an initial 10 contenders. The shortlisted are USA's Carli Lloyd, Japan's Aya Miyama and Germany's Celia Sasic. The winner is set to be announced on 11th January, 2016.

Football governing body FIFA have released the final three-man shortlist for the 2015 Ballon d'or Award set to be announced on 11th January, 2016. Out of an initial 23-man list, the trio of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar have been shortlisted. Unfortunately, the sensational 'trinity' of MSN was broken with former Liverpool striker, Luis Suarez missing out. It must be a bitter-sweet taste for the Barcelona trio. What are your thoughts on Suarez's omission? Do you think Cristiano really deserves the spot based on his individual contribution so far this year over the Uruguayan international?

Manchester United legend Paul Scholes said 'Diego Costa can cause a row in an empty room'. We have seen he wasn't exaggerating when he said it. The Spanish striker has done exactly that. On a day when a struggling Chelsea could boast of displaying a fantastic performance against an inform Tottenham and what was their best of the season according to coach, Jose Mourinho, Costa decided to make it all about himself despite not featuring on the pitch.

Louis van Gaal led his squad to the 16th annual UNICEF gala dinner on Sunday night. The yearly black tie event is a must for the Old Trafford club who have been partners with the global charity for 16 years - which is the longest of its kind between a sports organisation and a global children's charity. They were able to raise £230,000 for the world's leading children's organisation on the day.

So fans have taken to social media to react to Diego Costa's tantrum after he threw his bib at Jose Mourinho for failing to put him on the pitch, fortunately, he missed. They are all so hilarious including those made after Mikel Obi was captured laughing at the striker who was sat next to him on the bench. Lool...

During Manchester United's 1-1 draw with Leicester, Wayne Rooney sustained an injury to the side of his stomach after being on the receiving end of a strong tackle from former Chelsea defender Robert Huth. The tackle left behind a nasty gash on the very fleshy body of the England captain. Although he was substituted with 22 minutes to play by Van Gaal who was so unhappy with his strike pair, that he made the decision to substitute one of Rooney or Martial before he settled for the captain after he noticed him limping.

So just as I predicted in my post  on Friday night and on air yesterday, Manchester United drew against Leicester City and it was not a blank, and yes that man Jamie Vardy scored to set a record! The English striker has now become the only player to score in 11 consecutive league matches after he equalled the record which was initially held by Ruud Van Nistelrooy at 10 goals over 10 games. My game of the day though was Bournemouth vs Everton! The reason being the last minute entertaining hopeful winning goal and an even better equalized just at the death by the cherries Stanislas. Roberto Martinez though has to look beyond star defender John Stones to fix his sides defensive humiliation after loosing a 2-0 lead to finally end the game at 3 goals apiece.

Less than 24 hours after I put up a plea to the kidnappers of Dream Team coach, Samson Siasia's mother, Madam Beauty Siasia, she has been released! I don't care what made them change their mind, the best thing is that she  has been released and is safe and healthy. Thank God! The former super Eagles international currently with his squad in Gambia for the African U23 tourney has expressed his relief at the big news. She was dropped off by the kidnappers in the early hours of this morning by 1:30am. The police have said no arrest has been made.

Check out some interesting stats ahead of the day's busy packed fixtures. Some are quite interesting and Manchester United fans need to pay special attention to this one. Jamie Vardy's first Barclays Premier League goal came in Leicester's home match against today's opponents last season. It was his side's fourth goal in their 5-3 thrashing of Manchester United last season. Will we see a repetition?

So Arsenal play Norwich City on Matchday 14 in the Barclays Premier League, and with the game set to take place at the Canaries on Sunday, Arsene Wenger has revealed plans to lead his lads on an astonishing 14 MINUTE flight from their North London base to the East of England. Meanwhile, it is a little less than 2 hours by train. The Gunners have now come under heavy criticism from Environmental Campaigners for their choice of transportation, with  Jennifer Parkhouse, of Norwich and Norfolk Friends of the Earth, deeming it 'ironic' especially being that there will be a Climate March in London at the same time as the game.

See Saturday fixtures across the top five European Leagues. Lined up in the Premier League is a fixture that nobody would have imagined it to be the clash of the day. Louis van Gaal travel with his Manchester United side to face Leicester City who suprisingly seat top of the table with almost half of the season gone. Striker Jamie Vardy has been in scintillating form and is on the verge of breaking Ruud Van Nistelrooy's record of scoring in 10 consecutive matches. Will he score past David de Gea?

So injury master Daniel Sturridge opted out of Liverpool's game on Thursday night claiming a foot injury that he picked up in training. However, scans carried out have shown no serious injury on the foot and coach Jurgen Klopp who has hardly had enough time to make use of the former Manchester City striker has issued a warning saying that for Sturridge to overcome his injury plague, he needs to learn more about the difference between 'serious pain and what is only pain'.

 Ahead of the kick-off of the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations starting in Senegal on Saturday, NFF President Amaju Pinnick has set a target of the top three position for the Dream Team. Grabbing one of the top three spots will automatically earn Nigeria a spot in the 2016 Olympics set to hold in Rio de Janeiro. Nigeria have earned recognition in the competition having been the first African country to win Olympics football gold 19 years ago at the Centennial Games in Atlanta, USA and 7 years ago, a Samson Siasia led squad claimed silver after losing to a Lionel Messi - inspired Argentina in Beijing.

UK Mirror has now added Mousa Dembele to the ever growing list of Chelsea targets. According to the UK Publication, Chelsea is ready to splash out £40million pounds on the Tottenham midfilder as well as Leicester city striker Jamie Vardy all in January. Dembele has 18 months left on his contract.

Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart is set to miss his side's weekend clash with Southampton, after he sustained a hamstring strain during their Champion's league loss to Juventus on Wednesday night. He was substituted with seven minutes to go and his deputy Caballero will be expected to continue in goal at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday as well as in their Capital One cup quarter-final against Hull City on Tuesday.

After Alhaji Ahmad Mua’zu Kawu recently said that President Muhammadu Buhari has not been supportive of the national teams for competition, the football governing body in Nigeria headed by President Amaju Pinnick have now come out to set the records straight. According to them, Kawu is not a spokes person for the body, thus, his comments do not represent that of the association. Read their statement posted on their official website below...

The FIFPro is an association with FIFA and it represents both male and female professionals in football.  25,000 players from 70 participating countries were asked to vote, each, for the best goalkeeper, four best defenders, three best midfielders and three best attackers. The players voted must  have made at least 15 appearances during the calendar year to be eligible for the World XI. The final list will be announced on January 11, 2016 at the Ballon d'Or ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland. See full list of the 55-man shortlist below... 

Chelsea may be struggling on the pitch but they have now made a major statement with thier most recent signing. The Football giants have just announced on their official website that they have concluded the deal to partner with Thai energy drink company, Carabao. The Carabao logo will feature on Chelsea players’ and staff training kit for three years starting from the 2016/17 season at our Cobham headquarters, at press conferences, on tours, and in the warm-ups to friendly and competitive fixtures.

Forty eight luxury watches earlier given to some FIFA officials as gifts are to be retrieved and redistributed to fund a charity working on football projects in Brazil. The Parmigiani watches, are said to be worth £16,400 each and over £750,000 in all, and were given by the Brazil FA in gift bags to FIFA executives and the heads of the 32 football associations who qualified for the 2014 World Cup (including Nigeria oh, I guess)

Arsenal currently seat in a dicey position with regards to their chances of qualifying to the knock-out stage of the champions league. It is important to note that in the history of the competition, only one team has ever made the last-16 after managing just three points from their first four group-stage matches, with Arsene Wenger and his boys now hoping to become the second side to do what 38 others teams have failed to achieve and that Champions League spots are decided on head-to-head records before goal differences are put into consideration.

It's Throw Back Thursday, so I decided to share pictures from some of my time in the studio to discuss football! Oh, how I love it. Oh and I have met some amazing people in this time as well. :-) By the way, anywhere you see me wearing a hat, don't be bothered, just know it's my THINKING hat. Helps me make the right predictions, so if you play baba ijebu come and consult me. Lool..am just joking oh!

Gareth Bale's agency, Stellar Group, is UK’s biggest football agency, and were the ones that successfully oversaw a world record transfer of the Welsh international from Tottenham to Real Madrid in 2013. The agency have signed up four stars of Nigeria’s 2015 Under 17 World Cup-winning side. This comes a a major boost to the promising lads who were exceptional in the recently concluded tournament in which they claimed the golden ball and boot.

The former Barcelona goalkeeper who was signed by United on a free after leaving Barcelona has been in logger-heads with the Old Trafford boss, Louis Van Gaal for several months now after being ostracized from the first team squad and made to train with the reserve team, something he has openly voiced his dissatisfaction about leading in a bust-up between him and Van Gaal. Valdes has since been pushing for a free transfer, and has been linked with a move to Liverpool, something the Old Trafford club have so far refused to grant him.

Chelsea legend Didier Drogba has tipped Arsene Wenger's lads to finally win the league after a long wait. Wenger who last saw his side win the league over a decade ago in 2004 has been criticized several times as always being 'also-rans' only to eventually manage fourth place at the end of the season. However, their former nemesis, Didier Drogba has now come out to back them to win it ahead of favorites Manchester City and Manchester United.

Following Wednesday's nail-biting encounter especially for Manchester United fans, we look at all results in the competition  Truth is the outcome of most of this week's games have made the tables so complicated that even Jose Mourinho said he will need a calculator to analyse Chelsea's position and chances of qualifying. See final scores as well as standings for groups A, B, C or D.

Cesc Fabregas showed his dedication by completing the full 90 minutes on Tuesday night during Chelsea's 4-0 thrashing of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the champions league. After the game he shared a picture of a nasty injury he sustained to his toe on his snapchat account with the caption, 'Do you think he touched me?' See below and note its kinda graphic...

Pep Guardiola is set to sign a new contract at Bayern Munich. According to UK Mirror, the Bayern Munich is confident their coach will renew his contract to the £17million-a-year deal being offered to him before Christmas. If this happens, this will serve as a huge blow for premier league clubs Arsenal and the two Manchester clubs who have been long-term admirers of Guardiola and have long monitored his contract saga at the German club as things unfold.

There is still more left from where the likes of Barcelona, Bayern, Arsenal, Chelsea and even Dynamo Kyiv left off as Zlatan Ibrahimovic attempts to lead his PSG side to a win over his first club, Malmo. Meanwhile, at Old Trafford, Depay will hope he gets a place in the line-up against his former club PSV who defeated them 2-1 in the first leg, despite United taking the lead in the 24th minute. While the game between Astana and Benfica in Group C has been concluded with a 2-2 draw, CSKA Moscow and Wolfburg has kicked off, albeit, still in the first half. See more fixtures and current group standings below...

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has been heavily criticized for his 'miserliness' in terms of spending money not in his personal life but as the gunner's boss. Wenger who spent a joint £70m on recruiting former Real Madrid and Barcelona duo, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez respectively, took to his post match press conference after his side's 3-0 thrashing of Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday night to address the unflattering allegations. A reporter began a question for him by saying, "I know you don't like to spend money..."

The Football Association has just issued new guidelines on how to manage and identify whether a player has been concussed following a head injury and how soon such player should be allowed to get back on the pitch. The safety-first guidelines state that a player suspected of being concussed should be immediately taken off the field of play either in training or during a game and they must not return to continue play on the same day.

The Bundesliga champions faced Olympiakos on Tuesday night in the competition's matchday 5 fixture for the club. And following the recent increase in security awareness due to terrorist threats, the club was not taking theirs for granted one bit. Pictures show fans being searched, their cars alike before they are granted access into the ground. See more pictures below...

The football governing body in Nigeria has invited the Association of Professional Footballers of Nigeria (APFON) and the National Association of Nigerian Footballers (NANF) to a meeting in Lagos on Thurdsay. According to NFF President Amaju Pinnick, the meeting had become necessary in order to find a lasting solution to the feud which has lingered for so many years between both associations 'claiming to represent the interests of professional footballers in Nigeria'.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is defiant that his beleagured side can go all the way to lift this season's Champions League trophy - because it is not always the favourites who win it. The blues who have managed just one league win in each of the four months so far this season have performed way better in Europe and they have a chance to book their place in the knockout stages with a game to spare if results go their way on Tuesday night. The Londoners' current misfortune mirrors their experience in 2012 when they eventually lifted the trophy despite a very poor start to the season struggling in the league finishing in sixth position.

Eight players from the treble winning Barcelona team have been nominated for UEFA Team of the Year 2015. You guessed right, the trio of Messi Neymar and Suarez are on the list! See the names of nominees below... Lionel Messi Neymar Luis Suarez Mascherano

Chelsea have reportedly earmarked Borussia Dortmund and Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as one of their top transfer targets in January. According to reports, the Gabon international rejected advances from the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool to remain at BVB in August.

Suspended UEFA president Michel Platini's is facing a life ban that is according to his lawyer who has confirmed that the FIFA ethics committee have requested a life ban for the UEFA president. Platini and outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter will have formal hearings into allegations of FIFA's ethics code breaches later this month following accusations of a £1.3million payment made to the Frenchman (Platini) in 2011.

Taiwo Awoniyi and Captain Okechukwu Azubike arrived in the Dream Team's Flourish Wellness Resort camp in Gambia amidst cheerful greetings from the squad. The players arrived aboard a Royal Air Maroc flight at about 3am, and were received by the team secretary Sirajo Hassan who was on ground to ensure they had little or no difficulties  at the immigration.

Eden Hazard might have begged manager Jose Mourinho to let him play in the number 10 position behind the striker, however, the Portuguese boss believes that the diminutive midfielder belongs to the left wing where he can cause the most damage as well as instill his presence as he did against Norwich City last weekend. After the match, he revealed how he had apparently convinced the boss to make that spot his own.

Barcelona have rumped to the summit of the Primera Division, six points clear of rivals Real Madrid after they thumped 4 past them over the weekend. The question as some say in England is, 'Yes, but could they do it on a cold Tuesday night at Stoke?' A few weeks ago, Barcelona defender Gerard Pique said that his club would have no chance in wining the league - at least not for the first trial - if they were in England despite their stunning start to the season in La Liga.

Chelsea have announced their financial record for the 2014/15 season and records show the club suffered a loss of over £23million for the financial year which ended in June, however, they expect to meet UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules. The figures represent a spending of more than £40m, having managed their highest profit in the Abramovich era of more than £18m for the previous 12 months. Group turnover dropped only slightly to £314.3m which is the second highest turnover in the club’s history. Recording the loss despite this hints at an increase in wages, while the change in profit is likely to be the result of a shift in transfer spending and an early exit from the Champions League.

According to Barcelona-based sports newspaper, Mundo Deportivo, Marc Bartra is in the process of changing his agent, and it is understood that Barca legend Carles Puyol will soon become his representative. The retired defender, Puyol, is moving into agency and counts on strong relationship with Van Gaal which would facilitate any formal move on the part of the Old Trafford club.

Chelsea maestro Eden Hazard has revealed that it took his plea to manager Jose Mourinho before he was granted the go-ahead by the Portuguese to play direvtly behind the striker. He has insisted that himself and the former Real Madrid boss are in no way having any issues with each other. He even went on to brand him the 'best coach'. While reviewing their Saturday's game against Norwich in which he was awarded the Man of the Match he said,‘We spoke before the Stoke game (capital one cup). I said to him: “Maybe we have to try something, to change sometimes. Maybe I have to play No 10, because we have to try”.

*clears throat* Jose Mourinho has claimed he does not revell in his opponents loss, that in fact,  he 'minds his own business'. Speaking during his pre-match press conference ahead of Champions League match day 5, he was asked his thoughts on Rafa Benitez's reign  so far at Real Madrid following a 4-0 destruction by Barcelona, to which he responded: 'Look, I'm going to say exactly what I was saying at my table at lunch. I left Chelsea in 2007 at the end of September. And I was waiting eight months to work again when I went to Inter.'

You know that feeling as a kid, when your parents go on a trip and promised to buy you a certain gift that you love on their return, you know the gift will definitely arrive but you can barely wait for them to 'land' and so the day before, you lay in bed daydreaming of how you would enjoy the gift. That has been me for a while now, lying in bed, hoping that somehow I will hear that unique anthem...'Çé son les meilleures equipes..,the main event...' wishful thinking... The realty here is that after another painful wait for the return of the UEFA champions league, it is finally back and kick-off is less than 24 hours from now! Just before the fixtures let me put you back in the groove by reminding you of what the occasion is...