Sylvia Ikeji's Blog

Hate him or love him, this man has a way of making football fans smile...except you are pro-Wenger or the man himself. Lol...

Amnesty international have risen to cry out about the inhumane treatment being meted out on Qatar immigrants who are working to renovate key stadiums ahead of the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar. According to them, these migrants are not just being underpaid, they are owed months wages, ill treated, threatened whenever the complain and  their passports have been ceased, hence they can not depart the country. They have been forced to live in 'squalid camps in the desert' while building the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha.

Ex-Arsenal striker Nicklas has been known to attract controversy throughout his career, thus time he is on the verge of getting the sack from his employers,one that could be his final chance of proving himself.

Some girls are just lucky chaps. Talk about 'lines fallen unto me in pleasant places'. Lol... Manchester United midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin has proposed to his girlfriend Camille Sold who he met shortly after he moved to the Old Trafford club from Southampton in the summer of 2015.

They say sociology is important to understand social relations, lifestyle and cultures of people. But what happens if you just did not study the course on your way to becoming a global super star, in fact, arguably the best footballer of all times. Then you get invited for an interview...an Egyptian interview, at the end of which you offer to give up a pair of your football boots as a souvenir for charity in Egypt, and then, live on air, you do. Shortly afterwards, you are on the receiving end of a brutal criticism from an Egyptian parliamentarian who claims you have disrespected the whole 90 million population of Egypt. All this because you did not study your sociology!

American business magazine, Forbes have released the list of highest paid retired athletes for 2015 and basketball legend Michael Jordan is at the top of it following up from 2014 where he was also at the top.

Manchester City's Argentine defender Martin Demichelis has been charged by the FA for betting on football matches during the beginning of this year. He is alleged to have committed 12 breaches of FA Rule E8 over the course of a week in January.

Stories like this remind me that we don't have 'paparazzi' going after our celebrities in Nigeria. Former Real Madrid's world Cup-winning goalkeeper Iker Casillas recently officially married his sports reporter girlfriend Sara Carbonero in what was supposed to be a low-key wedding in Madrid.

Manchester United legend Gary Neville has been relieved of his position as head coach at Valencia with eight games left of their season. Neville's first managerial job comes to an end after just four months since his surprise appointment at the Spanish club.

It is good to know that Syria is not just about violence and insurgency, what many do not know is that they have a national team that travelled to Japan for a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier. And although they were thumped 5:0 by the Japanese, we would rather read such stories than the atrocities that a select few get to force feed to the rest of the world, gladly.

Oh man. I don't know which is more painful, fans shading and criticizing their own club or a target who snubbed your club for a bigger club throwing major shade at your club. That is exactly what Barcelona's Arda Turan did to Arsenal!

Midfielder John Mikel Obi has warned Chelsea that he is prepared to end his long stay at the Stamford Bridge club come the end of the current season in order to get more regular first-team football.

Aston Villa have parted ways with their manager of five months Remi Garde after a series of poor performance and results by the team. With the club sitting rock bottom at the foot of the premier league table - 12 points off safety with 7 games left, and on the verge of relegation, both parties reportedly decided to part ways by 'mutual consent'. The Frenchman was appointed in November to improve the club's fortunes after Tim Sherwood was sacked. Eric Black would take over as a temporary boss until a permanent replacement is announced. It is understtod that Garde was unhappy with the club for failing to back him in the January transfer window with the club opting not to sign any player.

Egypt have completed the elimination of Nigeria's whimpering Eagles at the Borg El Arab stadium in Alexandria, Egypt. The West Africans took a one all draw from Thursday's first leg in Kaduna, hoping to steal all three points at the meeting at the second largest stadium in Africa - an 86,000 capacity stadium.

Her proud mum Sonia Ighalo shared the collage on twitter. Typical case of when you are cute and you know it.

The Wolverhampton Wonders goalkeeper has parted ways with the rest of the squad Who travelled to Egypt for the second leg of their AFCON qualifyer. Ikeme international assignment ended prematurely after he suffered a stomach upset and would now travel back to England to continue recovery. He had been unwell since Thursday.

I imagine to an extent they can not be blamed as it isn't the biggest sport in the United States right now, although notable improvements have been made especially since the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

It seems Real Madrid's torment in the hands of Barcelona isn't solely Lionel Messi orchestrated after both sets of kids from the two rival clubs looked horns in a somewhat pre-classico meeting; and boy they were good, good for their age.

Epic wonders. Please can you spot what I am seeing?

Can anybody not related to Diego Costa have any more resemblance to the striker than this man? The Chelsea striker's look-alike is José Oquendo and is a Major League Baseball "third base coach" for the St Louis Cardinals. While Costa is a Brazilaian born Spaniard, Oquendo is a Puerto Rican. Oh, I and the coach is 52 years old while the striker is 27.

Fastforward a year later and...they are on the verge of writing English history. Fortunately for Leicester though, Nigel Pearson achieved the then target which was to retain premier league status. Jamie Vardy and Danny Drinkwater have helped Leicester to the top of the premier league, five points clear of second placed Tottenham whose attack has been led by Harry Kane.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's contract with PSG is set to expire in the summer and his much craved premier league presence seems like it's just about to come to pass. The Sweden international has revealed premier league clubs have made contact with his camp, hoping to put him on their payroll. However, no club has been mentioned yet.

You think Leicester City's success story this season has been a miracle? Wait until you hear about that of Northampton Town who were on the brink of rolling away into extinction have now gotten to the top their story remains fascinating and is a typical example of the never-give-up attitude from not just the players but all staff at the club.

Manchester United legend and assistant coach, Ryan Giggs has sounded a strong warning to Jose Mourinho who is expected to take over from Louis van Gaal at the end of the current season.

Chad over the weekend announced that they have chosen to withdraw from the African Nations Cup qualifier, citing financial constraints as their reason. Having been in Group G with Nigeria, and with two games left to play, their withdrawal now complicates issues for Nigeria's Super Eagles who take on Egyptian Pharaohs on Tuesday in a must win encounter for a chance to qualify for the next round.

A while back,  SIB reported that Jay Jay Okocha was given a hero's welcome at Parc des Princes ahead of kick-off for PSG's 2:0 home loss to Monaco.

His full name is Jerrel Floyd Hasslebaink and he was born on this day in 1972 in Suriname, Netherlands. He is 44-years-old today. He is father to four girls and is the current manager of Championship side, Queens Park Rangers.

He put up the question earlier this afternoon and this stat shows just what fans think.

Oh boy,  some people would have a really difficult time time identifying which player is which when a the players are on the pitch. Viewers who are bad at maths would have to grab their calculators during the upcoming friendly game between Romania and Spain on Sunday night.

The Super Eagles striker took to twitter to gush over three kids, proudly revealing that they are the reason he lives. The Watford striker is currently on international duty with the Eagles at their Kaduna camp.

In an unusual turn of event,  the Nigeria national team have received a morale booster in form of cash from Oil and Gas billionaire and President of FC Ifeanyi Ubah, Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah ahead of the second leg of their must win tie, a 2017 Africa Nations Cup qualifier against Egypt in Alexandria on Tuesday.

He was presented with the award ahead of kick-off in a friendly between Germany and England. The Germans were two goals ahead until a minute after the hour mark when Harry Kane reduced the deficit. Super sub Vardy and Tottenham's Eric Dier completed the astonishing comeback.

Hep me capshun this abeg...

Chelsea's first choice goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, has refused to commit his long-term future at the London club amidst speculations that the English Champions are set to loose a number of their key players.

The former Super Eagles number one took to social media to share a picture of himself and his wife. He also ceased the opportunity to share his thoughts on the reason for the Easter season. That bible really looks read...

He is the world's best footballer, hardly arguable and hour has scored 509 goals in 658 appearances for both club and country.  He broke another record on Thursday night but in an unusual twist - for the very first time in recent memory, the Barcelona maestro failed to make a single shot at goal.

All clubs have systems they put in place to sanction defaulting super stars, be it a Lionel Messi or some player in a relegation team. The system as applied in the world's current best club was on Thursday released by SPORT. And according to their report, Luis Enrique's disciplinary code only focuses on one specific offense - tardiness.

A disabled football coach has accused the Football Association of favouritism and breaking regulations in order to fast-track coaching license acquisition for former players. This accusation comes just days after former Arsenal star Thierry Henry, gained his UEFA A licence.

Organizers of the Nigeria Pitch Awards have announced that the Chairman of the Police Service Commission and former Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, amongst others will be presented with a Special Achievement in Football award in Kaduna on Friday.

The German star was with his national side in Berlin ahead of the upcoming internationals when he suffered a knee ligament tear towards the end of Tuesday's training session. The captain subsequently pulled out of the training on Wednesday morning and flew to Munich with Dr. Muller-Wohlfahrt for an MRI scan, ahead of the weekend clash with England.

The friendly which was anticipated was suspended on Wednesday after the Brussels airport attack on Tuesday morning as it was supposed to be hosted by the Red Devils at the King Baudouin Stadium. However, the Portuguese Football Federation have intervened and volunteered to host the game in Leiria.

Suarez who plays Brussels Belgium's Anderlecht, Belgiums biggest and most successful football club has revealed he would be leaving the club at the end of the season due to heightened security fears in the capital where he lives with his family after the Brussels terror attacks.

Apparently, the UEFA team paid the Spain national team camp the surprise unwelcome visit by 11:30 on Tuesday night and the Chelsea midfielder was having none of it. The Blues no4 was so incensed by their timing that he took to social media to vent his frustration. He captioned the photo, 'UEFA doping surprise at 23.30... BRAVO!!!!'

He is described as arrogant on the pitch but reports suggest outside it he is Mr Nice Guy, and to whatever length even to his biggest professional rivals. The Real Madrid superstar set aside club rivalry to help Barcelona ace Neymar during this year's Ballon d'Or event in Switzerland, television presenter, Kate Abdo has revealed.

30-year-old Mbokani  who joined the Premier League side on loan from Dynamo Kiev last summer, was at Zaventem Airport in Brussels on his way to Kinshasa to link up with his Congolese international team-mates when the attacks took place on Tuesday morning. He has since returned home to his family.

It's his second daughter, and she has been named Nava Valentina. The picture of the baby holding his fore-finger was accompanied by the caption: 'Delighted to welcome another beautiful baby daughter into our family today. Nava Valentina Bale'. The 26-year-old lives in Spain with his childhood sweetheart Emma Rhys-Jones and the pair already have a three-year-old daughter Alba Viola who was born in Wales in October 2012.

The Premier League leaders seem to have done enough to get invited to the International Champions Cup. They would be hoping they turn up in California as England champions. They would be facing the might of some major European clubs such as Barcelona, Paris Saint Germain. See major European fixtures to hold in North America and Europe.

Manchester United have reportedly held secret talks over the transfer of Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

The Arsenal starlet who refused to be convinced by the English FA to turn his back on his motherland in other to play for the Three Lions, flew into the Eagles Abuja camp on Sunday ahead of the AFCON double header qualifier against Egypt, something he proudly shared on his twitter handle. However, earlier this evening, there were reports that he had suffered from food poisoning, something himself and the football federation have just confirmed. Both parties also revealed he has recovered and is fully participating in camp activities alongside his teammates.

The Nigeria women football icon, has represented the country in all competitions since 2002-2014 as a player and will now walk down the aisle on Monday, 28 March 2016, to be joined in holy matrimony with Ernest Ikechukwu Nwufoh. The marriage will take place at Our Lady Carmel Catholic Church, Emekuku, Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo State, by 12noon. Reception follows immediately after service at the bride’s father’s compound in Amankwu Umuhu in Ngor-Okpala Local Government area of Imo State.