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Count Down: Argentina vs France: Closing ceremony, team and line-up news in full as Messi starts

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The World Cup has seen 63 games played over the past 28 days and it’s all be building up to this: Argentina vs France in the final at the Lusail Stadium.

Lionel Messi is bidding to win the trophy for the first time in his illustrious career following heartbreak against Germany in the 2014 final at the Maracana in Brazil. Can Lionel Scaloni’s side get past the defending champions to win their first World Cup since Diego Maradona inspired them to glory in 1986?

Bidding to stop them is Didier Deschamps’ hugely experienced French side, who triumphed four years ago against Croatia in the 2018 World Cup final in Russia. France have beaten Poland, England and Morocco to reach successive finals and will be full of confidence.

France appear to have brushed off worries over illness, which has dominated the build-up over the past few days, with Dayot Upamecano, Adrien Rabiot and Kingsley Coman expected to be fit following a bout of flu.

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Didier Deschamps, eyeing a second World Cup, has been surverying his surroundings alongside some of his staff.

He’s already become part of the exclusive group to win the World Cup as a player and a coach.

He said on ITV: “I know there’s talk about Messi but you have to go and produce that’s the bottom line. You need a few breaks and a couple of frights – like Argentina got – to get a reaction but I don’t think for one second a player can sit back and think ‘this is meant to be’. The Argentina supporters might be looking at it and thinking but France fans will be thinking the same, can they win World Cup’s back-to-back? It’s on the line to both teams.”

We’ve only ever seen him in a Barcelona, Argentina or a PSG shirt

The Lusail Stadium only has a smattering of fans inside currently, but will be rammed within the hour.

France XI 

Lloris, Kounde, Upamecano, Varane, T Hernandez, Rabiot, Tchouameni, Griezmann, Dembele, Giroud, Mbappe

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Argentina’s team

Martínez, Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Acuña, Di María, De Paul, Fernández, Mac Allister, Messi, Álvarez.

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BREAKING: CAF overturns Afcon final result, declares Morocco winner

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The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has overturned the result of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations finals and declare MOROCCO the winner of the title.

Senegal beat Morocco 1-0 in the final on 18 January in a match which was overshadowed when the Senegalese players refused to play after the hosts were awarded a stoppage-time penalty with the match goalless.

Following a delay of around 17 minutes, the players did eventually return and Brahim Diaz’s penalty was saved before Senegal’s Pape Gueye scored an extra-time winner.

However, that result has now been overturned by CAF.

A statement by the African Football’s Governing Body said that Senegal are “declared to have forfeited the final match” with the “result of the match being recorded as 3-0 in favour” of Morocco.

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FG  fulfils promises as D’Tigress receive national honours, house documents

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The Federal Government has fulfilled its outstanding promises to the senior women’s national basketball team, D’Tigress, delivering National Honour certificates and title documents for houses in Abuja.

The presentation took place in Lyon, where the African Champions are currently participating  at  the FIBA Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament.

The move follows a directive from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu aimed at clearing a backlog of promises made to the team following their 2023 Afrobasket victory in Kigali, Rwanda.

The Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Mallam Shehu Dikko, led the delegation alongside the Director General, Hon. Bukola Olopade. Speaking during the handover, Dikko characterized the prompt delivery as a “clear departure” from previous administrations, where state-promised rewards often faced multi-year delays.

“This is a prompt fulfilment of promises made by a President who leads with action,” Dikko stated. “Mr. President is giving every Nigerian athlete a renewed confidence that sports is a serious business capable of changing lives.”

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While the physical assets (housing and honours) have been delivered, the NSC Chairman confirmed that the cash rewards promised to the squad are currently in the final stages of administrative processing. He assured the players that disbursement into their respective bank accounts is imminent.

The Director General, Hon. Bukola Olopade, noted that the current administration of President Tinubu  is institutionalizing a “reward system” modelled after developed sporting nations to ensure high-performance outcomes.

President of Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Engr. Musa Kida, credited the Presidency for prioritizing athlete welfare, citing it as a “legacy of a lifetime” for the sports sector.

Head Coach Rena Wakama and Captain Amy Okonkwo formally accepted the documents, affirming that the timely delivery of these incentives would serve as a catalyst for the team’s upcoming international qualifiers.

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BREAKING: Ex-Eagles captainHenry Nwosu dies aged 62

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Henry Nwosu, a former Nigerian international footballer and member of the 1980 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) winning team, has passed away.

He was 62.

His death was confirmed by fellow ex-international Segun Odegbami in a Facebook post on Saturday.

According to Odegbami, Nwosu passed away at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Ikeja after a five-day battle for his life.

He also revealed the details of Nwosu’s final days, stating that the man he fondly called “Youngest Millionaire” died at 4:00 a.m. after being in intensive care since Wednesday.

“After 5 days in hospital battling for his life, the one I call ‘Youngest Millionaire’ passed on at 4:00 am this morning at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos where he had been in Intensive Care since Wednesday,” he wrote.

“It is with deep pain in my heart that I have to be the conveyor of the news of the death of Henry Nwosu MON. May he rest peacefully with our Creator in Heaven.”

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