Retrospect: Major Sports News That Made Headlines During The Week

It has been a rollercoaster week for football fans in Nigeria. A 90th-minute goal by Zimbabwe dented the country’s hopes of reaching next year’s World Cup.

That game shaped the week for Nigerian sports fans. But the news of Dani Alves’s freedom, the adjusted transfer window in England, and the announcement of new hosts for the U-20 AFCON all made headlines in the last seven days.

From UEFA’s bid to probe Real Madrid stars Vinicius and Mbappe to preparations for the National Sports Festival, while the dust is yet to settled here is the big sports news that made headline during the week.

Nigeria’s World Cup Dreams In Tatters

Nigerians are still reeling in the pains of a crushing 1-1 draw against Zimbabwe in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, further jeopardizing the Super Eagles’ dreams of playing in the competition. The draw condemns Nigeria to fourth in the six-team group, six points below leaders South Africa in the race for an automatic qualification to the World Cup.

With four matches to go, Nigeria’s road to the US, Canada, and Mexico looks narrower. They will hope for results to go their way in other games in the group  – including winning their own – to have a hope of making the competition or a playoff spot.

Four More Countries Qualify for World Cup

The Fifa World Cup trophy is displayed ahead of the draw for the 2026 Fifa World Cup European qualifiers at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, on December 13, 2024. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

As Nigeria struggle to get a ticket, Argentina joined the early birds for the tournament after the latest round of qualifiers. Others are Japan, Iran, and New Zealand who have now joined the hosts US, Mexico, and Canada, for the Mundial

Adjusted Transfer Window

In England, the Premier League will have two transfer windows this summer. This is to allow Manchester City and Chelsea to register players for the Club World Cup.

Clubs in the English top flight will now be able to recruit and retain players in a special window between June 1 and 10. The exceptional registration period was approved by FIFA last October and is open to any national association that has teams involved in the new expanded Club World Cup, which starts in the United States on June 14.

A Lion’s Share

Meanwhile, the winner of this year’s expanded Club World Cup will get up to $125 million in prize money.

FIFA said a total prize fund of $1 billion for the event, which runs from June 14 to July 13, had already been made public, but the world football governing body has now broken down the sums for the 32 participating teams. Each team will share in the $525 million pot for participating.

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A further $475 million will be distributed according to performance in the tournament.

Blatter, Platini Cleared

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter gives a thumbs-up as he leaves Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court after the verdict of his trial over a suspected fraudulent payment in the southern Switzerland city of Bellinzona, on July 8, 2022. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

Still in football. Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and ex-UEFA chief Michel Platini have been acquitted on appeal by a Swiss court in a long-running corruption case that shattered their careers as the most powerful figures in world football.

Former UEFA president Michel Platini looks on when leaving the courthouse after the verdict of an appeal by the Swiss Attorney General’s office against former UEFA and FIFA presidents over a suspected fraudulent payment in Muttenz near Basel, on March 25, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

Blatter, 89, and Platini, 69, listened in silence as the Extraordinary Court of Appeal clerk in the town of Muttenz, near Basel, read out a decision identical to the one handed down in 2022, which had initially cleared them. Prosectors had requested suspended sentences of 20 months for the pair, but charges of fraud, for which they risked five years’ imprisonment, as well as disloyal management, breach of trust and forgery of documents were all dismissed.

Alves Freed

In Spain,  an appeals court has overturned former Brazil international footballer Dani Alves’ rape conviction. It held that his trial was marked by “shortcomings” and “inaccuracies”.

Alves was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail in February last year for raping a young woman in the VIP bathroom of a Barcelona nightclub on December 31, 2022.

Tinubu Lights NSF Torch

On the homefront, President Bola Tinubu flagged off the Torch of Unity Movement for the 22nd National Sports Festival.

During a brief event at the State House in Abuja on Tuesday, Tinubu says sports is a unifying factor and a growth catalyst.

The Gateway Games will be held in Ogun State from May 16 to 30, 2025.

UEFA Opens Probe Against Mbappe, Vinicius, Others

Back to football! UEFA says it has opened an investigation into four Real Madrid stars, including Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior, for an alleged “indecent conduct” during their Champions League last 16 win over Atletico Madrid.

Madrid’s two superstar forwards, as well as defender Antonio Rudiger and midfielder Dani Ceballos, face potential punishment ahead of their quarter-final first-leg clash at Arsenal on April 8.