Most Criticised Playmaker

Mesut Ozil is a German footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder and can also be deployed as a winger. He recently joined Turkish giant Fenerbahce from Arsenal FC in England after several years with the North London club. He is a fan's favourite because of his technical skills, creativity and eyes for passes.

The 2014 World Cup winner had 92 appearances and 23 goals for the German national team, but he left the side after a poor outing at the 2018 world cup no thanks to discriminative act he encountered after taking a picture with Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The former Arsenal creative expert was left out of the squad list in the Premier League 25-man squad and also the Europa league squad for 2020/21 season by the coach Mikel Arteta who sighted football reasons for his decision, making former record signing last game for the Gunners be the match against West Ham United in March 2020.

He was criticize on many occasions because  he is always a shade of himself in big games.

His problem begins when he commented on the bad treatment meted out to the Uyghur Muslims in China, but the Arsenal board failed to support him due to Television coverage on the Gunners in China.

And after he was frozen out of the team, he also failed to take a pay cut due to the COVID-19 effect on sports and he questioned the board on the decision.

The team felt his absence due to their lack of creativity and goals drought at some point before the emergence of Emile Smith-Rowe who Ozil himself tagged the "difference maker" in the team.

After 7 years of loyal service to the North London faithful, Ozil's 350,000 pounds contract was terminated, he earned 5 million pounds to go free with 6 months remaining on his contract.

He was pivotal in the squad that end the Gunners trophy drought in 2013 by lifting the FA Cup. Overall, he won 3 English FA Cups and 3 Community Shields, a UEFA Europa League runner-up in 2018/19 and made 254 appearances with 77 assists and 44 goals contributions to the Emirates outfit. 

The 32-year old has now join his boyhood club Fenerbahce and the world awaits what this uncelebrated playmaker of this century will add to Fenerbahce title chase this season. He made his debut on Tuesday night playing the last 18 minutes of a 2-1 triumph over Hatayspor in the Super Lig. 

Will Arsenal regret the leaving of Ozil in future?

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst 

NWFL: The Best of Women Football

The Nigerian Women Football League has been playing in an abridged league format since 2003, but the league body decided to change it for 2020/21 season with a  league that boasts of 14 teams playing in a straight format of home and away matches.

This season has started with a bang and the teams have entertain the spectators with galore of goals and good football, therefore women football is now producing more glamour for the spectators to groove with estacy.

And the most interesting part is that the maiden Africa Women's Champions League edition will take center stage next season, so all the teams are working hard tactically to be part of the history.

Stats after 4 rounds of matches

Bayelsa Queens have 100% record with 4 wins out of 4 games.

Pelican Stars, Nasarawa Amazons and Dream Star ladies have lost 3 games apiece.

Pelican Stars and Dream Star ladies have conceded the most goals (9)

FC Robo and Rivers Angels have scored the most goals - 10 goals apiece.

With the most clean sheets are; Edo Queens, Royal Queens and Sunshine Queens - 2 apiece.

FC Robo striker, Monday Gift has scored the only hat-trick so far - she has 5 goals in all to currently lead the goalscoring chat.

Edo Queens striker, Chioma Wogu received the first and only red card so far this season when she was sent off against Dream star ladies

In 28 games so far, 73 goals have been scored.

We have had 20 home wins, 4 away wins, 4 draws.

Less than 10 penalties has been awarded.

As the season progresses more records will be set and broken.

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sport Writer and Analyst

The Semi-final Hoodoo

Manchester united have been fantastic under Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, the legend cum manager has built a formidable team mixed with youth and experience players since he took over the Red Devils in December 2018

However, it is sadden that his boys always fall like a pack of cards when it really matters, recently their bitter rival Man City compound their semi-final bad luck with a 2-nil victory at old Trafford to book a place in the League Cup final.

Moreover Solskjaer and his lads suffered 3 semifinals heartache in the domestic and European cup competitions last season - to Man City (League Cup), Chelsea (FA cup) and Sevilla (UEFA Europa league).

Since Sir Alex Ferguson retired at the end of 2012/13 season, Manchester United have been a shadow of themselves. Managers such as David Moyes, Ryan Giggs (interim), Louis Van Gal, Jose Mourinho and now Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have all been brought into the fray but none of them could do it as the great man himself.

The last time Man United won any trophy was under Jose Mourinho in 2017 when they won the Europa league and League Cup by defeating Ajax and Southampton in respective finals.

The present squad are showing glimpses of promise but nearly can not kill a bird.

Can this crops of players eventually win a trophy?

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sport Writer and Analyst

The Fumbling Blues

Chelsea FC started the 2020/21 Premier League season on a good note, and at some point they look like title contender during their 9 games unbeaten run that was halted by Everton.

However,  presently the club legend cum manager Frank Lampard who guided the team safely to the UEFA Champions League knockout stage earlier this season seems to be short of ideas on the touchline.

Recently, Man City compound the Pensioners woes with a three goals to one victory at Stamford Bridge which has resulted into piling more pressure on Lampard.

Hence, so far the Blues have lost 4 games out of there last 6 Premier League matches. In 17 games, they had 7 wins, drawn 5,

lost 5, amassed 26 points, kept 6 clean sheets, scored 32 goals - the third highest in the league - and conceded just 11 goals.

Problems of the team

Chelsea spent over 250 million pounds in the summer on signings of players.

Some of the players does not fit the billing, the Kai Havertz's of this world has not live up to expectations.

Timo Werner is a good forward but he is inconsistent and goalkeeper Edouard Mendy has forgotten how to save shot on target.

Injury crisis

Whenever some of the regular are not fit the back up players usually fail to come to the party, for instance Hakim ziyech has been battling with injury and his replacement Pulisic is also prone to injury.

Solution to the crisis

The team need more reinforcements in defence, a quality one - not the tired legs of Thiago Silva.

A good defensive midfielder to support the fading N'golo Kante.

Finally, Lampard must start getting a positive result to avoid the axe of Roman Abrahamovic who has sacked about 10 managers since he took over the ownership of Chelsea in 2003.

Up next for Lampard and his boys is Morecambe in FA Cup follow by a visit to Leicester City 3 days later in the league. 

Can he survive and turn things around?

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst

Pain in the Arsenal

Mikel Arteta is under a serious pressure to save his job at the red half of North London team, after losing to Everton which makes it 6 losses in 7 games.

Currently the team are battling with relegation, because the goalkeeper is helpless, the defenders have forgotten how to do their duties on the pitch, the midfielders lack passes vision and the strikers have lost their scoring boots.

The god of soccer is not fair with the Gunners, this is not the best of time to be an Arsenal fan.

The Mikel Arteta led side have been wobbling and fumbling in the 2020/21 season so far after 14 EPL games they have lost 8 games, drawn 2, 4 wins, scored 12goals ,conceded 18 goals,3 own goals and amassed just 14 points. These are the worst EPL stats in about 40 years in the history of the club.

Arteta tactics has been failing him although he has performed very well in cup competition games, in 9 games he had 7 wins and 2 draws.

Problems facing the team

Lack of creativity

This season the Gunners have created few chances, they had few shots on target only the bottom three teams had less and they had more crosses ratio week in week out in the premier league.

However the omission of their only playmaker Mesut Ozil in their 25 men squad is a major reason for the team poor creativity.

Indiscipline among the players

There are possibilities that some of the players might want Arteta to be sacked, rumors had it that Arteta has lost the players confidence, the players have failed to unite and there are insinuations that some of the senior players are not in good terms with the manager. So far the Gunners have received 7 red cards under Arteta 's tenure.

Lack of quality signings

The management of the club are always cunning to avoid spending excessive on players signing.

This is the fourth consecutive seasons that Arsenal have failed to qualified for both uefa champions league, this has also affected the club revenue and it has also hindered their chances of signing superstars in the transfer market.

Up next for Arteta and his boys is Man City in the carabao cup quarter final and on Boxing day a tie with Chelsea .

Will Arsenal eventually overcome these blip in form?

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst 

Lionel Messi confirms Barcelona stay for next season.

Lionel Messi has confirmed that he will stay at FC Barcelona for another year, ten days after handling in a transfer request to the team he has played for in his entire professional career.

The 33-year-old who is arguably the best player to have ever grace a football pitch has spent 20 years at the Catalan club since joining as a 13year-old from his homeland Argentina.

He had handed over a transfer request in late August that he intended to leave for free but Barça had however refused to recognise the break in his contract claiming the moment for using it had passed in June, and so a stalemate began in which La Pulga as he is fondly called tried to find a way out.

However, Messi has accepted he must stay at Camp Nou to avoid dragging his beloved club to court, but not until after a desperately sad couple of weeks.

Speaking to Goal this afternoon, Messi said “When I communicated my wish to leave to my wife and children, it was a brutal drama,”

“The whole family began crying, my children did not want to leave Barcelona, nor did they want to change schools."

“But I looked further afield and I want to compete at the highest level, win titles, compete in the Champions League. You can win or lose in it, because it is very difficult, but you have to compete.

“At least compete for it and let us not fall apart in Rome, Liverpool, Lisbon. All that led me to think about that decision that I wanted to carry out.”

“I thought and was sure that I was free to leave, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I stayed or not,” he said.

“Now they cling to the fact that I did not say it before June 10, when it turns out that on June 10 we were competing for La Liga in the middle of this awful coronavirus and this disease altered all the season.

“And this is the reason why I am going to continue in the club. Now I am going to continue in the club because the president told me that the only way to leave was to pay the €700 million (£624m/$823m) clause, and that this is impossible.”

Taking Barcelona to court was another option being discussed in the media, on which Messi also had something to say,

“There was another way and it was to go to trial, I would never go to court against Barca because it is the club that I love, which gave me everything since I arrived.

“It is the club of my life, I have made my life here.

“Barca gave me everything and I gave it everything. I know that it never crossed my mind to take Barca to court.”

He also had something to say about the heartbreaking conversation he had with his son, Thiago and wife Antonella. 

“Mateo is still little and he doesn't realise what it means to go somewhere else and make your life a few years elsewhere,” he said.

“Thiago, he is older. He heard something on TV and found out something and asked.

“I didn't want him to know anything about being forced to leave, to have to live in a new school, or make new friends.

“He cried to me and said ‘let's not go’. I repeat that it was hard, really.

“It was understandable. It happened to me. It is very difficult to make a decision.

“I love Barcelona and I'm not going to find a better place than here anywhere. Still, I have the right to decide. I was going to look for new goals and new challenges. And tomorrow I could go back, because here in Barcelona I have everything.

My son, my family, they grew up here and are from here. There was nothing wrong with wanting to leave. I needed it, the club needed it and it was good for everyone.

“My wife, with all the pain of her soul, supported and accompanied me.”

The highest goalscorer and undoubtedly the greatest in the history of the club will now have to team up with Ronald Koeman led side in the coming days as the new season is set to begin. 

Manchester City Owners - City Football Group - acquire French club Troyes AC

Troyes have become the 10th club purchased by the City Football Group (CFG).

The club which finished fourth in Ligue 2 last season were one point off the promotion places when the French football season was suspended, before later being abandoned, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
CFG have become the new majority shareholders in Troyes, taking over from previous owner Daniel Masoni.

CFG owns Manchester City and is backed by the Abu Dhabi United Group, which was formed to buy the Premier League outfit in 2008.

The group also has stakes in New York City in Major League Soccer, Melbourne City in the Australian A-League, Japanese club Yokohama F Marinos, Montevideo City Torque in Uruguay, Segunda Division side Girona, China League Two outfit Sichuan Jianiu, Mumbai City in India and Belgian club Lommel SK

The newly acquired French outfit have bounced between the top two tiers in recent seasons, most recently suffering relegation in 2018, having played in the UEFA Cup - now the Europa League - after the turn of the century.

Troyes were reportedly the subject of interest from Olympiakos and Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis earlier this year.

CFG managing director Ferran Soriano said: "We have been interested in French football for some time and have long admired ESTAC. We are therefore delighted to have completed the acquisition of our 10th club and to have a permanent presence in France.

"This is an important milestone for City Football Group, which proves that our model continues to adapt and develop in a relatively short period of time.

At City Football Group, our objective remains to play beautiful football, identify and develop grassroots talent and have a permanent presence in the world’s football centres.

“We look forward to getting to know our new home and the club’s fans and working together to create a bright future for ESTAC. We would also like to thank Mr Masoni for all his contributions to the club”.

Troyes were founded in 1986, and play at the 20,400 capacity Stade de l’Aube.

Premier League 2019/20 Stats

As the new league season is about to commence later on in this month of September and teams are recruiting to gear up for better performance in 2020/21 season, it is imperative to take a look into some astonishing records of last season - the longest of it's kind which was due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Liverpool emerged champions after three decades of the Premier League formation.

Relegated Teams

Watford

Bournemouth

Norwich City

Games played - 380 matches 

Goals scored - 1,034 goals

Goalscorers - 317 different players scored

Top scorers

Jamie Vardy (Leicester) - 23 goals

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) - 22 goals

Danny Ings (Burnley) - 22 goals

Most Assists

Kevin Bruyne (Man City) - 20 assists

(equalling the assist record for a single season which was held by Thierry Henry in 2002/03 season).

Most clean sheets

Ederson Moraes (Man City) - 16 games 

Top Tacklers

Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Man United) -129 tackles

Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester) - 129

Ricardo Pereira (Leicester) - 119

Most interceptions

Diego Rico (Bournemouth) - 84

Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester) - 80

Declan Rice (West Ham) - 78

Longest unbeaten run

Liverpool - 27 games

Longest losing run

Norwich City - 9 games

Longest winless run

Watford - 11 games

Biggest home win 

Man City 8-0 Watford (21 September, 2019)

Biggest away win

Southampton 0-9 Leicester City (25th October, 2019)

Yellow cards issued - 407

Most yellow carded team

Arsenal FC - 77 yellow cards

Most red carded team

Arsenal FC - 5 red cards

Most penalty given away by a player

David Luiz (Arsenal) - 5 penalties

Corners - 1206 corners

Offside calls - 400 offsides.

Six different Managers were sacked

Promoted Teams

Leeds United

West Bromwich Albion

Fulham

The new EPL season will start on September 12, 2020.

Which team will emerge as champion in the 2020/21 season?

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst 

Atletico Madrid's Engine Room

Jan Oblak is a Slovenian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Spanish club Atletico Madrid and the Slovenia national team. He was born on 7th January 1993 (age 27 years) in Škofja Loka, Slovenia.

He is considered by several pundits to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world. His athleticsm, quick reflexes, outstanding positioning, agility, as well as his reading of the game, composure, shot-stopping abilities and ability to instill a sense of confidence in his team's back-line as garnered him a lot of praises even from opposition fans and managers.

Youth Career

Locan (1998 - 2003)

Olimpija (2003 - 2004)

Olimpija Ljubljana (2005 - 2009).

He signed for Portuguese club Benfica at the age of 17, and was part of the team that won the domestic treble in the 2013/14 season but he made only 16 appearances for the team because he had loan spells at Beira-Mar, Olhanense, Uniao de Leiria and Rio Ave all between 2010 to 2013 while being a player of Benfica.

He joined Atletico Madrid for a fee of 16 million euros in 2014 becoming La liga's most expensive goalkeeper at the time, and he is estimated to worth about 90 million euros presently.

In 2015/16 season he conceded an all time record low of 18 goals in 38 league games.

He has over 250 appearances in all competitions for the Rojiblancos and became the fastest goalkeeper to achieve 100 clean sheets - first non-Spanish goalkeeper to do so - in La Liga history in his 182nd Liga game in June, breaking an almost 50-year old record of Miguel Reina who did the same in 222 league appearances.

National team

He represented Slovenia at various age grade tournaments and made his debut for Slovenia national team in 2012 with 28 appearances till date.

Honours

Primeira Liga (2013/14)

Taca da Liga  (2013/14)

Taca de Portugal (2013/14)

UEFA Europa League runner-up  (2013/14)

Supercopa de Espana (2014)

UEFA Champions League runner-up (2015/16)

UEFA Europa League title (2017/18)

2018 UEFA Super Cup title.

Individual Honours

Primeira Liga Best Goalkeeper award (2013/14)

La Liga Zamora trophy (2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19).

La Liga Best Goalkeeper award (2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19).

UEFA Champions League squad of the season (2015/16 and 2016/17).

La Liga Team of the season (2015/16 and 2016/17).

Slovenian Footballer of the year (2015, 2016,  2017 and 2018).

He was also nominated for the 2017 and 2018 Ballon d'Or awards.

Will Oblak eventually leave Atletico Madrid or stay with the team is a question that resonates with everyone during any transfer window.

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst

The modern football Pele: Mbappe

Kylian Mbappe Lottin is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and the France national team.

He is rated to be one of the best players in the world currently for he is well regarded and known for his clinical finishing, dribbling, strength and explosive speed.

Background

He was born on 20th of December, 1998

(age 21 years). His parent are Wilfred Mbappe and Fayza Mbappe who are both African but settled in France.

The father is a Cameroonian with Nigerian roots, while his mother Fayza Mbappe is an Algerian.

Mbappe is a sensational man whose mastery of skills has taken the trail of the great Brazilian Pele.

He was groomed at AS Bondy where his father managed the club, afterwards he moved to Clairefontaine academy and also had a stint with Chelsea's under 11's team.

However, he eventually settled at AS Monaco where his remarkable career was set in motion.

He was the youngest player to featured for AS Monaco at 16 years of age when he made his debut on the 2nd of December 2015 against Caen.

Astonishingly in his first full season with AS Monaco, he won Ligue 1 title and Coupe de France title in 2016/17 season.

He scored 28 goals and 12 assists in 69 games for AS Monaco.

In the summer of 2017, he became the most expensive teenage player after his loan move to PSG with a mandatory option for a full transfer fee of 180million pounds.

Since he joined PSG, he has scored 102 goals - including 19 in UEFA Champions League - in 141 games

National level

He has been a good addition to the French national team, so far in 34 games he had 13 goals.

He was wonderful at the FIFA World Cup in 2018, as he scored 2 goals and was named the 2018 FIFA World Cup Best Young player and also the 2nd yet teenager to keep a tally of two goals in the world cup amid a goal in the final after Pele had set both records .

Honours 

4 Ligue 1 titles (2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20)

2 Coupe de France (2016/17 and 2019/20)

1 French Cup (2019/20)

2018 FIFA World Cup 

2016 UEFA European Under-19 championship trophy.

3-times Ligue 1 topscorer awards 

2018/19 Ligue 1 player of the year

2018 French Player of the year

The Golden Boy award at 2018 World Cup

2017 Ligue 1 Young player of the year

Can he clinch the Ballon d'Or award in future? 

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst 

The Chosen One

Ndubuisi Emmanuel Egbo is a Nigerian football manager based in Europe - a goalkeeper during his playing days - and the current manager of Albanian club KF Tirana.

He was born on 25th of July 1973 (age 47) in Aba, Nigeria.

Club Career

The former goalkeeper had stints with Nitel Vasco Enugu (1993), NEPA Lagos (1994 - 1995), Julius Berger (1996 - 1998), El Masry of Egypt (1998 - 2001 and 2004 - 2007), Moroka Swallows of South Africa (2001), Tirana in Albania (2001 - 2004) where he played 157 games, and Bylis Ballsh of Albania (2007 - 2011)

National Team

Egbo represented Nigerian national team in two African Cup of Nations tournaments in 2000 and 2002. He had 12 appearances for the Super Eagles between 1999 - 2002 and scored a lone goal.

Teams managed

Egbo has a Uefa Pro Licence coaching certificate.

He started as Bylis' goalkeeper trainer in 2010, and later became the coach in 2013. He led the team to the Albanian cup quarter-final in 2014 before leaving later in that summer.

He joined KF Tirana as goalkeeper trainer and assistant coach in 2014.

He has managed the team on several occasions on part time basis and whenever a new manager is employed he always serve as an assistant.

However, in 2019 he was appointed as interim manager after the successive sacking of Albanians Ardian Mena and Julian Ahmataj .

He was given a three games ultimatum and his first game in charge was a Derby against rival Partizani a team KF Tirana have not beaten in 6 years but he won 2-1 and also won the other two games to sealed the job permanent.

2019/20 Season Stats

He led the team to an astonishing 16 games unbeaten record.

Egbo is the first ever Nigerian coach to lead an European team to a league title after Tirana were crowned 2019/20 Albanian league champions and also qualified for the UEFA Champions League.

He broke Tirana's 11 years trophy drought which make it a record 25 league titles and overall Albania's most successful club.

Tirana had 69 points, six more than closest rival Kukesi (63 points).

The club was founded in August 1920 and will be celebrating its 100 years anniversary with a title.

Honours (as player)

1 Nigerian Premier League title (Julius Berger in 1996).

1 Egyptian Cup (El masry 1997/98)

At KF Tirana

1 Albanian cup (2001/02).

2 Albanian Supercup (2002 and 2003)

2 Albanian Superliga titles (2002/03 and 2003/04).

National Team

Africa Cup of Nations runners-up (2000).

Africa Cup of Nations Bronze medal (2002).

As Manager.

Bylis

Albanian cup runners-up (2012).

Tirana

Albanian Superliga title (2019/20).

Albanian Cup runners-up (2019/20).

Egbo will have made it a double but it was unfortunate that his team Tirana lost the Albanian cup final to Teuta Durres two goals to nothing.

Egbo's achievement has justified that African coaches are as good as their counterparts from any part of the world if they are given the chance to exploit their tactics.

Can he retain the title next season?

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst

The Eagle-Eye of Sports

Video Assistant referee (VAR) was introduced to ease the pressure on match officials and take human errors out of the equations when clear and obvious errors have occurred.

The technology has stolen news headlines for the right and wrong reasons since invented. It is yet to be globally accepted but it's already in use in some of the most coveted leagues in Europe.

It was first introduced back in the early 2010s, but the concept took years to gain traction. It was developed under the direction of the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB).

Mock trials started in the 2012/13 season of Eredivisie (Netherland's top league).

The Royal Dutch football Association (KNVB) took a bold step in 2014 to petitioned the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to make changes to football regulations so that 'VAR' can be applied more extensively and after some deliberations IFAB finally approved trials in 2016.

The first live trial took place in July 2016 during a friendly match between FC Eindhoven and PSV, and the next trial came the following month on the other side of the Atlantic with a United Soccer League (USL ) match.

The system was used twice during a match between two MLS reserve sides, which the referee reviewed two fouls by consulting VAR before ultimately deciding to issued a yellow and a red card for the incidents.

Therefore, FIFA officially announced the big VAR news during the FIFA Council meeting held in Bogota on 16th March 2018.

As a result, the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia became the first competition to make used of the system in full, at all venues and matches, and the technology passed its ultimate test successfully at the World Cup.

VAR technology uses a patent of Sony's Hawk-Eye Innovations, the company benefits financially from this invention by charging licensing fees worth $2.2 million per season.

The company holds a 20-year patent and the system is been used in over 20 sports in more than 90 countries.

In 2018, French Survey stated that 86 percents of respondents were in favour of using VAR system during games, 13 percents were against the idea and just one percent did not have an answer.

The International football Association Board (IFAB) studied a total of 927 soccer games that took place internationally in 20 national authorities, and the results showed that 69.1 percents of the games studied did not need VAR replays.

Fascinating Stats about VAR

The cost of using VAR is $6.5 million for a single season.

About 5.5 percents of VAR matches required two or more reviews.

VAR penalty and goals checks account for 

57.4 percents of total VAR intervention.

The average VAR intervention time in a match is 55 seconds.

Man United have enjoyed more benefits of VAR tech, as it has awarded more penalties or goals than it had taken away during this season Premier League.

While Jurgen Klopp's side Liverpool had a huge numbers of penalties or goals taken away during the season. The scenario is also the same for teams like - Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City and Tottenham.

Presently, 37 leagues in the world are using VAR.

Finally the system has come to stay and we are hoping it will get better to improve sports at all levels.

Do you think VAR is ruining football excitements ?

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst

Bavarians: The Undisputed Champion

Bayern Munich was founded in 1900 and have become Germany's most famous and successful football club. Almost all of Bayern's success has come since the 1960s.

They have won a total 74 trophies including a record 30 German Bundesliga,

19 DFB German Cups

8 German Super Cup titles

6 League Cup titles

5 UEFA Champions League trophies (1974, 1975,1976, 2001 and 2013).

UEFA Cup (1996)

Uefa cup winners cup (1967).

Intercontinental Cup (1976 and 2001)

FIFA Club World cup (2013)

UEFA Super Cup title (2013)

Stats in 2019/20 season

Bayern scored a record 100 goals (2.94 per game) and conceded 32 goals in 34 league games,  while it amassed 41 points apiece in both home and away games - a total of 82 points.

13 points gap separated Bayern and second place Borussia Dortmund at the conclusion of the season.

They won 13 games on the bounce, conceding 9 and scoring 42 times.

This is Bayern's 8 consecutive seasons league titles crown (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016,2l 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020).

Bayern have now won 30 out of 57 titles since the foundation of the Bundeslïga in 1963 - more than all other clubs combined (28).

Robert Lewandowski had 34 goals in 31 league appearances to overtook Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's (31 goals) single season foreign player scoring record, and thereby won his 5th Torjagerkanone awards - 2 behind Gerd Muller's record haul.

Thomas Muller's overall tally of 21 assists - is a new single season record which surpasses Kevin De Bruyne (20) for Wolfsburg in 2014/15 season.

Thomas Muller and David Alaba have both equal frank Ribery's 9 Bundesliga titles record.

Alphonso Davies' top speed of 36.51 km/h in the match against Werder Bremen is the fastest of any Bundesliga player since 2013/14.

Hans-Dieter Flick won 28 of his first 31 games which is the best start of any Bayern boss ever beating the previous record hels by Guardiola who won 22 out of 27 games.

The Bavarians will face Bayer Leverkusen in DFB Pokal Cup final this weekend.

Can Flick go ahead to emulate the legendary Jupp Heynckes who won the treble in 2012/13 season by winning the DFB Pokal Cup and Champions League this season ?

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst 

Arsenal Ladies: The champion of all time

Arsenal women football club, was founded as Arsenal ladies in 1987 (33 years ago). It is an English professional women's football club affiliated with Arsenal.

They play in the Women's Super league, the topflight of English women's football (a league of 12 teams) and their home ground is located at Meadow park, Borehamwood with 4,502 capacity(1,700 seated).

Arsenal were limited to sparse and nomadic cup appearances for the first four years of their existence, and didn't turn professional until 2002 due to the overall decline interest in women's football in England.

Arsenal ladies have won more trophies than any other club in English women's football, and have won the most titles in each domestic competitions they have played in so far.

The Gunners ladies won their first major title in 1992, since then they have won 49 major titles and 58 trophies in total.

In the 2006/07 season, the club became the first in the history of women's football to achieved the continental European sextuple (winning 6 trophies in a season).

Hence, in English football history Arsenal ladies have won the most doubles, trebles and also completed a record seven unbeaten league seasons, setting a number of English records for longest topflight unbeaten run, for goals scored and points won.

Honours

1 UEFA Women's Champions League title (2006/07).

3-times FA Women's Super League champions (2011, 2012, and 2019).

12 FA Women's Premier League titles (1993, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2004 - 2010).

5 FA WSL Continental Cup Winner titles (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018).

14 FA Women's Cup Winners (1993, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2006 to 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2016).

10 FA Women's Premier League Cup Winners (1992, 1993, 1994, 1998 to 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2009).

5 FA Women's Community Shield Winners (2001/02, 2005/06, 2006/07 & 2007/08) including 1 shared with Charlton Athletic after a 1-1 draw in 1999/2000 

10 London County FA Women's Cup Winners titles (1995, 1996, 1997, 2000 - 2004 and 2007 - 2011).

Managers of the Team

Vic Akers

He was part of the formation of this club and also the first manager as he guided Arsenal to continued success until he retired in 2009 after 22 years at the helm.

Records 

Under Aker's stewardship, Arsenal claimed 11 league titles.

9 FA Women's cup titles.

10 FA Women's premier league cup titles.

5 FA Women's community shields.

Including seven consecutive league wins from 2003/04 to 2008/09 season.

Akers also led the team unbeaten run from October 2003 to March 2009, marking 108 games without defeat (51 league games wins in a row between November 2005 to April 2008).

Tony Gervaise

He is the successor of the legendary Akers, but in February 2010 after just 8-months in charge Gervaise resigned because of outside interference on his activities with the team, and he became the reserve team coach.

Laura Harvey

She was promoted from the reserve team to be the first team manager, which marked the club's first female coach in any capacity.

She won domestic double, FA Cup and Women's Super league and she left in the summer of 2013, after 3 seasons in charge.

Shelley Kerr

Kerr took over in 2013 summer and left in 2014, he had a successful stint with back-to-back FA Women's Cup win.

Pedro Losa 

Losa replaced Kerr in 2014 summer, with little success to show as a manager in debut season.

Losa only managed to win FA Women Super League Cup (2015) and FA women's cup (2016).

Joe Montemurro 

He joined in the summer of 2017 and he won 2018/19 Women's Super League title with a game to spare which marked their first title since 2011 

and marked the club's return to the UEFA Women's Champions League after 5 years absence.

Can these ladies dominant Europe in years to come?

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst