A group, under the auspices of the Grassroots Movement for Tinubu, Ondo State, has unveiled a sports festival for President Bola Tinubu in Ondo town, Ondo State, on Thursday.

Speaking at the unveiling of the sports festival tagged ‘Tinubu Sports Festival’ at Adeyemi University of Education Sports Arena, in Ondo, the director-general of the GMT, Saka Yusuf-Ogunleye, said the festival was aimed at strengthening grassroots sports across the state.

Yusuf-Ogunleye, who was a former Commissioner for Sports in the state, explained that the festival would afford residents of the state to be duly informed about President Bola Tinubu’s reforms and also to discover talents at the grassroots who could do the nation proud in the sports sector.

According to him, the sports festival would be held in five zones across the state, while young men and women had registered to participate.

The former sports commissioner emphasised that the sportsmen and women were no longer being rewarded with a mere handshake but with national honour and other largesse, hence the winners of the sports festival would be rewarded.

He also pointed out that sports had gone beyond mere entertainment, saying, “Sport has gone beyond entertainment. Sport today has become a business where talent can be discovered and where people can be engaged.

“So apart from using it to mobilise for Asiwaju, it will engage our youths, you take them out of the streets, they become useful and they make a life out of sport.”

According to DG, the sports for participation in the festival included: football, Ayo olopon, athletics, wrestling, handball, basketball, handball, boxing, table tennis, tennis, among others.

He commended the Minister of Interior, Bunmi Tunji-Ojo, for sponsoring the initiative by ensuring that the dreams of young talents come true.

Also speaking, the Director General of GMT in Ogun State, Tola Banjo, described the sports festival as historic.

He lauded the Interior Minister as a pride to the nation, saying the minister, through the initiative, was giving back to the community for humanity’s sake.

Head coach of Uganda’s senior national team, Paul Put, believes the Cranes will give three-time winners Nigeria and their other group opponents, Tunisia and Tanzania, a run for their money when the 2025 AFCON gets underway in Morocco by December.

The four countries will compete in Group C of the tournament, which will be played from December 21, 2025, to January 18, 2026.

The Belgian coach has had stints with different African countries and was in charge of Burkina Faso at the 2013 AFCON, when they lost 1-0 to Nigeria.

Coming up against the Eagles in the group stage this year, the 69-year-old says his team will not be intimidated as they hope to advance from the group stage.

“Nigeria are a perennial powerhouse. There are threats everywhere from their squad, with top talent and European experience. We will respect all of them, but we are not intimidated. We will give a good account of ourselves,” Put told CAFOnline.com

“Ideally, we want to advance. But first, we demand that our performances reflect modern football: balance, full engagement.”

After playing Tanzania and Tunisia, Nigeria will face Uganda in the last group game on December 30 at the Fez Sports Complex.

The Super Eagles will be seeking a fourth continental title after finishing second at the last edition in Ivory Coast where they lost 2-1 against the hosts in the final.

For Uganda, they are set to make their eighth appearance at the AFCON, with their best performance in the tournament recorded in 1978 when they reached the final but lost to Ghana

Uganda will begin a closed-camping in Morocco next month before playing some pre-tournament friendlies, before meeting Tunisia in their first game on December 23.

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The Confederation of African Football has announced the expansion of the TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) from 12 to 16 teams, beginning with the 2026 edition scheduled to take place in Morocco from March 17 to April 3, 2026.

In a statement released via its website on Wednesday, CAF said the decision aligns with its strategic vision to strengthen competitiveness and accelerate the development of women’s football across the continent.

“As the qualification phase for the 2026 edition has already been completed, the Executive Committee has approved the selection mechanism to determine the four additional Teams.

“Based on the current FIFA Women’s World Rankings, the top four teams from those eliminated in the final qualifying round have been selected to complete the list of participants.

“The following teams will therefore join the finals of the TotalEnergies CAF WAFCON Morocco 2026: Cameroon (66th in the FIFA ranking), Cote d’Ivoire (71), Mali (79), and Egypt (95),” CAF said.

The four teams will join the 12 nations that had already qualified: Morocco (hosts), Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, Algeria, Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Cape Verde, South Africa, and Senegal.

CAF noted that the expansion would enable more African nations to gain exposure on the continental stage while boosting the global visibility of women’s football from Africa.

The 2026 WAFCON will also serve as the African qualifier for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

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