Patrick Vieira Sacked After A Disastrous Run Of Five Straight Defeats

Arsenal legend, Patrick Vieira has been sacked as manager of Nice following a disastrous run of five straight defeats and a shock Europa League exit after they were knocked out by Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday night, December 3.

The French side released a statement on Friday morning confirming that they have dismissed former France international who took the job in June 2018 following Lucien Favre's move to Borussia Dortmund.

His Romanian assistant Adrian Ursea to take charge until they announce a new manager.

Nice said on Friday morning: 'Patrick Vieira is no longer the coach of OGC Nice as of today.

'During a meeting after last night's match, the Nice board informed Patrick Vieira of its decision to end their collaboration.

'Patrick Vieira has put all his heart and professionalism at the service of OGC Nice during the last 30 months of this shared venture.

'The Nice board would like to sincerely thank the former French international for his involvement in the development of the club and wish him the best for the rest of his coaching career.'

From Sammy Heywood Okine

Ghana captain Andre Ayew's goal against Sheffield Wednesday has been adjudged as the Swansea City's Westacres Goal of the Month for November.

The 30-year-old grabbed the equalizer for the Jack Army’s on the hour mark when he curled a left-footed effort from inside the box following a pass from Connor Roberts.

It was his sixth goal of the campaign for Swansea City in that game.

Ayew had two of his goals, one against Brentford and Sheffield Wednesday nominated for the award whilst  Connor Roberts’ brave header against Nottingham Forest and Chloe Chivers’ fantastic long-range strike for Swansea City Ladies against Cardiff Met were all selected.

The fans voted for the goal scored by the Swansea City star to win the award.

Andre Ayew has been impressive for the Welsh club this season and has scored seven goals in 16 appearances for the club.

Swansea City is hoping to clinch promotion to the Premier League and currently placed fourth on the league log with 30 points.

GhanaSoccerNet

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has announced new date for the start of the 2020/21 Ghana Women’s League.

The Ghana FA initially scheduled the women’s league season to commence on January 2, 2021 but has been changed to 15th-18th January, 2021.

This was contained in a release from the Ghana FA signed by the secretary of the association Prosper Harrison Addo.

The release further states that all the participating clubs are to submit their 30-member squad before December 15, 2020.

Meanwhile the winner of league will get Gh¢50,000 plus 40 good medals whiles the first runner up and the second runner will receive Gh¢30,000 plus 40 silver medals and Gh¢15,000 and 40 bronze medals respectively.

Ampem Dakoaa remains the defending champions of the Ghana Women’s Premier League after winning the title in the 2017-18 league season.

The 2019-20 league season reached week seven until the Ghana FA cancelled the season due to the outbreak of the devastating coronavirus.  

From Elizabeth Alhassan

President Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku, Vice President Mark Addo, and General Secretary Prosper Harrison Addo (Esq) will on Friday, December 11, 2020, represent the Ghana Football Association at the 42nd CAF Ordinary General Assembly.

The 42nd Ordinary General Assembly which was initially scheduled to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, will now take place via online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The General Assembly is being held online as a result of the travel restrictions in certain parts of the continent.

The following are among the items on the agenda: - the appointment of auditors as appropriate: presentation of audited statement of accounts, the activity report covering the period since the previous General Assembly Meeting inclusive of the zonal unions’ activity report: discussion of proposals received from National Associations and Executive Committee, approval of the annual revised accounts and budget.

The Congress which will commence at 10am, will be streamed live on CAF.com.

By ghanafa.org

The Anglogold Ashanti Iduapriem Tennis Club officially inaugurated on Saturday at the Anglogold Ashanti Iduapriem Tennis Court, Mile One, Akyempim - Tarkwa.

Speaking at the event Managing Director of Anglogold Ashanti Iduapriem limited Jean Marais said, "I want to thank my management for putting up such a facility; I am really impressed and wish all the clubs here the best of luck".

Western Regional Tennis Association President, Ronald Quainoo advised the club to take good care of the facility by doing regular maintenance.

After the inauguration ceremony, Anglogold Ashanti Iduapriem hosted Mobic Tennis Club and GMC Tennis Club House in a triangular tennis friendly tourney.

The host picked four  trophies: winner in the men’s doubles and veteran category while runners up in the men’s singles and mixed doubles. GMC Tennis Club also picked two trophies: Winner in the men’s singles and runners up in the men’s doubles event. Mobic Tennis Club won the mixed doubles events.

Speaking to ghanatennis.org, captain of the club, Engineer Karim Osman said, "Our target as a club is to be the topmost Western Regional tennis club and also to be regarded as one of Ghana’s tennis power houses '’.

“The club will direct its energies towards building strong youth teams at the Under- 12, Under-14 and Under-16 levels and Anglogold Ashanti Iduapriem is open for the community," Engineer Karim Osman Added.

According to Senior Manager, Engineer Isaac Boakye Aduenin   " Anglogold Ashanti Iduapriem Tennis Club is a club that’s embedded in the company. The company has the well-being of the workers at heart".

Story: Gabriel Amoakoh

Negeriam footballer, Victorien Adebayor has on Monday afternoon landed in Denmark after more than two months of waiting.

The former Allies poster boy, who was unveiled at the start of October at Danish side HB Koge, has kept his form in Ghana with Inter Allies.

On Tuesday morning, he was finally able to get on the training field and train again with his new teammates in HB Køge.

Victorien Adebayor’s return to HB Køge after ground service for Niger in mid-October was delayed due to different rules for entry and exit in Denmark, Niger and Ghana.

Further issues were raised due to decommissioning in connection with covid-19.

Source: interalliesfc.com

An Argentine senator wants to put Diego Maradona on the country's banknotes and presented a project to Congress on Monday to get the late soccer star and possibly even his 'Hand of God' image on a 1,000-peso note.

The note, worth around $12.27 at Monday's exchange rate, would feature Maradona's face on one side and a picture of one of his most famous goals on the other, said the bill's sponsor Senator Norma Durango.

Maradona's two most famous goals came in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal against England.

He got the first by punching the ball past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton and the second by dribbling past half the England team to score what is still considered one of the greatest goals of all time.

Argentina won the World Cup with a series of outstanding performances by Maradona, who died on November 25 of a heart attack, age 60.

"The idea is not just to recognise our most important idol but also to think of the economic question," said Durango. "We feel that when tourists come here they will want to take a 'Maradona' away with them."

Although it was not clear which one of the two goals would feature, some Argentines bristled at the thought of the 'Hand of God' goal featuring on an official government document because it could be seen as condoning illegality.

The Senator for the La Pampa province said the final decision would be made by lawmakers, who are expected to hear her proposal early next year.

"The idea is to recognise Maradona, for good and for bad, who is the best known Argentine in the world," Durango said. "I feel the project has got a great response even though some people don't agree with it."

The current 1 000-peso note features the national bird, the Rufous hornero.

By Reuters

Breakdancing has been added as an Olympic sport for the 2024 games being held in Paris.

The decision was confirmed by the International Olympic Committee on Monday, as it seeks to attract a younger audience to the historic competition.

Other newly added sports include skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing, all of which will debut at the delayed Olympics in Tokyo in 2021.

Breakdancing will be called breaking when competitors take to the floor in Paris.

The idea was proposed two years ago after trials at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, proved a success.

At the youth games, the contestants faced each other in one-on-one dance-offs.

Russian Sergei "Bumblebee" Chernyshev won gold in the men's competition, while Japan's Ramu "Ram" Kawai topped the podium in the women's ladder.

In 2024, the dance-offs will take place at a downtown venue in the French capital, alongside sport climbing and 3v3 basketball.

According to a 2019 Olympic programme commission report, an estimated one million people take part in breakdancing.

The 2019 Red Bull BC One World Final had more than 50 million views across a number of online platforms.

Logan "Logistx" Edra, a 17-year-old American dancer, said: "It can resonate with a lot of people because hip-hop culture resonates with a lot of people, hip-hop music resonates with a lot of people."

She added: "It being in the Olympics, it makes sense that people would refer to it as (a sport) but I think one thing for the breaking community is we want to make sure that it's not known as just a sport but an art, a sport, a culture."

Ronnie Abaldonado has been a competitive breakdancer since 2004 and won the 2007 Red Bull BC One World Final.

He said: "The biggest part is your stage presence and character and your rhythm, whether or not you're really feeling it.

"People can hit the moves but if you're not feeling what they're doing then you just kind of look robotic and that's what kind of separates it being a sport to it being an art form."

Breaking pioneer Richard "Crazy Legs" Colon said: "This is true folk art from the music to the dance, to the DJ to the rapper.

"We've already legitimized ourselves so we're not looking to the Olympics for legitimacy."

By SkyNews

Three-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka dominated on the tennis courts in 2020. But off the court, she also became a champion in the fight against racial injustice and embraced her fame to spark important conversations - making her one of five recipients for Sports Illustrated’s 2020 Sportsperson of the Year award.

Sports Illustrated chose ‘The Athlete Activist’ as their 2020 recipient, honouring top athletes who have “turned athletic fame into a platform for social activism”. The Japanese player was recognized alongside basketball champions LeBron James and Breanna Stewart and American football stars Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Patrick Mahomes.

Osaka was a vocal advocate in the fight against racial injustice, joining a nationwide athlete-led protest that halted play in New York for a day of reflection before going on to reach the Western & Southern Open final.

At the US Open, Osaka revealed that she had brought seven different face masks and intended to wear a new one every match, with each mask honoring a victim of police brutality. To bring awareness to all of the names, she would have to reach the final - a mission Osaka achieved as she claimed her third Grand Slam title.

“At 23, Naomi has become a force on the tennis court, winning the U.S. Open in September for the second time, coming back from a set down to beat Victoria Azarenka,” wrote WTA Legend Martina Navratilova in Osaka’s SI feature.

“But in 2020 she also became a huge force off the court. Naomi came to understand the power of fame and learned how to use it for the greater good. How cool is that? She used her platform to raise awareness of violence against Black Americans by the police and others and to foster the conversation about how to combat it.”

Osaka is the fifth tennis player to be recognized as SI Sportsperson of the Year, and the first since Serena Williams in 2015. Billie Jean King (1972), Chris Evert (1976) and Arthur Ashe (1992) have also been honored.

By wtatennis.com                                                                                                

Mario Balotelli has signed for Serie B side AC Monza until the end of the season.

The 30-year-old Italian, who has been without a club since leaving Brescia this summer, trained with Serie D side Franciacorta in November.

Balotelli also played for Inter, AC Milan, Liverpool and Manchester City.

The striker has reunited with his former AC Milan teammate, Kevin Prince Boateng who joined the club this summer.

Boateng moved to the club following his six months loan spell with Turkish SuperLig side, Besiktas.

Balotelli won the Champions League, three Serie A titles, the Coppa Italia and Italian Super Cup with Inter, for whom he scored 28 goals in 86 games.

He won the Premier League and FA Cup with City, scoring 30 goals in 80 matches.

From Sammy Heywood Okine